Café-au-lait brown shiny, fine straw hat with very broad brim, and matching silk organza band around brim, and on inside organza band and plastic comb, about 1963 (no label)

Café-au-lait shiny fine straw hat with small top and very broad brim. Amatching rolled silk band surrounds the crown, tied in a loop at the back. Inside the hat there is a headband of brown cotton and a small plastic haircomb of tortoiseshell appearance. This has been sewn into the back of the hat to secure it in place.

Given by Mrs. Edgar Wind

Given by Margaret Wind (1915-2006), widow of Professor Edgar Wind (1900-1971), along with three other Balenciaga hats (nos. T.857-2000, T.858-2000 and T.859-2000), two pairs of Parisian shoes by Georgette (T.861-2000 and T.862-2000) and a cream linen suit, with brown chiffon scarf by Balenciaga (T.863:1-3-2000). The labels had evidently removed from five garments and they are now in envelopes in the Registration File (2000/634). They have couture numbers 78857, 78856 (probably from the suit) and 1523 (probably from a hat). In correspondence with the V&A curators, Mrs Wind wrote: 'the exquisite atmosphere of 10 Avenue George V is unforgettable' (Wind to Valerie Mendes, Oxford, 29 November 1998) and a friend writing on her behalf two years later noted: 'she [Mrs Wind] is keenly aware of the distinctive and intelligent character of Balenciaga's work, and is happy that his rôle continues to be understood.' The brown straw hat with its very large brim was recorded as going with the cream suit and was so big that the V&A had to provide a box for its transportation (Letter to curator, Oxford, 18 April 2000).

Born Margaret Kellner in Rochester, New York, Mrs Wind was the daughter of the German physicist G. A. Hermann Kellner and his wife Margarethe, née Goetze, who had emigrated to the United States. After obtaining a B.A. in Art History at the University of Rochester in 1937, she moved to Mills College in California where she met her future husband. She subsequently became his Research Assistant at the Institue of Fine Arts, University of New York in 1940. They married in May 1942 and between then and his appointment at Oxford, they moved from Chicago, where her husband was professor of art at the University of Chicago (1942-44), to Northampton, Massachusetts where he was appointed Neilson research professor at Smith College and then professor of philosophy and art (1944-54). He went on to serve as first Professor of the History oF Art at Oxford University (1955-67). After his death in 1971, Mrs Wind became his literary executrix, dedicating more than 30 years to advocating for his legacy in Oxford. Her donations, together with funding secured from the Louise Crane Foundation, went into the Wind Benefaction, which helped to fund work on Edgar Wind's private and scholarly papers, research on his life and work, and new editions and translations of his publications. She also took a leading role in the establishment of the Wind Room, which opened at the Sackler Library in 2001 and houses the collection of books that Edgar Wind had acquired for the History of Art Library during his tenure. Photographs in the Wind collection reveal that the Winds were in Paris in the 1960s.
(See references).

Five labels removed from Mrs Wind's garments are held in the Regitration File. One may have come from this hat.

T.860-2000