This New Book Looks Back at the History of Statement-Making Dior Hats

The House of Dior has produced many unique and unusual hats over the years—from the first millinery of the New Look to Yves Saint Laurent’s Venetian masks to the romantic designs by Maria Grazia Chiuri—and now, a new book is cataloguing them all. Published by Rizzoli, the illustrated book titled Dior Hats: From Christian Dior to Stephen Jones features an exclusive series of photographs and text by Stephen Jones, the milliner behind the house’s hats since 1996.

Opening with a focus on hats designed by Christian Dior, the book explores the different kinds of headdresses produced by the brand under its various creative directors over the past several decades, including Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano and Raf Simons. Jones’s texts are accompanied by drawings and images from Dior’s archives as well as exclusive new images by photographer Sølve Sundsbø.

The book was compiled for the exhibition “Chapeaux Dior! The Art of the Hat, from Christian Dior to Stephen Jones,” which was to be held at the Musée Christian Dior in Granville, France, this year but was postponed due to Covid. In addition to text written by Jones, who is the artistic director of the Dior Hats exhibition, the book features contributions from the exhibition’s curator, Florence Müller; journalists Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni, Alexander Fury and Dean Rhys Morgan; as well as Vincent Leret, patrimony project manager at Christian Dior Parfums.

As Christian Dior himself wrote in The Little Dictionary of Fashion: “A hat is essential to any outfit. It completes it. In a way, a hat is the best way to express your personality.”

Dior Hats: From Christian Dior to Stephen Jones is available to purchase via Rizzoli.

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