ABSTRACT
The wedding of HRH Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton, billed by the media as yet another wedding of the century, was the event at which a fashion creation by Philip Treacy, worn by HRH Princess Beatrice, stole the public imagination and media attention. The creation of a hat of a stylised bow and ribbon loop galvanised media criticism as tasteless (Huffington Post 2011), crass and received as much comment as the wedding itself. The hat found fame, spawned its own website, launched fridge/car magnets, party hats (Gilbert 2011), cartoons and memes, paintings and copies for sale. Finally, the hat was auctioned for charity at the value of £81,000 (UK Telegraph 2011). The hat became its own event and was often more memorable than the wedding itself! As Sarah Gilbert said:
This hat did its job. Not only did it give rise to a flurry of attention about Beatrice — which perhaps has not been quite flattering — it has also inspired a renewed interest in British millinery and, indeed, millinery worldwide. According to the Hat Gallery in London, ‘We're definitely expecting hats to start reappearing at weddings; sales have risen by up to 20% since the [royal] wedding’. Business at other hat shops in London is up as much as 60% since this time last year, and at Philip Treacy, sales have doubled.
(Gilbert 2011)