For the next four days, some of London’s best-known statues will be sporting a new look. The likes of Lord Nelson, King George IV, Shakespeare and Queen Victoria have been given new hats thanks to ‘Hatwalk’, the latest creative project in London to celebrate the Olympic Games.

Unveiled in London’s Trafalgar Square yesterday, Hatwalk is part of the London 2012 Festival, a series of cultural events that runs alongside the Olympics. The project – the brainchild of Boris Johnson – was curated by Stephen Jones and fellow milliner extraordinaire Philip Treacy and sees 21 established and emerging millinery talents recreate headwear for some of the capital’s most famous hat-wearing statues.

“The rest of the world see hats as an innately British thing so this is a great celebration of that, our eccentricity and our talent for millinery,” Jones said.

Beginning in Trafalgar Square, the situation of some of the city’s best-know statues, Nelson’s iconic bicorn hat has been updated by Sylvia Fletcher and Lock & Co (the very same milliners that created the original) to include a Union Jack and Olympic flame. In the square, the statue of King George IV on horseback is wearing a Mughal-inspired, pearl-encrusted gold crown designed by Stephen Jones and inspired by the Brighton Pavillion, the late King’s seaside retreat, and Sir Henry Havelock dons a iridescent satellite creation by Philip Treacy.

The project was born about a year ago, thanks to the Mayor of London, and has involved the employment innovative techniques to ensure that the pieces don’t damage the statues, but also so that they will withstand the British weather.

Jones, who co-curated the project, said the hats were all subjected to rigorous tests to ensure that they can survive London’s elements. “They were put in a wind tunnel and tested to see if they were fire-proof, in case they were struck by lightning,” said Jones, who explained that the initiative aimed to capture a sense of “Britishness.” “What I love [about the project] is, as the opening of the Olympics captured that feeling of classicism and craziness and eccentricity, which is such a British thing, that’s what hats do in general but these do in particular.”

Munira Mirza, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Education said: ”The idea is to make tourists and London to look again at the history of the city and these incredible historical figures, the kind of people that made Danny Boyle’s narrative of history come to life in the Opening Ceremony.”

Other designers involved include Charlie Le Mindu, Piers Atkinson, Pip Hackett, Gina Foster and J Smith Esquire, who have created pieces for the likes of Isambard Kingdom Brunel on Victoria Embankment and Queen Victoria on Blackfriars Bridge.

The hats are on display through to Thursday, and then they will be auctioned to raise money for the London Mayor’s Fund. Life-sized copies of the pieces are on display in BT House at BT London Live in Hyde Park until August 12.