In 2020, in the vacant space above the former hat shop Ladies Paradise in The Passage, around 3,000 hats were discovered. After the closure of the shop in 1998, these hats had been left behind in the attic, and not discovered again until 2020.
In 2022, The Hague-based designer Pink Steenvoorden of Einstein Design conceived the installation Chapeau! An installation to which many hats playfully dance in the monumental space. An ode to the hats and the history of De Passage.
The hat shop Ladies Paradise was originally founded in 1961 by Otto De Klijn. Back then hats were mainly something for posh occasions. Various members of parliament, Queen
Juliana and Queen Beatrix came to Ladies Paradise for hats.
Ladies Paradise archival photo courtesy of de Passage
By popular demand, this hats display from 2022, made from these “hidden hats” will return, and are on display from 3 to 30 September in honour of Royal September programme in
The Hague in de Passage . www.depassage.nl
