Collection Magazine - Issue 1 - Autumn/Winter 22/23 - Magazine - Page 102
100
T E N R E A S O N S W E LOV E —
TEN REASONS
WE LOVE
LOCK & CO
They opened their doors almost 350 years
ago and have been making hats for the great
and the good ever since. A point perfectly
illustrated by the fact that a postcard from
abroad was once simply delivered to:
‘The best hatters in the world, London.’
—
One —
Four —
Seven —
We love that, having opened in 1676, Lock & Co
can lay claim to being not only the oldest shop
in London, but the oldest hat shop in the world.
To give some perspective as to its longevity, as
one of the oldest family-owned businesses still
in existence, the world-renowned Lock & Co is
older, even, than some of London’s most iconic
constructions — such as Buckingham Palace,
Wellington Arch, and Tower Bridge.
We love that 60 years of 007 style combines
with Lock & Co’s 346 year heritage of hat
making. The 007 Hat collection formally
establishes a long-standing relationship
between the two iconic British brands.
The range consists of seven James Bondinspired hats which pay homage to the
James Bond archives, including Goldfinger,
and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
We love that it is believed that James Benning,
the shop manager for James Lock III in 1865,
inspired the memorable Mad Hatter character
in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
Two —
Five —
We love that the Lock & Co shop retains so
many original and quirky features. Since 2015,
it has also proudly housed a Heritage Room,
showcasing a curated collection of archival
content, like Winston Churchill’s ledgers and
the first-ever Coke hat, otherwise known as the
Bowler, which was devised by Lock & Co in
1849 and named after nobleman Edward Coke,
who commissioned the company to create
a style hardy enough for his gamekeepers at
Holkham Hall in Norfolk. It was later made all
the more memorable by the silver screen
Bond villain, Oddjob in Goldfinger.
We love that Lock & Co take notes when
creating a ladies hat for an event like
Royal Ascot, so that no two women will
end up wearing the same style of hat to
the same occasion.
Three —
We love Lock & Co’s distinctive, black-andwhite hat boxes. Featuring the Lock & Co logo
that has never changed, there is no smarter
storage on the planet!
Six —
We love Lock & Co’s famed contraption — the
Conformateur. It dates back to 1850 and was
designed and made in Paris by Allié-Maillard.
It looks like a metal hat that sits on top of a
person’s head and has 48 flexible arms which,
when the apparatus is pushed down, tiny
calibrating pins pierce a piece of paper on the
top of the device replicating the exact shape
of the head. The paper outline is then used to
adjust an alterable blocking device, which is
used to form the shape of the hat after being
heated with steam to give the exact shape of
hat required. Lock & Co own about eight
of these rare and fragile Conformateurs.
Eight —
We love Lock & Co’s famous green front
door at 6 St James’s Street, a Grade-II listed
building in the heart of London’s St James’s.
The original staircase, known as a ‘coffin
staircase,’ was redesigned with a stairwell in
the Victorian era to accommodate lowering a
coffin down to the ground level through the
central space, which was shaped like a coffin,
thereby avoiding any stairs.
Nine —
We love that if the going gets very tough for
your hat, renovations can be done by the
Hatters at Lock & Co to repair or replace most
ailments (although once they have been eaten
by the family dog, it may be too late…).
Ten —
We love that after witnessing two World
Wars, 16 monarchs and countless fashion
changes, Lock & Co is a member of the
exclusive Tercentenarian Club, an elite society
of British businesses that have been trading
for over 300 years and whose founding family
still runs them.
