Her Hat in the Ring: Toronto Milliner El Jamon and Her Circle, vividly brings to life, through text and image, the remarkable life of Lily Jamon (1918-2009), who overcame the poverty of a harsh rural upbringing in Manitoba, to become El Jamon, one of the most sought-after Canadian milliners of her day.
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During Toronto’s conservative 1950s and experimental 1960s, Lily introduced her many clients to the transformative power of hats through her flair for dramatic and colourful designs. Collaborating with other designers during the post-WW II period, Lily fostered an early awareness of and pride in Canadian fashion. Her hats are represented in major Canadian museums and continue to be treasured by and worn within families.
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In 1953 Lily was hired by Canada’s Stratford Festival as their first milliner, where she worked closely with the English designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch.
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Tapping the memories of the descendants of Lily’s clients, Her Hat in the Ring interweaves the story of Lily’s life with eight client profiles and the stories behind their El Jamon hats and gowns, for Lily was also an accomplished dressmaker. The reminiscences of Lily’s own daughter, Natasha Jamon (1946-2025), a top fashion model during the 1960s and 1970s, provide a compelling through-line for the biography.
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Glamorous and entrepreneurial, Lily knew how to negotiate with ease Toronto’s hierarchical social world and to position herself in a place that was a creative hub: The Annex. Well before the age of social media, Lily’s photographs show she knew with certainty how to compose a winning image for the public eye.
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We’ve come, since Lily’s time, to recognize fashion as a shaper of cultural history and as an expression of political beliefs. This has been reflected in fashion exhibitions in museums around the world and here in Canada.
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Her Hat in the Ring tells an engaging story of survival and transformation, of artistry and creative adaptation, set during a time of Canada’s cultural awakening, an awakening that continues today.
