Lock & Co. Hatters, St. James’s Street, London 2014
© Leslie Hossack
Winston Churchill was a man of many hats, literally and figuratively. After several years as Leader of the Opposition, he once again became Prime Minister, on October 26th 1951. He left his painter’s smock and bricklayer’s overalls at Chartwell, his country home in Kent, and moved with Clementine back into Number 10 Downing Street. There they lived from December 1951 until April 1955, when he resigned as Prime Minister at the age of 80.
There are many press photographs showing Prime Minister Churchill going back and forth to Parliament from Downing Street. He is inevitably wearing a white shirt, dark suit, polka dot bow tie, and a black hat such as the one seen in the middle of the above photograph. Although many of his hats were by Scot & Co. of Old Bond Street, he also purchased hats from Lock & Co. founded in 1676.
The image featured above is part of the limited edition collector’s portfolio created by Leslie Hossack to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill. She presents locations that chart Churchill’s personal and political life, from his birth at Blenheim Palace in 1874 until his death in London in 1965. THE CHURCHILL PHOTOGRAPHS are part of Hossack’s larger body of work that explores Nazi architecture in Berlin, Stalinist structures in Moscow, contested sites in Jerusalem, a Cold War bunker in Ottawa, NATO’s Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, and buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during World War II.
To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com
HAUTE VITRINE 