Visiting a hat exhibition always has been my favorite pastime. Whenever there is an exhibition in a city, I definitely visit it!When I traveled in France recently, it happened to me appear near the town Caussade. This small town at South of France is well-known for hosting the international hat festival “Les Estivales du Chapeau.” The exhibition lasts for a about half a week and is attended by hundreds of people. The timing was right, and the festival was in a full bloom when I was there, so I could not miss it!The festival has two parts: a hat market and the international millinery contest. The hat market is not so big, yet it was enjoyable to go where. I have never realised that France possesses such a vast scope for hats. Stalls with ready-to-buy hats are located on a town square.
Beside browsing and trying on numerous hats, you can watch a hat catwalk show, have a chat with a hat designer, perhaps meet old friends or make a new one (how it happened to me!).
You can also watch there how local hat makers are manufacturing hats in front of you. These ladies are making straw hats from a straw braid. Something between 20-30 meter of braid trim are needed to be sowing together to make a hat, but it depends on hat style.
Nearby you can see an industrial way of hat blocking. A metallic mould is pre-heated with a gas and then pressed for a few moments in to a straw capeline. Much faster than manual blocking!
Apart the mentioned hat market, you can see a millinery exhibition within the Les Estivales du Chapeau international hat contest. The contest is quite prestigious and hat makers from all over world sent their hats there. This year hats were presented by milliners from these countries:
The numerous stalls displaying the hat exhibits are concentrated in a big hall.
Hats are separated into categories and shown in different parts of the hall. Categories are: general, felt hats, straw hats, St Catherine (green and yellow) hats, hat spectacular, men’s hats etc.
The skill of the milliners is amazing. There were hats of all kinds and sizes. Not mention shades of colours… The berries hat, the rose hat, the fish hat, the chess desk hat, the piano hat…
Below there are photos of more exhibits which draw my attention. No comments, just enjoy watching.
There were so much more to see there apart of what shown in this blog.The festival is run each year in a middle of July.So, if it occurs to you to be at Southern France at this time of year, you might like the idea to include a town Caussade to your Must Visit list. You might find your next “The Hat” or meet your next personal designer there!