Hats off to the World Hat Walk

The London Hat Walk, which took place last Sunday, has been a part of London Hat Week for over ten years now—fans of hat-wearing gather in their chosen titfers and parade through the city. As a promotional exercise it certainly works, as bystanders are constantly asking you what it is all about. London Hat Week itself was founded by Georgina Abbott of Atelier Millinery and Becky Weaver of HATalk, and in 2024, to mark the tenth anniversary, the London Hat Walk was expanded into a World Hat Walk, with walks happening simultaneously in 21 cities around the globe. (Well, as simultaneously as time zones will allow.) For 2025 this had expanded 58 cities across every continent of the planet (apart from Antarctica, though I’m sure it’s only a matter of time).

Needless to say, plenty of Club members took part in the walk in London, where we had the interesting challenge of holding the event on the same day as the London Marathon, so the streets and public transport were pretty busy. Our route stuck to the south bank, beginning at Minerva Court by Southwark cathedral. This initial gathering was a protracted one as friends caught up and photographers stalked the square hoovering up the exotic headwear on display—fully half of the photos I took were at this stage, before we’d actually gone anywhere. From here we made our way west along the river, past the Golden Hinde ship and the Anchor pub by the Globe Theatre, to the Millennium Bridge, where we attempted a group photo—which was a bit difficult in the limited space. So we had another go outside the Tate Modern and for good measure again in the gardens by the Oxo Tower, our final destination.

Thanks to all who came and contributed to the carnival atmosphere—in this respect I think having the walk on the same day as the marathon actually helped, as people were out and about, already primed for outlandish outfits, and in a general celebratory mood. Based on the conversations I had with members of the public, there was a lot of curiosity and goodwill towards what we were doing.

You can see many more photos from the day at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheridanclub/albums/72177720325663875.

In a field of often outlandish millinery creations…