Treacy

Philip (1967). Irish milliner and fashion designer. Born in County Galway. He moved to London to study for a masters at the Royal College of Art (1990). He was considered the enfant prodige of hats, and when he was just a student he began to collaborate with such famous fashion designers as John Galliano and Rifat Ozbek. In 1991 he opened his own atelier and launched his own prêt-à-porter line, as well as beginning a successful and ongoing collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel. He won the British Accessory Designer of the Year award and began to take part in the London Fashion Week. He signed a contract with Debenhams department stores for a mass distributed line. His brilliant and extravagant creations were shown in various exhibitions: 1996, La Biennale di Firenze; 1997, the Cutting Edge show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; 1998, Addressing the Century: 100 Years of Art and Fashion at the Hayward Gallery in London. He creates apparel for television and in 1998 he was in charge of the advertising campaign for Max Factor International. In 1999 he worked with the Maison Givenchy in Paris.
&Quad;1992, 1993, 1996, 1997. He won the British Accessory Designer of the Year award, as he had done in 1991.
&Quad;From 1999 to 2003, he expanded his collaborations with major names: his creations were worn with items by Versace, Valentino, Alexander McQueen, and Thierry Mugler. He also designed accessories for men.
&Quad;2002, July. The English hatter, purveyor to the Royal House, was present in Rome, a guest of the event Donna sotto le stelle, the runway presentation held on the Spanish Steps, (Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti).
&Quad;2003, June. For high fashion week in Paris, the “mad hatter” presented an ironic homage to Andy Warhol’s Pop Art. Naomi strode down the runway with a can of Campbell’s soup on her head, the other models balanced on their hair either banana peels or pictures, in pure Warholian style, of Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minnelli, or Tina Chow. The unusual hairdress accompanied outfits by Calvin Klein, Kate Moss, David Beckham, Joan Collins. Not everything however was a Warhol tribute. There were also creations by Treacy, light and evanescent, brilliant and luminous, as always vivid and imaginative, wobbling like mobiles by Calder.