Meg Dennis : The Full Stop, The Cherry on Top

Meg Dennis the Mad Hatter, makes hats with zero explanations and a lot of nerve.

Meg Dennis doesn’t do quiet hats. Based in London and trained in fashion at the Royal College of Art, she goes by another name in her own world: Meg the Mad Hatter. Her hats take everyday objects and strip them of their purpose. A dressmaker’s pin becomes embroidery. A hairclip becomes a flower. Nothing keeps its original job for long.

For Meg Dennis, that’s the point. She wants people to stop and ask why, then sit with the question instead of rushing to answer it. Her hats resist logic on purpose, and that’s exactly what makes them work. Wearing one takes a certain kind of nerve, too. Meg sees hats as a measure of confidence, and most people, by her own account, don’t wear them at all. Hers demand space. They change how someone moves through a room, how they hold their shoulders, how they enter a conversation.

Fun sits at the center of it all. As she puts it herself, having fun makes you live longer, and not everything needs to be so serious. Each hat she makes keeps teaching her something new, shaped as much by the person wearing it as by her own hands.

IRK: Meg, how do you usually introduce yourself to someone who has just locked eyes with one of your creations for the very first time? 

Meg Dennis: Haha, I actually usually don’t unless they ask me ! I really like to see how the viewer interacts with the pieces and the conversation that surrounds it rather than interrupting their thought process. 

Although on the odd occasion when I do, I tend to say something like, ‘yes it looks really random doesn’t it… which then lends itself into the conversation and I can explain who I am and my process. Probably not the most conventional means of introducing myself but hey ho!

IRK: Your philosophy is simple: have fun because it makes you live longer. In an industry that often takes itself entirely too seriously, how do you protect that sense of playfulness and keep your work from turning into a chore? 

Meg Dennis: Honestly, I do not think I have to stop my practice from becoming a chore. I am a very tactile person. My process always starts by foraging for random objects or materials that speak to me. That part already feels like play. Then, I experiment with these found materials and learn how they behave. This step is central to my practice. I hyperfixate on it. So, I cannot imagine it ever becoming a chore. I simply love finding and learning.

Meanwhile, all my friends and loved ones know I get overly excited by things most people would not notice. My partner probably finds it extremely annoying. I keep bringing home random objects and telling him how beautiful they are. Then, he is the one who has to find space for them. Sorry, Ross.

IRK: What is the most ridiculous object currently sitting on your studio workbench waiting to be turned into headwear?

Meg Dennis: That is a very good question. I have lots of ridiculous objects in my studio. Right now, a mini robot watches over me while I work. It is made from used wood, engineering cables, and nails. It even wears a top hat. A forearm sized peg also holds all my paper patterns. I could never turn these objects into hats. They are far too precious. However, they clearly inspire most of my shapes, fabrics, and colours. 

There is one weird object that turns out is extremely handy –  a very special coat hanger that I have. The wooden part which the garment would hang off, is made up of two lovely long green brushes which I use for brushing my felts once I have blocked and shaped them! They can also be folded in half! Very useful indeed!

IRK: Most people use accessories to blend in. Your hats demand space. How do you design an object that forces someone to completely change their physical posture? 

Meg Dennis: I don’t actually think that the hat changes the physical posture, I think it’s the way that the hat makes someone feel. You know that feeling when you’ve put something on that you know you look fab in and you feel confident, and its this feeling that means you probably carry yourself in an energetic, attractive way. Its this feeling that demands the space to be admired. This is how I want people to feel when wearing my work.  

IRK: You’ve said hats are a sign of confidence, and most people admit they don’t wear them. What has to shift in someone’s head the moment they put on one of yours? 

Meg Dennis: You would never send an ice cream sundae out without a cherry on top, why leave a hat out of an outfit? 

IRK: You claim that every interaction between a person and your hat teaches you something new about your own practice. What is the weirdest feedback a wearer has ever given you? 

Meg Dennis: The most common feedback I’ve had is ‘I would love to be in your brain for a day’. 
It always makes me laugh because they’d literally experience millions of mini megs running at 10000 MPH. 

IRK: Your practice doesn’t end when someone takes the hat off. Where do you actually want to take this language next? 

Meg Dennis: Honestly, I don’t know. All I know is that making is a central part of me- I want to be lucky enough to keep pushing my practice, keep pushing my boundaries of making and for people to keep wanting to ‘be in my brain for a day’. 

IRK: If you could force any living icon, artist, or musician to walk down the street wearing your wildest creation tomorrow, who gets the hat? 

Meg Dennis: Most people get quite surprised when I say this but Declan Rice or Ian Wright – I’ve been an arsenal supporter all my life so of course it has to be one of them. Ideally I would want the entire team wearing them all but I should be a little more realistic and try just one ! 

IRK: When we look back at Meg the Mad Hatter a decade from now, what is the legacy you want to leave behind on how the world views a simple hat?

Meg Dennis: Hats do more than serve a function. They go beyond tradition. Headwear speaks for itself. It becomes a contemporary masterpiece. It deserves space to be admired. Above all, it is the main meal, not the side salad !

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