WELCOME TO
CHAPELLERIE MOURET

Borsalino, Stetson, Flechet… and the most on-trend: Kangol (and its famous beret), Bailey… And also lesser known designers destined to become great designers…. Mouret is also at the cutting edge with the first “couture” hats when women’s hats experienced a renewal, and the famous “clochard” or porkpie-style hat at the time of designers such as Jacques Le Corre, Philippe Model or Marie Mercié (’90s).

Mouret the milliner has been able to retain the spirit of tradition and change with the times as trends and fashions change, occasionally being ahead of them.

Monsieur Mouret did not just make do with the Panama hats sales reps showed him or that they found at trade shows, and travelled around Ecuador a dozen times looking for authenticity. He went to meet artisans at the heart of most remote villages and hamlets where the most beautiful Panamas in the world were patiently hand-woven using an ancestral and traditional technique. More than six months are required to weave one of the finest Panamas, fibre by fibre! (as Panama straw hats, which are badly named, are not made in Panama but exclusively in Ecuador in the vicinity of Cuenca, Jipijapa and Montecristi, for the finest) The Panama hat is made up of dried fibres from the leaves of the Ecuador palm tree and entirely woven by hand in the coolest hours of the morning or evening, as during the day the heat can make the straw break. You can tell when a Panama is a real one thanks to the rosette weaving featured on the top of the hat.

The straw is the freshest it can be and its suppleness has given it its reputation, as in Ecuador (a humid country) the finest of them can be rolled.

braces, parasols, tailloles (wide wool Provençal belts), bow ties, walking sticks, (even swordsticks!) umbrellas, fans, driving gloves, long gloves for ceremonies, mittens, mantilla or balaclavas…

like Robin Renucci, Daniel Auteuil… and Jean-Pierre Marielle who was a regular customer in particular, producers of the festival including Valère Novarina, a loyal customer, or Olivier Py and then in other sectors like politics with Lionel Jospin, and music with Alain Bashung…

At the time when wearing hats became mainstream, hats with small brims, like trilby or pork-pie hats vied with hats with flat brims and very high crowns. Adventure hunter-style hats, (Indiana Jones-style) by Stetson are still highly popular and have come up against the early 20th century American-style wide-brim hat as well as the bad boy-style narrower preshaped cap with a visor. Women have not been forgotten and set their sights on wonderful Italian designs by Grévi, particularly liking wide-brimmed straw hats, choosing them plain or decorated with flowers in various beautiful fabrics, or cloche hats in stitched fabric which can be folded…

For a few years the famous Avignon shoemaker, Alexandre Bretinière, has switched to focus on hats, and assists Monsieur Mouret with purchasing and welcomes customers with the smiling disposition he is known for and his sound advice in millinery, which been the same now for more than two centuries.