"Barbara Habig and the enchanting magic bands"

Barbara Habig’s spring/summer 2021 collection captivates with extravagantly designed hatbands – the so-called "magic band". Babara Habig, who is bringing the hat back as an essential accessory, considers the magic band the ideal way of doing so: "Customers increasingly want to showcase their individuality through attention-getting accessories such as patent leather purses in bright colors, extravagant shapes of shoes or eyeglasses with different materials."

Barbara Habig is reinventing the hat: the hatband turns the hat into a unique piece of jewelry, highlighting the wearer’s individuality and making hats the fantastic new accessory centerpiece: strategically placed on the one’s head for everyone to see, from afar it looks like a traditionally shaped hat. Close up, the magic band’s supreme craftsmanship and the intricate play of colors and shapes become apparent. The magic band quite literally casts a spell on its surroundings and has a way of attracting attention. The collection was designed at the Habig Designstudio in Vienna and was manufactured in Germany with carefully hand-selected materials from Italy.

This exclusive collection is characterized by ingenious variations of straw and ultra light materials in combination with clean hat lines and shapes. The hats’ uniqueness is further emphasized by exclusive applications and powerful magic bands by Habig Designstudio. The subtle and delicate colors (variations of beige, mud, brown and orange) are combined with details in bright colors. Some of the collection’s models in strong colors such as yellow, orange, pink and turquoise really stand out.

150 years of hat fashion – the Habig label looks back on a long-standing tradition:
The Habig family is originally from Freiburg and its family history goes back to the year 1550. Peter Habig moved to Vienna in 1853. He served his 5-year-apprenticeship as a hat maker and became a journeyman. Back then, a single apprentice worked at Habig's small hat shop. From 1865 onwards, his brother Carl assisted him in the workshop, where they exclusively manufactured silk hats as well as the then much sought-after "Chemisse Galett" hats. Having received the award “Hors concours Juror” at the Vienna World Exposition (1873) was an important turning point in their career and eventually brought about the establishment of Habig as an international brand.

Peter Habig 1.,who had been named purveyor to the Court of emperor Franz Joseph I. as well as purveyor by appointment to the emperor himself, also became the purveyor to the Court of the empress of Germany, Auguste Viktoria as well as to the Court of Frederick Leopold Prince of Prussia. He also supplied the Courts of King Edward VII. of England, the kings of Greece, Georg I. and Serbia, Peter I. as well as the grand duke of Luxemburg, Wilhelm IV. In the society of back then, it was considered good form to wear a "Habig hat". The above-mentioned awards and success at international expositions contributed to the worldwide recognition of the brand (please see enclosed brochure). The construction of the so-called "Habig-Hof" (the "Habig Court") in Vienna in 1896 marked the peak of the company's expansion.

Barbara Mechtler-Habig is a fifth-generation hat maker who runs Habig Headwear and the Habig Designstudio in Vienna’s fourth district. She is a devotee of Italian, French and Austrian art. She gained her expertise through studies in Italy and fine-tuned her craft by working with international haute couture designers.

HABIG Headware | Wiedner Hauptstrasse 17, 1040 Wien, Austria |
Contact: office@habig.at
Find the latest models at: www.habig.at