Philip Treacy

“I believe that I am a hat designer, not a milliner.”

“Hats are really for ultimate occasions, so when I make one, I try to do something different, something noticeable.”

“Fashion is an illusion. It's a multibillion-pound industry that has to appear frivolous. Designers work and work and work, all night sometimes.”

“When people come and visit me and have a hat made, it's a little bit like visiting a psychiatrist, but they don't actually realize that.”

“I empathise with the fact that people want to look their best. A hat is all about how it makes you feel - it's so much better than a nip and tuck, and a lot less painful.”

“How a hat makes you feel is what a hat is all about.”

“I used to make clothes for my sister's dolls. I couldn't care less for the dolls, but I could make the clothes really easily.”

“The success of a hat definitely lies with balancing the personality of the wearer with the type of occasion. Don't listen to those rules about face shape.”

“Shopping can be a nightmare - first finding something to wear and then finding something to go with it, it's so difficult when there's so much choice. It can feel like entering a battleground.”

“Everybody loves things that sparkle.”

“Gaga is an entertainer, so a hat for her is part of the illusion of entertaining.”

“Elegance is all in the mind of the wearer.”

“So my advice is to always choose something simpler - an expressive outfit, plus a hat, can be frightening.”

“I grew up in a little village in the west of Ireland.”

“The classic hat image was during the Forties and Fifties, and Elizabeth Taylor was the epitome of that; she was the ultimate celebrity of excess and glamour, and she worked major sun hats.”

“I'm representative of 21st century Irish design, so I promote Irishness all over the world wherever I go.”

“I grew up in the west of Ireland, and Galway was our local seaside resort. We'd go for one day of the year during the summer, and I have enduring memories of the sand and the sea.”

“A person carries off the hat. Hats are about emotion. It is all about how it makes you feel.”

“Often, what makes my job so exciting is designing for the mother whose dream has been to wear one of my hats at her child's wedding. I feel as responsible for making her feel like a million dollars as I do for somebody in the public eye.”

“I am very proud to be Irish.”