My aim is to change people's perceptions of what a hat can look like in the 21st century.
— Philip Treacy
Hats are the epitome of Englishness, and a royal wedding is the penultimate moment for a hat designer. I'm Irish, but I am a royalist and I believe in fantasy.
In Rome, I particularly love the history, churches, sculptures and architecture and the fact that you can walk along a tiny cobbled street and turn the corner to find the Trevi Fountain. London is evocative of other eras and full of history.
I grew up in the west of Ireland, and Galway was our local seaside resort. We'd go for one day of the year during the summer, and I have enduring memories of the sand and the sea.
I love the shape of cars. They are very inspiring as modern pieces of machinery. I can't drive, but I do like the look of them.
Gaga is an entertainer, so a hat for her is part of the illusion of entertaining.
How a hat makes you feel is what a hat is all about.
Hat-making is laborious and time-consuming. It's a very tactile medium, and you can develop the skills, but it's one of those things: you either have it, or you don't. I love bringing something to fruition with my hands that gives people pleasure.
The classic hat image was during the Forties and Fifties, and Elizabeth Taylor was the epitome of that; she was the ultimate celebrity of excess and glamour, and she worked major sun hats.
People, when they buy a hat, they can't explain why they want to buy it or why they want it, but they do. It's like chocolate.
When you meet someone, you meet their face. It's the most potent part of the body to embellish.
The success of a hat definitely lies with balancing the personality of the wearer with the type of occasion. Don't listen to those rules about face shape.
I believe in a democratic approach to fashion: if you feel good, then great. You may not look good, but it's not the problem.
Certainly, people like Gaga have introduced a new type of hat-wearing.
Everybody loves things that sparkle.
I grew up in a little village in the west of Ireland.
Hats are radical; only people that wear hats understand that.
There is no attitude required. The hat brings the attitude. And when people try on a hat they like, it is a bit of fun. It makes them laugh. You don't laugh when you put on a pair of shoes, but you do with a hat.
So my advice is to always choose something simpler - an expressive outfit, plus a hat, can be frightening.
You always see a better side of where you're visiting when a local shows you around.
I'm representative of 21st century Irish design, so I promote Irishness all over the world wherever I go.
I empathise with the fact that people want to look their best. A hat is all about how it makes you feel - it's so much better than a nip and tuck, and a lot less painful.
What I love most about Her Majesty is that she has kept hats alive in people's minds for more than 60 years. You can't think of her without imagining her with a hat or a crown. I would, of course, love to design one for her.
Hats make people feel good, and that's the point of them.
Not long ago, a hat was a conformist accessory. Then the 1960s came along, and young people didn't want to wear hats.
I must point out - Sarah Jessica Parker is not a diva - she's one of these pop culture characters that everybody likes.
I want to excite the eye through hatmaking.
When people think of hats, they think of her majesty the queen.
I believe in originality, primarily. However, it's important to know what there has been before to aim in that direction. Art history informs us. It informs our mind. I like to look at books, exhibitions, paintings, as a computer, subconsciously taking on information.
Elegance is all in the mind of the wearer.
Hats are attached to special moments in people's lives - weddings, or the races. In difficult times, people still get married; they still want to look their best.
I make hats for lots of iconic people, and that makes my job very interesting.
Hats are for life's ultimate moments. They're worn at races, at weddings. Occasions many of us, who aren't royals and celebrities, only attend once or twice in a lifetime.
I love the romance of what I do, although because of Isabella, Lady Gaga and Grace Jones, people think I have crazy customers. Sometimes I get more enthusiasm from the housewife who wants a hat and believes in it.
Royalty is completely different than celebrity. Royalty has a magic all its own.
Shopping can be a nightmare - first finding something to wear and then finding something to go with it, it's so difficult when there's so much choice. It can feel like entering a battleground.
I particularly like to travel for work because you see a completely different side of the country you're visiting.
I am very proud to be Irish.
Often, what makes my job so exciting is designing for the mother whose dream has been to wear one of my hats at her child's wedding. I feel as responsible for making her feel like a million dollars as I do for somebody in the public eye.
When you're wearing something on your head, you feel beautiful.
Hats are really for ultimate occasions, so when I make one, I try to do something different, something noticeable.
Every day, I like to make hats that make people dream.
I do say I'm a specialist in divas. Name a diva - I've worked with 'em.
Fantasy hats give you the possibility to dream.
Try on 100 different hats if you can, until you find the one that suits you best. It's a trial and error thing.
Somebody can feel elegant without being elegant. It's a personality.
People are dressing like stars, which is kind of fantastic.
Women come into our shop for that ultimate moment in their life. They're buying a dream. They're buying a moment for themselves. That's what I sell - moments.
Fashion is an illusion. It's a multibillion-pound industry that has to appear frivolous. Designers work and work and work, all night sometimes.
There's a technicality to designing and wearing hats. A hat is balancing the proportions of your face; it's like architecture or mathematics.
