Your best friend's wedding, your son's bar mitzvah, the Prix de Diane, graduation, or formal cocktail party: are you looking for a hat for the occasion? Maison Courtois offers inspiration and ideas to help you find the perfect style. Whether it's a wide-brimmed hat, boater hat, or fedora; straw, sisal, or felt, we present our collection of ceremonial hats to dress up your memorable events, designed and crafted in our workshops. Our hats and fascinators can be fully customized to match your outfit.
Ladies, when you come for the fittings, we recommend that you bring your dress or outfit, a photo, or a fabric sample to personalize and fit your headpiece.
A WEDDING HAT LIKE KATE MIDDLETON OR MEGHAN MARKLE'S?
These days, the ceremonial hat is closely associated with the British Crown. Royal weddings are an opportunity to admire a parade of headwear, ranging from the most understated to the most extravagant. Queen Elizabeth II herself was the contemporary icon of the hat and the art of millinery! These days, morals are evolving, and ceremonial headwear is becoming more democratic. The best inspirations for these ladies? The famous Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle. These two women are probably the best examples of elegance and modernity when it comes to ceremonial hats.
Kate Middleton is a big fan of fascinators. She likes models adorned with flowers or veils, sometimes with feathers, but whose silhouette remains less extravagant. Whether silk flowers or fabric compositions, the Duchess of Cambridge's fascinators are very couture and voluminous, but always modest and extremely elegant.
Follow her trend with our
Romy ,
Mazurka and
Ysalis creations: fascinators that are both chic and with a touch of originality reminiscent of the Duchess's style.
Meghan Markle, for her part, prefers straighter, cleaner, and more understated headwear lines. She notably inspired us for one of our creations that bears her name: the Meghan model. Available in an infinite variety of styles with varying degrees of trim, Meghan also exists in a stripped-down, unadorned pancake style, mounted on a headband to hug the hair and free the head.
Our
Tonkin and
Elsa wedding hats are two creations inspired by Meghan Markle's style. Also check out the
Meghan hat , a sleek design named after the American princess.
WHAT TO WEAR FOR A RELIGIOUS CEREMONY, AT CHURCH OR SYNAGOGUE?
The wearing of head coverings during a religious ceremony has evolved considerably with customs. Refer to the invitation for the dress code and to find out whether, in the case of a wedding, for example, it is a " hat wedding " or not. In this case, the bride and groom will await the guests wearing at least one pretty hair accessory. At Courtois Paris, we offer a line of unique hair decorations. If you plan to remove your hat for the evening, these will be the ultimate accessory to replace it.
Creations to be found directly in store.
First, choose your headpiece according to your role during the ceremony: parents, bridesmaid, witness, etc.
Consider the practicality of your headwear. For example, we recommend fascinators like the Meghan for mothers of the bride and groom, whose hugs might be hampered by a wide-brimmed hat.
In any other case, you're free to decide whether to wear a hat or a fascinator! The possibilities are endless; let your personality and style shine through. If you're a shy or reserved person, we recommend a simple and elegant fascinator. A small
bolero or
swirl will become your essentials.
The fascinator or hat will also depend on the wedding venue: a country atmosphere, a mountain wedding, or a seaside wedding will mainly influence the material of your hat. It's up to you to break the mold and add style to your outfit with a large straw boater hat, sewn for a city wedding, for example!
For a more formal ceremony, more sophisticated models will be perfect.
If you've never worn a hat before, don't be afraid to try on as many styles as possible to get the idea, and stick to designs with medium brims like the
Saigon , for example.
Finally, the weather and the season will also guide your choice of headwear. For a ceremony in Brittany by the sea where the wind can be strong, we recommend small hat models like the India or the Coco , or even a Bibi Berangel which will not risk flying away.
For a winter wedding in the mountains, our Amanda fur hats will amaze you.
A Panama hat can also be an original and very elegant idea for ladies, but also for men! Match the grosgrain of our Port Louis model to your suit and you will be the most elegant for a ceremony in a Provençal estate.
WHICH HAT SHOULD YOU CHOOSE FOR A CHRISTIAN DIOR NEWLOOK STYLE OUTFIT, A HAT LIKE AUDREY HEPBURN, COCO CHANEL FROM THE 1930s, OR A SCHIAPARELLI HAT?
In 1947, designer Christian Dior revolutionized post-war fashion with a completely new style: the New Look. The Bar suit's silhouette is centered on the hips, with volume carried over the shoulders and skirt.
To complement this silhouette, we offer you hats with large brims, ideally flat, graphic, like
Elsa without her flower, or the
Meghan sisal model.
Audrey Hepburn, one of the greatest inspirations for modern hatters...
A true embodiment of elegance, the actress has inspired us with several models such as the Manon hat or the Tonkin hat. These creations will be ideal with a simple, long and centered silhouette. Their simplicity will highlight your outfit, without them being insignificant.
Coco Chanel, originally a milliner and later a legendary figure in the world of fashion, loved to wear hats. Her hats were simple, often black, and sparsely trimmed.
Our
Coco and India bells will perfectly complement a Chanel-inspired outfit. Back to the 20s!
Esla Schiaparelli and her world-famous hat-shoe collection built her reputation as a grande dame of couture, particularly thanks to her headwear.
With a characterful outfit in the style of Schiaparelli, we opt for a graphic model like our
Scarlett or
Tonkin .
WHAT HAT SHOULD YOU WEAR FOR A HORSE RIDING AWARD LIKE THE PRIX DE DIANE OR THE QATAR PRIX DE L'ARC DE TRIOMPHE?
The tradition of wearing hats at horse racing events has been going on for centuries, even evolving into real elegance competitions !
Horse racing events, social gatherings where high society gathered, were an opportunity for ladies to show off their finest attire and adorn themselves with their most incredible headgear. A true social marker, the hat was once a powerful barometer of elegance for ladies.
These days , horse racing events like the Prix de Diane or Ascot are an opportunity to show off your originality and extravagance! Every year, we celebrate the ceremonial hat in a festival of ever more extraordinary colors, shapes, and feathers. There are no rules to restrict you. Play along and wear a headdress that will be remembered.
Our milliners create absolutely exceptional creations for these events, in the millinery tradition.
Many unique creations are imagined by our milliners and displayed directly in the store! Feel free to visit us and watch our Instagram stories to discover them, as we don't offer them on our website.
