{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O132775"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O132775/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018KR3373/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018KR3373/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2018KR3373","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O132775","accessionNumber":"S.567-2006","objectType":"Costume","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Like many designers, Messel was fascinated by costume and crafts.  He collected items not particularly because he was researching for a specific production, but simply because they took his fancy.  He amassed a collection of hats and headdresses, including examples from Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia .  This particular example is a Spanish sombrero.   \r\n\r\nMany society families kept costumes for use in private theatricals or charades and notes on some of the non-theatrical Messel costumes indicate that he too had a 'dressing up' box.  It is possible that he also wore them at fancy dress balls, which were a popular recreation among high society in the early and mid 20th century.  \r\n\r\nOliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain's leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, working in every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as in interior decoration and textile design.  His lavish, painterly and romantic designs informed by period styles, were perfectly in tune with his times and earned him an international reputation.  By 1960, however, Messel's style had become unfashionable, having no sympathy with the new 'kitchen sink' school of theatre.  He increasingly concentrated on his non-theatrical painting and designing and eventually retired to the Caribbean, where he began a new career designing and building highly idiosyncratic luxury villas.","physicalDescription":"Wide brimmed round-crowned Spanish sombrero in black velour, with petersham ribbon around crown and binding the edge.  Fixed from side to side is a long fine silk cord.  Inside is a leather sweatband.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Padilla Crespo","id":"AUTH400519"},"association":{"text":"designed and made by","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"velour","id":"x35308"},{"text":"petersham ribbon","id":"x30434"},{"text":"leather","id":"AAT11845"},{"text":"silk cord","id":"x34643"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"velour, petersham ribbon, leather, silk cord","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Hats & headwear","id":"THES48943"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2018KR3373"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES344466"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"costume","id":"AAT178802"}],[{"text":"hats","id":"AAT46106"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Sevilla","id":"x32654"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"33.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Outer Rim","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"32.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Outer Rim","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"15.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Inner Rim","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"19.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Inner Rim","note":""},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"57.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Inner Rim","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"14.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'flijos de / Padilla Crespo / Sevilla'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"on pictorial label"},{"content":"'marca regestrada' + illegible","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"stamped beneath decorative shield on sweatband"}],"objectHistory":"This Spanish sombrero belongs to Messel's collection of costume artefacts, which he acquired mostly out of interest in dress and crafts, not because he was necessarily researching a for a particular production.  \r\nLord Snowdon, Oliver Messel's nephew, inherited Messel's theatre designs and other designs and artefacts.  The designs were briefly stored in a disused chapel in Kensington Palace before being housed at the V&A from 1981 on indefinite loan.  The V&A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Spanish hat in black velour.  Oliver Messel Collection.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.567-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"567","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 8970"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-07","recordCreationDate":"2007-03-07","availableToBook":true}}