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South African-born, New York-based milliner Albertus Swanepoel has designed hats for just about every star you can think of, from Nicki Minaj and Aretha Franklin to Yoko Ono. Just last week, Justin Bieber was spotted wearing Swanepoel’s classic Tahoma hat at the W Hotel in New York. The singing heart-throb everyone loves to hate dropped in to perform an impromptu jazz rendition of Boyz II Men’s I’ll Make Love To You looking a little older (and a lot more dapper).
Bieber is riding the crest of a hat trend in menswear that has been gaining momentum for the past two years. Many would argue the hat’s homecoming was really propelled into the mainstream by Pharrell Williams, whose Vivienne Westwood wide-brimmed top hat appeared everywhere after he wore it at the Grammys last year.
Swanepoel is one of the few remaining milliners who make hats by hand. His Manhattan studio in the old haberdashery district is filled to the ceiling with antique head measurers, wooden hat forms and reams of fine fabrics. His bespoke millinery service puts you in his chair and measures your head dimensions, which he then casts to form your own head mould that he will store for the future of your headgear needs.
For the past few years, local brands such as Simon and Mary have ensured South African fashionistas can afford to stay on top of the global hat wave with styles that closely (sometimes unabashedly) resemble international versions.
The news of Bieber and Albertus has the fashion crowd in a froth, with Pnina Fenster, editor of Glamour SA, saying on Facebook: “Never did I think I would become a Justin Bieber fan and then, at the drop of a hat...”
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