This hat typifies the playful and whimsical designs of milliner Simone Mirman. Here she subverts the idea of a broadbrimmed hat, more usually associated with summer and light materials such as straw and felt, by using a heavy fake fur fabric. The neutral palette associated with fur hats is completely abandoned in favour of a combination of bright red and shocking pink.

Simone Mirman (1912-2008) was born in France, and eloped to London in 1937 to marry medical student Serge Mirman (later president of Christian Dior in London). Having trained with the designer Elsa Schiaparelli in Paris, Mirman decided to start her own millinery business in what she later termed 'an attic in Paddington'. Her inventive and surprising creations attracted a huge following and by 1947 she had opened her own salon in Belgravia.

In 1952 she was granted her first Royal Warrant when Princess Margaret ordered one of her hats. Mirman was later to design for Queen Elizabeth II, creating the hat which she wore to the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969. She closed her millinery salon in 1982 when she retired.