Maison Michel at Shop 17: Parisian hat-making since 1936

New collection

Maison Michel

A hat is not an accessory you add. It is a decision. And since 1936, there has been a house in Paris whose only trade is exactly that.

That year, Auguste Michel set up his hat workshop at 65 rue Sainte-Anne. Ninety years later, the house that bears his name is still there, and still supplies the greatest Parisian couture houses.

In the 1960s, he handed the atelier over to Pierre and Claudine Debard, he an entrepreneur, she a milliner. They would run it until 2002, carrying it through the revolution in hairstyles and the tidal wave of ready-to-wear without losing its craft.

In the 1970s, the Debards reorganised the workshops and brought the Weismann back into service, an old straw-sewing machine. A detail that is anything but: the house's milliners still use it today. Some of the sewn straw you will see in store has passed under that very machine.

In 1983, Karl Lagerfeld, newly appointed creative director of Chanel, turned to the atelier to bring his ideas to life. The collaboration never stopped. In 1997, Maison Michel officially joined Chanel's Métiers d'art, alongside Lesage, Massaro, Goossens and Lemarié.

The house remained a supplier in the shadows for a long time. It was not until 2006 that it launched its own line, 2013 for its first boutique on rue Cambon, and March 2021 for its move to le 19M, where it created its own block-making workshop. In 2023, it widened its territory with a collection of bags.

Three workshops, one hat

What sets Maison Michel apart is that it masters the whole chain, under one roof, across three workshops.

The block maker carves the wooden forms on which the hats will be born. The house keeps more than three thousand of them, a living archive alongside a stock of antique straws and felts. The hatter masters moulding and shaping: the steam bell, the brushes, the small hammers that bring a felt to life. The milliner finishes, trims and completes.

Made-to-measure takes four to six weeks in the Paris workshops. That is simply the time it takes.

Priscilla Royer, or the hat brought back down to earth

Since autumn-winter 2015, creative direction has been in the hands of Priscilla Royer. Trained at Studio Berçot, she began at Vivienne Westwood in London in 2007, where she was entrusted with the Red Label line, then founded her own label, rewarded with the ANDAM prize for first collections in 2012.

Her manifesto fits into five words displayed on the house's own site: « Hat is the New Tattoo ». Her guiding principle is just as clear: if a piece is too precious or too intimidating, no one dares wear it. So she turns the atelier into a laboratory, diversifies uses, and develops soft straws that roll up and even swimming hats.

The Shop 17 selection

Shop 17 has selected the house's most emblematic shapes, from sculpted felt to summer straw.

Straws, veils and caps

Alongside felt, the house works sewn straw and woven straw, plays with the veil, and pushes millinery towards the cap and the bag.

See the full Maison Michel collection

A hat is chosen on the head, never on a screen

That is the absolute rule of hat-making. Two people with the same head size do not wear the same shape: everything comes down to the oval of the face, the line of the shoulders, the way the brim falls across the eyes. A Virginie and a Blanche, side by side, look alike. Worn, they tell the story of two different women.

Sizes run from S to L, but trying them on remains the only judge. It is also the most enjoyable part: trying on hats is a pleasure in itself, and the team is there for exactly that.

Come and try them in Cannes

The Maison Michel selection can be seen and tried in store at 15 rue Notre-Dame, 06400 Cannes, Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm. The Shop 17 team can be reached on +33 (0)4 93 39 46 46, by email at info@leshop17.com, or on WhatsApp for a question about size, colour or availability. You can also follow the boutique on Instagram, @leshop17.

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