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Perhaps Humphrey Bogart would not have become a cinema icon without his fedora hat in the timeless Casablanca. We all remember Charlie Chaplin’s inevitable bowler hat. Just as we cannot fail to remember, more recently, Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones with another famous fedora, or another famous bowler hat, that of Malcom McDowell in A Clockwork Orange. The examples of how a hat can characterize the character of a film – or a play – are countless. Sometimes a headdress can also be something more. It can be a crucial part of a narrative.
The intuition of a theater director
This is how the actor and director Roberto Ciufoli conceived it with his piece Scissors and Madness, making a hat a clue to find a murderer. That hat was made in the laboratory of Doria 1905, a historic maison – it was founded 118 years ago in Sogliano Cavour, in the province of Lecce – which is not only an excellence of Made in Italy and artisanal manufacturing in southern Italy but also the point a reference for cinema and theater costume designers and for musicians who have made headgear a distinctive feature. For some time we have seen his creations in television dramas, at the cinema, at the theater and in concerts.
The most recent collaborations
We saw them placed on the head of Anna Valle in Il Paradiso delle Signore, then exhibited by Stefania Sandrelli and Adriano Giannini and protagonists of other theatrical shows such as My Son’s Husband, Class of Iron, Ten Little Indians. Again, we see them worn on stage by Giuseppe Pambieri. «A partnership with art and culture that we want to carry forward», says Alessandro Gallo, young CEO of a company that operates in a niche market (medium-high range) and does not want to give up its history.
The key is craftsmanship
«We invest in process and product innovation – explains Gallo – but the manufacturing remains artisanal, most of our hats cannot be separated from the hands of the workers». Small (34 employees, a turnover that will reach 2.3 million in 2023) but with a strong vocation for exports (demand from abroad generates 70% of revenues) in 2014 it was selected by the Venice Film Festival to be present in a showroom of accessories available to actors and directors. Meanwhile, musicians had also discovered his collections, capable of ranging from the classic to rock reinterpretations, in a constant balance between fashion and tradition, between straw, felt and cloth.
The attraction from musicians and singers
From the tenor Cristian Ricci to the Negramaro group. From the child prodigy of jazz Francesco Cavestri to the singer-songwriter (and Ligabue guitarist) Federico Poggipollini. To get to Francesco Baccini (photo above), who never takes off his hat even in video clips. Now Luca Barbareschi’s costume designer has also opted for Doria 1905 for a film set on the island of Filicudi.