Literary photographersFreund, Cartier-Bresson– They knew that a hat could make a character. Borges was tilting his hat like someone might tilt a dangerous idea. Neruda, in his organizational shamrock, strode through the world as if he could control the tide. Beckett, hiding behind his hat … From the wool woven by life itself, he gave the impression that he had signed a pact with the elements. The hat, according to some writers, is a declaration of principles.
Perhaps this is why there is a place in Barcelona where the raised wing or shadow over the eyes is made with the same discipline with which a good soldier sharpens his blade. I’m talking about Sombrerería Mil, determined to remind the city that cosmopolitanism begins at the head. Some writers use hats to invent themselves; No inclination, lest this invention make fools of ourselves.
It all started in 1856 on Hospital Street, the city’s oldest hat shop. Around the Roaring Twenties, the Antunes family landed on Fontanilla Street and there opened the Mille we know today: a haven of elegance that has survived wars, dictatorships and modernism.
Her show contemplates the beautiful Barcelona of a century ago: the Sunday ladies, the gentlemen who knew how to tilt their wings elegantly, the tourists in search of exoticism, and the actors who feigned anonymity after ringing the bell at their doors. Inside, time lowers its voice: steam sighs, hands take shape, scissors dictate sentences.
There are unexpected names stacked in the guest book: De Niro, Johansson, Lou Reed, Bardem, Ronaldinho.
Maria Jose Solano
author
There are unexpected names stacked in the guest book: De Niro, Johansson, Lou Reed, Bardem, Ronaldinho. And so do writers, who always end up in front of the mirror trying to create an improved version of themselves, because a good hat fixes more lives than many books.
La Mil is a versatility for times that favor the fast and the crisp. A silent rebellion made of thread and memory. Now, in the midst of its 100th anniversary, he is preparing to reopen the ancient institution like someone raising the flag he was about to remove: “We’re still here.”
This place is Barcelona breathing as it once was. It continues here to remind us that the hat defines the image. The image of this city was painted a hundred years ago by Sombrerería Mil on its mirrors.