On the night

Easter Paper Bonnet Parade co-hosted by French Connection and i-D Magazine
The finale of the evening was a parade of the hats submitted by designers including shoe designer Georgina Goodman and architect Jamie Fobert. Selected by the V&A, French Connection and i-D magazine, designers of all disciplines were invited to create a paper hat using i-D paper and other material of their choice. The parade was judged by a panel consisting of Stephen Jones, V&A curator Oriole Cullen, French Connection’s Director of Marketing & PR Lorna Perrin and i-D editor Ben Reardon.

The Shellac Sisters
The sounds of the retro-chic Shellac Sisters made us dust off our dancing shoes and tip our hat as they mixed it up with 1920s wind-up gramophones and their vast collection of vintage 78s.

Hat Hoopla
Visitors tested their skills on this original twist on the classic fairground game - if their aim was good enough they bagged a prize from the goodie bag!  

Hat Dressing Booths
Hatters and Milliners from the classic workshops of John Boyd Millinery and Lock & Co Hatters opened vintage custom-made booths for hat-wearing Ladies and Gentlemen. Visitors could experience a one-to-one salon consultation, where they were personally advised on how to wear and care for the hat they arrived in, or they could discover the best style and shape of hat for them taken from examples made in the workshops of John Boyd, and Lock & Co. Gentlemen could have their head size measured using the unique Victorian head measuring device ‘The Conformateur’.
Finally, the complete new looks were captured on camera!

Pimp My Cap!
Artist Kate Tilley helped visitors fashion themselves a contemporary millinery masterpiece: using a variety of decorative materials and accessories they created custom-made baseball caps - an ultimate piece of original street wear!

Hat Re-fashioning Workshop
Visitors could bring their own old hats to customise, or choose from our variety of unwanted and second hand headwear to re-fashion with Adele M Pederson, workshop assistant at Stephen Jones Hats and Chloe Harbour and Vicky Sennet of Hunga Munga.

Fitzrovia Radio Hour Present ‘The Romance of Helen Trent’
Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed a classic drama based on radio plays of the 40s and 50s, with live sound effects, cut-glass pronunciation, and the last word in vintage attire.
And so the scene is set ……..the lovely Helen Trent, deeply in love with the handsome lawyer Gilbert Whitney, faces the most desperate hour of her romance as she sets out to prove for herself what so many women long to prove - that just because a woman is 30, or more, romance in life need not be over, that romance can live in life at 30 and after. Also in this episode Fitzrovia Radio challenged our detective skills with a gripping four-minute mystery. Who is the perpetrator of dastardly goings on at a family gathering? - could we solve the case before the inspector pronounces his verdict?
The evening's broadcast was brought to us by Anzora Cream Oil Hair Tonic, a product of the Anzora Perfumery London.

Curator-led Tours and Talks
Visitors could explore the V&A collections with a Mad Hatter twist!

Exploring Tea Drinking Customs
Ann Eatwell, Curator of Metalwork, explored the history and customs of tea drinking, illustrated through the V&A silver collections.

The Wonder of Alice
Emma Laws, Frederick Warne Curator of Children's Literature, explored the traditional childhood tale of Alice in Wonderland and its more modern interpretations.

Mad Hatters Tea Party
The historic café rooms were the location for a traditional English Tea Party with a difference, with tea, cakes and performances.

Tea Leaf Readings
Visitors could find out what the future holds through a traditional tea leaf reading.

Time for Tea
The English National Ballet School demonstrated how to brew the perfect cup of tea with … preheat eight dancers, add specially made hats and a few sets of teacups pour them around a cafe, mix a splash of piano and allow adequate time to brew!

Mad Hatters Tea Party Menu
For one night only we offered a specially designed tea party menu by Benugo:
Windsor Soup
Homemade Scotch Egg
Cheese Straw Selection
Potato Wedges

Mad Hatter’s Rabbit and Tarragon Pie
Egg and Bacon Tart
Potato and Cheese Croquette with Sprouting Broccoli

Queen Victoria Sandwich
Lemon Curd Eton Mess

CONTACTS:
The Shellac Sisters: http://www.shellacsisters.co.uk/
James Lock & Co:  http://www.lockhatters.co.uk
Kate Tilley: www.katetilley.co.uk
John Boyd: 16 Beauchamp Place, London Sw3 1NQ
Hunga Munga:  http://www.myspace.com/hungamunga
Fitzrovia Radio Hour:  http://www.fitzroviaradio.com/
Adele M Pederson: www.adelemildred.com