Danielle de Niese’s appearance on the cover of June issue and the stage this summer as in as the festival celebrates its 90th anniversary marked a full-circle moment of societal fabulousness. For, in 1907, Lily Elsie had her own cover-girl moment in the 5 June edition of , when she debuted the English-language version of the German at the Daly’s in . The show became a sensation, running for 778 performances in before touring the country.
But as much as the production itself was a runaway success, it was the that turned heads – quite literally. The costumes of the play quickly became the look of the season as le tout Londres rushed out to buy outfits inspired by the charming production. Elsie’s costume, designed by society’s go-to couturier, Lucy (‘Lucile’), Lady Duff Gordon, included a millinery marvel.
With its sizeable circumference and towering trimmings, the ‘Merry Widow Hat’ sparked a huge craze in Edwardian fashion. The ‘Merry Widow hat’ worn by Elsie in the play, a wide-brimmed, black hat covered in chiffon and festooned with feathers, would go on to become look for fashionable women across Europe. Women in New York even sought inspiration from the play's corsets and gowns when it came to their stylings.
The look would soon ornament the heads of aristocratic aesthetes the world over. These enormous hats grew to ever-more epic proportions, becoming a status symbol to one-up each other with – perhaps the earliest case of ‘go big or go home’ id.
