Hasta La Ideas

The 2014 Brit Awards statue was unveiled today – this year’s punk-inspired black-and-white creation was made by hat designer Philip Treacy.

Treacy, who was helped in his early career by the late, great Isabella Blow and has gone on to make hats for everyone from Alexander McQueen to Lady Gaga, as well as Kate Middleton and the Harry Potter films, said in a statement: “Music has always been my inspiration and I’m fortunate to have worked with some of the music industry’s greatest artists. My inspiration for the trophy comes from a uniquely British genre of music, Punk.”

The fourth creative to design a statue since 2011 (when it was decided the traditional trophy would be replaced with a different design each year, a programme initiated by Music), Treacy’s is the most inventive to date – partly because he is the first to alter its form. Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, artists Damien Hirst and Sir Peter Blake all merely decorated the surface:

Hirst’s spot design looked striking but featured the same pattern he has used in more than 1,300 paintings. Westwood’s Union Jack design captured the Britannia theme, but the words ‘stop climate change’, while worthy in intent, did little to capture the spirit of the awards or British music in general.

Blake also used red, white and blue for his trophy, which had the word BRIT running vertically along it. His patriotic design again captured the ‘British-ness’ of the awards and referenced his iconic pop art work, featuring motifs he has used throughout the years, but like Westwood and Hirst’s, it didn’t feel particularly daring.

Treacy’s, however, is dramatically different, referencing an iconic era in UK music without the use of red, white and blue and capturing its creator’s work and style.