Dating a Graham Smith Hat

NinaN

NinaN

Registered Guest
My goodness, I do seem to find some obscure, hard-to-date hats in the thrift stores and estate sales around me.

Here I am again, looking for some help dating a hat. It's a Harrods Knightsbridge Graham Smith II hat. I know Graham Smith was a well-known and respected milliner, but I'm not certain he had a son (Graham Smith II?) who also made hats or if this is just a different brand name. Harrods no longer sells GS hats, so that wasn't any help either. It does have a fabric label, so that might be a clue. The other GS hats I've found have not been affiliated with any store, so the fact that this one has Harrods on the label might also be a clue. I might have to call or email Harrods!
I've attached pictures. It's a small hat, so I chose to wear it cocked to the side. Any ideas, hints, style descriptions that you all can throw out would be fantastic. The feathers are coq feathers, right? As you can (hopefully) see, the front top of the brim is round, but the back top is indented. The shape is a bit of a bowler.

Hats off to you all for your help,

Nina



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Hello,

That is a lovely hat. While I have not researched Graham Smith hats, as they are more contemporary in age than where my interests lay, I am certainly a fan of his earlier work. My guess is that the "II" is indicating a bridge line or more affordable line of his hats, similar to "Adolfo II" hats. But I am not 100% sure. It is made of a nice quality fur-felt so it was not a low priced hat, of that I am sure. The feathers look to be a mix of mostly hackles, with some coque and burnt coque in the mix.

If I had to guess, I would place it in the 1990s. It could be newer than that, the style is classic. Looking forward to what others may think.
 
The author of a 1998 article about Smith noted: "...the designer splits his time between making model hats for the elite and working on Graham Smith II, a beautiful mainstream range available at selected UK stores." It added that the "...whole collection is available from Suzanne, a famous shop in Madison Avenue, New York, where the hats are so much in demand..."
 
Thank you, Lynn and Barbara! Just emailed Harrods and they immediately got back to me requesting pictures. I was hoping the hat was older, but regardless, it is gorgeous!! I'll update when they reply.

:D
Nina
 
Here is her response:

Our Archivist has informed us that Graham II was a range of hats made for selected UK retailers and were still designed by Graham Smith.

Our records indicate that Graham Smith was selling hats at Harrods during the 1990's, as well as making personal appearances in the store and the design of the Harrods logo corresponds with this date.

We haven't been able to locate this particular hat so cannot provide the original selling price.

We do hope this has been informative and if you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

Rebecca Redpath
Customer Loyalty Adviser | Harrods Ltd
Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7XL, UK
T: UK: 03333 001 234 | INT: +44 (0)20 3626 7911 | E: [email protected]
 
Rebecca,

Thank you for sharing that reply from Harrods with us. Although I had dated the hat correctly, I honestly had never seen that label before, and never knew about the "II" label. Always learning something here on the VFG!
 
Just received this note from Paula and thought I'd share:

Hi
I know your post was a couple if years ago, but i thought i would let you know that i worked for Gramham Smith at kangol when i left school. I worked for a company called Delores in welbeck way London. It was taken over by kangol and gramham and 3 of his milliners come to us about a year later. Whats more i made that hat in about 83/84. Gramham would scribe a drawing give us a block or a block shape and we would make it. I made a lot of hats for a lot of famous people like the Queen mother, lady di (as that was what she was then).

Graham did not have any children he was guy. I was only young and i sat next to him in the workroom and he would laugh at the things i would say. he would get so angry when hats came back to fix or reshape.

Anyway i hope you read this and it helps.
Paula
 
I, too, worked at Kangol during the Graham Smith reign. I have wonderful memories of his workshop upstairs our offices in Welbeck Way, where all his ladies sewed beautiful creations as well as the VIPs who came in to the Showroom to have a bespoke piece especially made for them. (Royalty and Celebrities alike). This was during the 1980s and there was also an annual fashion show hosted in-house, filled with Graham's beautiful designs. Lovely times.
 
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