Heads and Tales

Aage Thaarup left his job in a Copenhagen department store in his teens to conquer the world. By the late 1930s, he had a shop in London and was milliner to the British royal family. Revealed to the world by Cecil Beaton, his famous customers included Walllis Simpson, Margot Fonteyn and Marlene Dietrich - but the pinnacle of his career came with the creation of the tricorn hat worn by the Queen annually between 1953 and 1986 at the Trooping of the Colour ceremony. Declared insolvent at least twice, Thaarup's obituary in The Times noted that 'He was not hardened by fame or fortune. He wore a cheerful disposition and a bow-tie always at a ten-to-four angle.'

Originally published in 1956, this book is now part of the V&A Fashion Perspectives Series. Selected by V&A publishing in consultation with our world-leading fashion curators, the Fashion Perspectives series offers an access all areas pass to the glamorous world of fashion. Models, magazine editors and the designers themselves take readers behind the scenes at the likes of Balenciaga, Balmain, Chanel, Dior, Harper's Bazaar and Vogue in the golden age of couture.