Jean Barthet

Jean Barthet (1920–2000) was a French milliner who first rose to prominence in the 1950s as hat maker to Hollywood and French film stars, also designing hats for films such as The Young Girls of Rochefort.

Jean Barthet
Born1920
Pyrenees, France
DiedFebruary 2000
OccupationMilliner
Signature

He helped to define fashionable hat styles – including the bucket hat, pillbox hat and fedora – that predominated throughout the 1960s and collaborated with major couture houses.[1] With a career spanning more than 40 years, he remained a favourite hatmaker of Sophia Loren (both for film and personal wear), also creating hats for Michael Jackson's 1988 world tour.[2][3]

Early life and career

Jean Barthet was born in Nay, a village in the Pyrenees region of France in 1920 – although he would later put his date of birth as 1930/1.[4][5][6] After studying at art college in Toulouse, he left for Paris, working for the milliner Gilbert Orcel before setting up his own salon.[4][6]

International reputation

Barthet presented his first collection in 1949 and soon attracted an international clientele – notable among them were many Hollywood stars.[7] He introduced hat styles that attracted newspaper publicity, including a white felt hat inspired by the Texas sheriff's sombrero and a feminine variation on the fedora.[8][9]

By the early 1960s his clients included Jacqueline Kennedy.[4][10] By the mid 1960s, such was his client list that the Chicago Tribune said Barthet had: "more star quality customers than any Hollywood studio ever had under contract".[11] These included names such as Sophia Loren, Natalie Wood, Brigitte Bardot and Princess Grace of Monaco.[12][13]

His collaborations with haute couture houses continued from his early career into the 1980s and he worked with, among others, André Courrèges, Chanel, Claude Montana, Sonia Rykiel, Paco Rabanne and Karl Lagerfeld.[4] He collaborated with another notable milliner, Parisian-born Claude Saint-Cyr, who worked with him from the mid 1960s to her retirement in the early 1970s.[14]

Legacy

Examples of Barthet's hats are in a number of public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2011, a vintage Barthet hat featured in a Lady Gaga shoot in Vanity Fair.[15] In 2014, reproductions inspired by his original models were created by his son Alexandre Barthet for the biopic Grace of Monaco.[16][17]

Barthet was also a keen photographer and his extensive photo archive includes portraits of musicians, actors and fashion designers – some of whom are captured wearing his hat designs.[18]

References
  1. Leblond, Romuald. "Jean Barthet (1920-2000)". theredlist.com. The Red List. Archived from the original on 18 August 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  2. Donohue, Deirdre (2001). Sophia Style. Barnes & Noble Publishing Inc. p. 92. ISBN 0760758638. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  3. "Michael Jackson". christies.com. Christie's. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  4. Mourgues, Renee (25 August 2010). "La bastide nayaise de Jean Barthet". La Republique des Pyrenees. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  5. "BARTHET Jean". Universalis.fr. Encyclopaedia Universalis (Fr). Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  6. Andriotakis, Pamela (4 April 1983). "Jean Barthet's Offbeat Bonnets Are Turning Heads This Spring from Paris to the Pacific". People. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  7. Waddell, Gavin (2004). How Fashion Works: Couture, Ready-to-Wear and Mass Production. Oxford: Blackwell Science. p. 105. ISBN 9780632057528. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  8. Walker, Nadeane (22 January 1955). "Popcorn Hat in Paris Fit to Eat". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  9. Harrington, Katherine (February 1963). "Movie Inspires Easter Caravan" (PDF). The Knickerbocker News (Albany). Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  10. "Ready Reference: Fast Facts about Jacqueline Kennedy". jfklibrary.org. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  11. Monique (18 February 1965). "Latest from Paris". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  12. "Jean Barthet". fashionmodeldirectory.com. Fashion Model Directory. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  13. Massin, Peggy (26 October 1961). "Eccentricities passe in French millinery". The Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  14. "Hoedenmaakster Claude Saint-Cyr overleden". Gazette van Antwerpen. 11 September 2002. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  15. "Vanity Fair Photo Shoot, part 9: Lady Gaga in Jean Barthet". gagafashionland.com. Gaga Fashionland. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  16. ""Grace of Monaco" debuts at Cannes Film Festival, spotlighting hats by French milliner Jean Barthet". shapoh.com. Shapoh. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  17. Jones, Katie (6 June 2014). "How Nicole Kidman became Grace of Monaco". My Daily. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  18. "Jean Barthet: About". jeanbarthet.com. Jean Barthet (estate). Retrieved 3 January 2015.
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