Hats by Madame Paulette: Paris Milliner Extraordinaire

“Hats by Madame Paulette: Paris Milliner Extraordinaire should be on your must have reading list as well as an essential part of your fashion library.”

Hats by Madame Paulette is one of those gems that you come across when you least expect it. Annie Schneider engages her reader with an amazing accounting of a life well lived. Madame Paulette was in fact a living legend whose legacy spanned multiple decades and eras while quite literally touching the lives of thousands of her clients.

Unquestionably, Hats by Madame Paulette is both informative and entertaining. The book is lavishly illustrated by way of black and white photos and designer sketches that clearly give credence to her nickname of “the Queen of Milliners” or “Queen of the Turban.”

The text is simple and quite intelligently written which keeps the reader absorbed in the history and story that is Madame Paulette. She was nothing if not endlessly prolific and an amazing integral part of fashion history. Her business life was inexorably linked to her private and yet she managed to have two very distinct aspects.

Fashion books so often concentrate on clothes rather than any of the contiguous areas of creativity, which is why this particular book is so important to those who find fashion to be their preferred field of interest. Mme Paulette was a one-woman dynamo whose collaborations, clients, and accomplishments read like a who’s who of celebrities, designers, society matrons, royalty, and brands. Very few of any generation can lay claim to what she accomplished in her career. Some highlights include Robert Piguet, Lagerfeld, Montana, Babe Paley, The Begum Aga Khan, Comtesse Jacqueline de Ribes, Cecil Beaton, the movies My Fair Lady and Gigi—and that’s barely scratching the surface of who Madame Paulette encountered and joined forces with during her career.

Hats by Madame Paulette: Paris Milliner Extraordinaire should be on your must have reading list as well as an essential part of your fashion library. One learns that great moments in fashion are often overlooked and overshadowed by marquee names and brands, so to discover a hidden treasure like Madame Paulette leaves the reader with a great feeling of enlightenment and accomplishment.