Aage Thaarup was a Danish-born milliner who ran a celebrated hatmaking business in London between the 1930s and 1970s.
13 Facts About Aage Thaarup
1.
2.
Aage Gjerfing Thaarup was born in Copenhagen, the second of four sons in a family of modest means.
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Aage Thaarup wanted to be a schoolteacher, but his parents could not afford to pay his college fees so he got a job in the hat department of Fornesbeck, then Copenhagen's largest department store.
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Aage Thaarup had no hatmakers in his family, but would later say that his grandmother had made shoes for Queen Alexandra.
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Aage Thaarup borrowed more money and travelled first class to Bombay, selling hundreds of hats during the voyage and building up a client base.
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In 1943, Aage Thaarup lost a well-publicised libel case against the publishers of the magazine Lilliput.
7.
For George VI's 1947 tour of South Africa, Norman Hartnell and Aage Thaarup prepared the queen consort's garments by numbering every outfit and matching hat to ensure there was no confusion.
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Aage Thaarup was in good company, since Edward Molyneux designed the uniform's beret and Norman Hartnell took charge of the uniform itself.
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Aage Thaarup designed factory caps and many models for high-street stores.
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Aage Thaarup said at the hearing that he had been helping friends and relatives in Denmark.
11.
Aage Thaarup ended his 1959 show by saying: "Stop, we are forgetting Young London", then bringing forward a young amateur model who had been co-opted when he spotted her passing his store and placing one of his hats on her head.
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In 1960, Aage Thaarup was reported to be collaborating with hairdresser Vidal Sassoon to ensure the hats matched the new decade's hairstyles.
13.
Examples of Aage Thaarup's work are held in, among others, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Museum Victoria, Melbourne.