Head Over Heels

Before Coco Chanel designed clothes, she was a milliner, opening her first shop in 1910 – and naturally, she rejected the extravagant fashions of the time for hats that were simple, minimal and easy to wear. Fast-forward to the 1980s, and Chanel’s namesake label occupied such a strong position in the luxury market that it began to acquire some of the French maisons d’art whose heritage and skills urgently needed to be preserved – including, fittingly, millinery. Hat-maker Maison Michel joined this exclusive fold – now called le19M – in 1997, but this year, its 90th in business, it is being given a special place in the spotlight with an exhibition at le19M’s dedicated gallery.

Metamorphoses: Hats by Maison Michel is a privileged look at the skills behind the label and a celebration of the art of millinery. Rather than being purely chronological, it focuses on materials and techniques, mirroring the workshop.

“We really wanted to take visitors on an immersive journey through the transformation of matter into form,” says Maison Michel’s Priscilla Royer, who has been its artistic director since 2015. “Wood, straw and felt become the starting point of the experience, allowing visitors to discover their textures, transformations and the gestures behind them. From there, we are guided from one craft to another, discovering the tools, gestures and different stages involved in making a hat, from the wooden form to the very last stitch.”

The company’s archives include nearly 4,000 lime-wood hat-blocks and heads, many of which are also displayed at the show. Designed to dictate the eventual hat’s shape and silhouette, some predate the maison’s founding in 1936, while others are right up to date (100 new forms were added to the collection in 2025).

Royer says that “these historic forms are not kept as static objects. They continue to be studied and, when their line is particularly relevant, can still be used in the atelier. Sometimes, they are reused exactly as they are; at other times, they inspire a new interpretation by changing a brim, a crown, a material or a proportion. This ongoing dialogue between historic forms and new creations is what makes the library a living creative resource.”

The human-resource side of things is just as crucial, however: skills are passed on from older artisans to younger ones, and learning comes through demonstration and repetition. Making sewn-straw hats takes two years of training, notes Royer, while the skill of making the wooden forms is particularly demanding: “It requires the ability to imagine a three-dimensional volume from a drawing and then carve it in wood with exceptional accuracy. When Maison Michel brought this craft in-house, master form-maker Lorenzo Ré trained two Maison Michel collaborators over a two-year period.”

Royer’s role is not just to respect Maison Michel’s archives and help preserve rare skills, but also to create covetable new designs that will ensure the atelier lasts well into the future. “At Maison Michel, tradition is never an end in itself,” she says. “We draw on techniques and gestures passed down through generations, while constantly exploring new forms, materials, constructions and collaborations.”

As well as collaborating with the world’s leading fashion houses, it has its own ready-to-wear label; the latest collections include bow-adorned cloches, androgynous fedoras and boaters trimmed with delicate silver chain.

In the show, newly commissioned works and collaborations with emerging designers sit alongside archive pieces, offering new perspectives on traditional craftsmanship. As part of le19M’s educational remit, there is also a programme of hands-on workshops where visitors can try out skills including straw-weaving and feltwork, while a partnership with cinema group Mk2 offers a journey through some of the great hat-centric moments in film, from Charlie Chaplin to The Count of Monte Cristo.

The fact that hats are no longer a daily obligation in Western society – as they were when Maison Michel was founded in 1936 – serves to underscore how today they are an even more powerful way to express identity. Royer says that a hat’s allure stems from the way it “frames the gaze, changes the proportions and immediately affects the way we perceive someone.

“Hats have always been signs throughout history. They can tell us something about an era, a profession, a country, a social code or a community. What fascinates me today is that the wearer is free to appropriate all of those codes and make them entirely personal. A hat can make you visible or allow you to hide. It can be protective or provocative, sophisticated or completely relaxed. A hat does not simply complete a look; it changes its attitude.”

Metamorphoses: Hats by Maison Michel is on until 13 December at La Galerie du 19M, 2 Place Skanderbeg, Paris. Open Wednesday – Sunday, 11am –6.30pm