Heads up

By Gena Tuffery, November 9, 2007 @ 11:28 am

Hats off to The New Dowse, which is demonstrating its multi-discipline exhibition policy with a show of millinery.

Part of The Deutz International Fashion Season, ‘When Philip Met Isabella’ is a collection of works by a milliner some say needs to get his own head read. But Philip Treacy’s muse, the style icon Isabella Blow, wore his creations with pride and elegance—even when headpieces like the 1,000-veiled Mourning Hat put Blow in danger of falling on her face.

A collection of the best and most eccentric results of the pair’s 20-year creative collaboration, the show features many engineering feats. There’s The Ship, a realistic replica of an 18th century French vessel resplendent with full rigging, and Birds of a Feather, made from gilded eagle quills and worn by Isabella with a ball and chain perched precariously beside it.

On till February 3, there’s lots of time to poke your head in.