Aage Thaarup

Aage Thaarup (1906–1987) was a Danish-born milliner who ran a celebrated hatmaking business in London between the 1930s and 1970s.

Among his notable clients were the Queen Mother and Queen of the United Kingdom – for whom he designed the bearskin tricorn worn at the annual Trooping the Colour parade. When this famous hat was displayed at an exhibition in 2003, Suzy Menkes said in The New York Times: "There is a particular combination of madness and dignity to the dashing tricorn that Aage Thaarup created".

There was certainly an eccentric element to many of Thaarup's hats – he once created a design modelled on the Royal Albert Hall for a British Pathé news feature – but this was underpinned by hat design skills garnered from a long apprenticeship in Copenhagen, Delhi, Paris and Berlin. During a more than 40-year career, he was beset by financial difficulties on more than one occasion and still retained a loyal customer base – not least The Queen. His Times obituary noted: "He was not hardened by fame or fortune. He wore a cheerful disposition and a bow-tie always at a ten-to-four angle".

Early life and career Aage Gjerfing Thaarup was born in Copenhagen, the second of four sons in a family of modest means. He wanted to be a schoolteacher, but his parents could not afford to pay his college fees so he got a job in the hat department of Fornesbeck, then Copenhagen's largest department store.

Moving to London – on a one-way ticket using borrowed money – he sold hats for a time as a commercial traveller, but found he could not make enough to live on.

Establishment of salon Returning to London in 1932, Thaarup set up shop in cramped upstairs rooms just off Berkeley Square. His reputation grew by the hat and he began attracting London society customers – including Wallis Simpson.

In 1943, Thaarup lost a well-publicised libel case against the publishers of the magazine Lilliput. It juxtaposed (on facing pages) a picture of him and one of his flower-decorated hats with the caption: 'I only wanted a few pansies' with another image of a gardener holding a garden fork with the caption: 'Keep out of my garden'. While his counsel had argued that this might imply he was a "degenerate who should be shunned by all right-thinking members of society", the defendant successfully argued that there was no defamatory intention. At this time, the word 'pansy' was a slang term for a gay man and the decriminalisation of homosexual acts was more than 20 years away. In July 1943, the Court of Appeal ordered that there were sufficient grounds for a new trial. Thaarup's reputation survived – by 1950, he was chairman of the Association of London Millinery Designers and that year helped to choose suitable headgear for the WRAF in company with an air marshal, an air chief marshal and an air commandant.

Hats for royalty His most prestigious customer in the early years was undoubtedly the Duchess of York Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later queen consort) and he was the first to design the wide-brimmed hat with veil that became her favoured style – her daughter and a future loyal customer Princess Elizabeth used to attend some fittings.

For George VI's 1947 tour of South Africa, Norman Hartnell and Thaarup prepared the queen consort's garments by numbering every outfit and matching hat to ensure there was no confusion. Thaarup also had to consider the vagaries of the climate in his designs – hat pins that resisted rust and fabrics that wouldn't be irresistible to insects. He also included hats with ostrich feathers – a major South African export and highly prized by the garment and millinery industries.

Other notable commissions Thaarup had many friends with cash to spare. On one occasion, the hotelier Victor Sassoon bought his whole hat collection to give to the female guests at his Christmas house party.

He also designed factory caps and many models for high-street stores. Thaarup was also highly active in promoting his name throughout his career – not only appearing in numerous British Pathé films, but also visiting high-street stores that stocked his non-bespoke hats twice a year to personally sell to the public both his own designs and those of his competitor milliners.

Financial worries Despite his marketing successes, Thaarup had financial difficulties throughout his career. In 1940–42 his business went into administration for the first time – partly as a result of wartime trading conditions – although unlike clothing hats were not rationed. Two years later, a British Pathé film showcased his latest line of Tudor-inspired hats.

In 1955, he was declared bankrupt – something The Times attributed to overtrading – although Thaarup's generosity to his circle may have been a contributory factor. After the bankruptcy hearing was over, his friends clubbed together so that he could spend the weekend in The Ritz.

Later career With the backing of friends, Thaarup continued to make hats, moving to smaller premises at 132 King's Road Chelsea. The move to one of the soon-to-be epicentres of the Swinging London scene was a step down from Mayfair, but seems to have inspired Thaarup. He ended his 1959 show by saying: "Stop, we are forgetting Young London", then bringing forward a young amateur model who had been co-opted when he spotted her passing his store and placing one of his hats on her head. The reporter noted that the young girl wore the typical Chelsea outfit of white stockings, straight hair and plain dress and both she and the audience were delighted by the transforming effect of a design created by this: "dearly loved figure in the London fashion world". In 1960, Thaarup was reported to be collaborating with hairdresser Vidal Sassoon to ensure the hats matched the new decade's hairstyles. A year later – still sponsored by friends – Thaarup moved to business premises in Hanover Square.

Legacy Among those who worked for Thaarup were Constance Babington Smith – a trained hatmaker although she was more interested in aviation – and the notable milliner John Boyd, who was Thaarup's apprentice. Examples of Aage Thaarup's work are held in, among others, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Museum Victoria, Melbourne. His most enduring model, the tricorn bearskin, was among the works included in the 2003 Kensington Palace exhibition Hats and Handbags – with all items in the exhibition being selected by the Queen and her assistants.