Followed by a Gourmet Gazette Slide Show of Brigitte Bardot in Jean Barthet Hats 

Brigitte Bardot in a Jean Barthet hat. Photo ©Jean Barthet. Courtesy Barthet Paris. Handout via The Gourmet Gazette

Paris, France — These were mythical hats that adorned some of the entertainment industry’s most mythical heads ranging from Grace Kelly to Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Lauren Bacall, Michael Jackson (those fedoras were by Barthet) , and Catherine Deneuve as well as participating in the collections of major fashion houses. The hats made meticulously by hand by the legendary milliner Jean Barthet left a unique mark on fashion for over four decades. For his second collection back in the 1950s he boldly staged a hat fashion show and that is when his very special relationship with Brigitte Bardot began. She would model his creations for the first time in that very show back when she was only 13. It would be her first fashion show and launched her career as a very much in demand junior model, before becoming the ground breaking legend and animal rights activist that she would become. She would also become the milliner’s muse and friend. 

The hats of Jean Barthet — who died in 2020 at the age of 79 —can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Jean Barthet was also an accomplished photographer and artist and he captured in photographs many of the stars he hatted. The good news, as Paris Fashion Week is in full swing, is that Jean Barthet’s son, Alexandre Barthet has taken over the house and  follows in his father’s footsteps from whom he learned the millinery craft hands-on from a young age. He created the hats worn by Nicole Kidman in the film Grace of Monaco released in 2014, drawing inspiration from the hats his father created for Grace Kelly. Today each hat is a work of couture,  hand crafted and made to order in France. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette https://www.barthetparis.com/

A Gourmet Gazette Slide Show of
Brigitte Bardot in Jean Barthet hats.

Photos ©Jean Barthet. Courtesy Barthet Paris. Handout via The Gourmet Gazette