Before milliner
Herbert Johnson joined Swaine Adeney Brigg, it was situated at 13 Old
Burlington Street, London. In 1980, two American gentlemen came in to
the shop and introduced themselves as Mr. Harrison Ford and Mr.
Steven Spielberg with an interesting request.
Mr. Spielberg
announced that he was on the brink of making an adventure film with
Harrison Ford as the central figure: Raiders of the Lost Ark and
revealed that the main character Indiana Jones would be wearing a hat
which would be pivotal to the character and the plot. Herbert Johnson
was delighted at having been chosen to help design what was to become
the famous iconic Indy hat.
Our classic oldest
hat shape was the Herbert Johnson wide brim fur felt hat called 'The
Poet' with its tall crown and this was the style chosen. The 'Poet'
had been made by Herbert Johnson since the 1890's and has always been
deemed ageless. The hat was modified for the character Indiana Jones
in a number of ways. and the perfect shade of brown called sable was
chosen.
Indiana Jones' hat
The Indy hat is very
distinctive as we shaped the brim into an ovoid to give protection to
the eyes and neck - reducing the sides also helping with camera
angles. With the brim pulled down we created an explorer/safari look
and we altered the original ribbon from 50mm to 39mm, to make the
tall crown appear taller. The Indiana Jones hat is carefully cut by
hand, using the original patterns. Each size is ever so slightly
tailored to keep the hat in proportion to the wearer's hat size and
finally hand-rubbed to give it its unique shape.
The re-worked and
subtly modified Herbert Johnson Poet hat gave Mr Spielberg the look
he had envisioned for Harrison Ford's character Indiana Jones and
what has been known subsequently as the 'Indy' hat was born. The
tremendous success and popularity of the film Raiders of the Lost Ark
and its sequels along with the 'Indy' Hat which defines Harrison
Ford's character's 'look' has been incredible and continues to this
day.
Apart from the
original hat for 'Indiana Jones' (Harrison Ford) we made a further 45
'Indy' hats of assorted sizes, some for Mr. Ford and the remainder
for the film stunt actors on the set of Raiders of The Lost Ark.
The original and the
first Indy hat still made today
Since the huge
success of the Indiana Jones films, we have continued to make exactly
the same hat still calling it 'The Poet' for fans of both the Indiana
Jones movies and the starring actor Harrison Ford. The adventurer
'Indy' hat is enormously popular and as soon as the hat is put on,
creates a handsome rugged look. The Poet hat like the Indiana Jones
movies remains a classic and unforgettable masterpiece.
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