Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Interview

Elvis Pompilio

Belgian milliner Elvis Pompilio has designed hats for Blondie and Joan Collins, haute couture fashion houses and royalty. This year he opened his Boutique Atelier, dedicated to hats, on the Grand Sablon. He talks to Jenny McNeely about his fascination with Oscar Wilde, and why his home city of Brussels is the perfect place for a creative spirit

IMAGE REX FEATURES

Hats are poetic and you can play with them.

They have a magic and are transformative – they have the power to change your appearance, or reinforce your personality. On a more practical level, they protect from the sun, rain, cold and other people…

I would have loved to have had the chance to work with Alexander McQueen.

I’ve worked a lot with Belgian and French designers – in particular with Véronique Leroy and Ann Demeulemeester, but also with Chanel, Thierry Mugler and a number of great brands like Celine and Anteprima.

I’m very proud that Debbie Harry loves my hats.

It’s certainly gratifying when a star is wearing your creations, but at the same time, anyone wearing them makes me happy. The people I would most like to collaborate with are Lady Gaga and Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons).

The best thing about my job is the creativity, and the relationships that I’ve built up with my clients. The downsides are the dreary downsides of any business – paperwork, bank accounts, contracts and staff problems.

Brussels is a creative city full of different nationalities, yet the atmosphere is remarkably peaceful.

There has been a resurgence of young, creative designers opening shops based on artisanal principles. The mixture of fashion and art gives the city its vibrancy. I love the Grand’Place; even when you live in Brussels, you still feel like you’re on holiday there. Like London, there are many different areas in Brussels with a variety of atmospheres. I currently live on Avenue Louise, which is near the centre but also has gardens, ponds (étangs) and the forest nearby – the city is full of wonderful green spaces.

I am European: Italian, Belgian, sometimes French, sometimes a Londoner.

When I’m in London, I love to visit Exmouth Market for its great atmosphere and shops – I particularly love the food market. The Columbia Road flower market is also great, and I always drop into the Callooh Callay bar in Shoreditch if I’m in the area.

My favourite places to relax in Europe are places where I know people, such as Café de Flore in Paris and Harry’s Bar in Venice. My favourite places to stay are the Hotel Berns in Stockholm, which is so simple and chic; the Astoria in St Petersburg (Madonna was there last time I stayed there); and Hazlitts Hotel on Frith street in London, where all the rooms are named after different lords and dukes.

I always travel with my iPod and a small Lonsdale bag or Rimowa luggage. I like to travel light – although I do have a weakness for bathing trunks and I can never resist buying more.

I discovered Siracusa about 15 years ago.

The small historic centre is such a treasure, with its palazzi in white pink stone, the mixture of the sea and the sky, and the history. What enchants me most is the style of the city. It’s still a place where people live and behave like they did in the 1950s. You have the promenade on Sundays, well-dressed drinks parties and big weddings. After visiting a few times I knew I had to have a house there – my small place is about 20 metres from the beach and I go kayaking in the sea. One can’t ask for more.

I’ve always been fascinated by Oscar Wilde; not just for his wit and irony, but also for the way he describes the relationship between natural beauty, artists and man in general. Wilde believed the artist’s role was as a sort of translator – for example, a painter would depict a lake and we would appreciate the beauty of that lake through the artist’s skill, and we admire the sky because of the way the painter has represented it. I love Wilde’s interest in how we view beauty, and in the incredible importance of artistic endeavours.

I’ve just published a book about my life and career, called Vie Privée.

I would love to make it into a film – the book outlines my career, and the way everything came together to bring a certain amount of success. I didn’t encounter any major difficulties along the way but, as it explains in the book, I had to grow up quite quickly. The only advice I have to offer for this life is to simply be yourself.

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