Exhibition: Dior hats! Dior’s exclamation mark

Summer is the perfect time to get outside, get some fresh air and protect yourself from the sun with a hat. You could, of course, do all of that at once by finally visiting the Les Rhumbs villa in Granville, which is currently hosting the Chapeaux Dior! L’art du chapeau de Christian Dior à Stephen Jones (‘Dior hats! The art of the hat, from Christian Dior to Stephen Jones’) exhibition. Here you’ll find hundreds of models showcasing breath-taking creativity and expertise, all on display at the house where a young Christian Dior grew up with his family. The event made all the more prestigious by the presence of the greatest milliner of his generation Stephen Jones, who has designed Dior hats since 1996, with the help of curator Florence Muller.

“It's the ultimate expression of optimism”, says Stephen Jones, who was born in 1957, the year Christian Dior died. The hat really is the exclamation mark that sets off any look!

Musée Christian Dior, Villa Les Rhumbs, 1 rue d’Estouteville, 50400 Granville. www.musee-dior-granville.com. Until 30th October.

Read also: Dior Hats: From Christian Dior to Stephen Jones. Rizzoli New York.

Satin domino mask topped with plumes. Christian Dior. 1958.

As the first designer to go into licensing, Christian Dior knew that the hat was a key accessory. Pictured here is a label from 1964.

Stephen Jones, the great master of hats at Dior who also works for his own label and for some of the biggest fashion labels there are