Otto Lucas

Otto Lucas
Otto Lucas in 1952
Born	1903 Germany
Died	2 October 1971 (aged 67–68) Aarsele, Belgium
Occupation	Milliner

Otto Lucas (1903 – 2 October 1971) was a German-born, London-based milliner. Running a hugely successful hatmaking studio in London between the 1930s and the 1970s, his business supplied both major stores throughout Europe, the US and Australia and hats for private clients such as Greta Garbo and Wallis Simpson. His career was cut short when he was killed in a plane crash over Belgium in October 1971.

Otto Lucas was born in Germany and, after a spell learning millinery in Paris and Berlin, he moved to London and opened his own salon in Bond Street, Mayfair in 1932. By the 1950s, Lucas was supplying other fashion designers, stores and private clients – notably Wallis Simpson and Greta Garbo.

Lucas was a skilled businessman and his workroom grew to immense proportions; a 1958 British Pathé film Heady Stuff – featuring a walk on role for top model Barbara Goalen – shows a small army of women working in the back of his Bond Street salon. He worked closely with members of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (IncSoc). For example, in 1953, he supplied all the hats for a fashion show in St Moritz organised by export magazine The Ambassador to showcase designs by, among others, Norman Hartnell, Digby Morton and Victor Stiebel. Similarly, in 1961, he supplied all the hats worn by some 250 models at the fifth London Fashion Week organised by the Fashion House Group of London, which represented a variety of fashion, textiles and accessories brands. He mixed in artistic circles and one of his best friends was The Colony Room proprietor Muriel Belcher – who never wore a hat.