Hat

Black pillbox hat made of straw. White plastic flower with black and white ribbon trimming at the front. Made by Philip Somerville, London. Black grosgrain ribbon band around the inside of the hat's crown with white textile designer's label printed in black ink ' Philip Somerville / Model / London/ Made in England.

The hat is one of 65 pieces of headwear owned by Dorene Borrie and donated by her husband Lord Gordon Borrie, after her death in 2010. The hats are not your run-of-the mill Ascot/mother-of-the-bride hats but inventive and often witty examples of the styles of different milliners.

The daughter of a Welsh mother and Irish father, Dorene Toland was born in Canada in 1933, a country she left as soon as possible to go to Paris to study French language and literature. During a stint of teaching in London she met the barrister Gordon Borrie in 1959 and they married in 1960. Borrie became a lecturer in Birmingham and the couple moved to Worcestershire. In 1976 Borrie became Director General of Fair Trading and the couple moved to London. They first lived in Chelsea, then Middle Temple Lane and eventually Brick Coart, Temple. With more events to attend, Dorene started to accumulate her collection of hats. While her hat-wearing was not just restricted to formal occasions, Dorene Borrie had plenty of opportunity to liven up official events when her husband became President of the Institute of Trading Standards (1992-6), Chairman of the Direct Marketing Authority (1997-2000) and Chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority (2001-7). Dorene Borrie died in late 2010. Lord Borrie died in 2016.

Philip Somerville was born in Winchester, joined the merchant navy, before trying his hand at acting in Australia. Somerville joined his family, who had moved to New Zealand and started to work for a hat factory in the early 1950s. On a study holiday in England, Somerville joined milliner Otto Lucas as sales manager and personal assistant, travelling to America, Switzerland and Paris and co-designing the collections. When Lucas was killed in a plane crash in 1971, Somerville decided to open his own millinery business off Bond Street, later moving to Chiltern STreet. He worked closely with couturier to the Queen Ian Thomas, but only when he teamed up with designer John Anderson in 1988 to make hats for Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Spain, his royal creations began to bear his own label. Somerville became a royal warrant holder in 1984. He retired in 2008, and died in 2014.