How did you become interested in millinery?

My husband (until recently) for many years owned and breed race horses as a hobby and I was a fashion designer, so I thought I would go and learn more about millinery to add to my skills and to make hats to match my garments. I had already done a small course in millinery which was part of my Associate Diploma of Fashion Couture Stand many years ago. Once I started learning millinery on its own I discovered I love making hats more than fashion garments, and I no longer design garments expect only for myself.

Where and why did you learn millinery?

At Ultimo TAFE certificate 3 and 4 and theatrical millinery.

How long have you been a milliner for?

I have been doing millinery for about 5 years now and before that I was doing fashion designing and owned my own fashion boutique. This year I won The Public Vote Award and Third Prize in The Hat Designer of the Year contest in London which is in this months The Hat Magazine Issue 31. It was a lot of hard work but I did enjoy doing it.

How did you become interested in millinery?

Interestingly, I fell into the industry quite by chance! Amusingly, I always thought I’d become an actress, as I sometimes have a flair for the dramatic. However, I unintentionally applied for a Junior Bridal Millinery position at 18 and since then I have learnt nearly every technique known thanks to the ever changing fashion trends over the last 11 years. I come from an extraordinarily talented family, so pursuing a career with my hands and creative mind was never not an option!

Where and why did you learn millinery?

Luckily for me I was paid to learn in a career I loved and I learnt and applied every technique very quickly progressing to head milliner! When I initially started millinery in the bridal industry, floral halos and enormous princess tiaras were the fashion, but over the years fascinators, cocktail hats and feather jewel combs evolved again, so I’ve seen many various fashions come and go.

How long have you been a milliner for?

I’d mainly been a design milliner for 10 years, but before launching my own label I also worked with the same designer label over the years as Head Buyer, Production Manager, National Sales Representative and I’m sure a great deal more! I’ve also been very lucky to travel Australia wide and work exclusively with many leading couture fashion designers, creating a look perfected to their clientele. Aside from millinery I also trained in couture jewellery design, so have an extensive collection of beautiful Swarovski pieces ranging from earrings, bracelets, necklaces, to bandeaus and tiaras that have been personally designed.

How did you become interested in millinery?

I became interested in millinery quite subconsciously really. I loved wearing hats as a New Romantic in the 1980s whilst studying for my law degree. I have always been fascinated by fashion starting buying “Vogue” when I was 11 and was drawn to the way a hat completed the look in the collections of Vivienne Westwood, etc. When I was heavily pregnant with my first son, I had to go to a family wedding and found a wonderful Sandra Phillips hat which was the spark.On moving to the North of England I retrained in textiles and began to see the many possibilities in creating 3D pieces, so began a millinery course.

I made some hats whilst on my textiles course, then started to train with couture milliner Peter Kingston Youel in 1999 at Leeds College of Art and Design. After completing this I also studied the City and Guilds Millinery courses in Huddersfield to focus my skills whilst setting up business.

Where and why did you learn millinery?

I made some hats whilst on my textiles course, then started to train with couture milliner Peter Kingston Youel in 1999 at Leeds College of Art and Design. After completing this I also studied the City and Guilds Millinery courses in Huddersfield to focus my skills whilst setting up business.

American milliner Kate Brown Pernia is on sabbatical in Switzerland. She has been designing hats and teaching millinery under her Katrinka label since the 1980s. Kate is also the founder of Houston Hat Net.

How did you become interested in millinery?

I have loved hats for as long as I can remember. Having a large head size (23), I had trouble buying hats in my size when the millinery industry switched to the dreaded “one size fits all” in the United States. So I had to learn to make my own.

Where and why did you learn millinery?

In the 1980s I was living in New York City and looking for a new career after acting. I discovered the millinery program at FIT and studied with Ann Albrizio. I completed the Millinery Certificate program and began showing my hats to friends and acquaintances.

How long have you been a milliner for? Where else did you work?

I received my Millinery Certificate in 1989. Costume Designer Marjorie McCown hired me to make hats for Street Scene at City Opera which led to other offers. I was ultimately recruited to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where I was milliner for two years until I married and moved to Texas. In Texas I was busy helping my husband through law school and being a stepmother, but I kept my hand in millinery by teaching millinery in the Fashion program at Houston Community College and showing my hats with Houston Area Fiber Artists and at galleries such as Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. I founded Houston Hat Net when students complained that no one wore hats in Houston. They do now. HHN currently numbers over 300 members.

How did you become interested in millinery?

I was looking to start my own business (ladies clothing and occasion wear) the premises I finally found had previously been a hat shop so I decided to stock hats.Customers came who wanted hats colour matched to outfits and ladies with large heads wanted headwear that fitted them so that is where it all began!

Where and why did you learn millinery?

I initially enrolled on a beginners course at the Wombourne school of Millinery to learn the basics – after that I was hooked.I have subsequently been on other courses to learn about feather dressings, fabric dying, how to make metal framed hats.Other than that my skills have been self-taught, but I think its fair to say millinery has become a bit of an obsession. I love it so much I make hats and fascinators almost every waking hour.I have even been known to wake up in the night and jot down an idea that popped into my head

How long have you been a milliner for? Where else did you work?

I have been a practicing milliner for 3 years now.I started my business in 2001

Where do you get inspiration for your designs?

I find inspiration from all sorts of things – fabrics and shapes ,Catwalk shows and fashion collections. Some clients bring ideas with them and from there we work on ideas together. Mostly I have to say that my more whacky hats just seem to evolve by experimentation.

How did you become interested in millinery?

I have always been interested in art and sculpture and, combined with my love of making things, millinery seemed to be a good balance of these interests.

Where and why did you learn millinery?

I took a number of classes with Louise Macdonald at Swinburne University; however, I am largely self-taught. I enjoy discovering new techniques from fellow milliners and from viewing millinery collections, for example at the National Gallery of Victoria and other exhibitions.

How long have you been a milliner for? Where else did you work?

I have had my own millinery business for the past three years. My main area of work is with the contemporary art fair, Melbourne Art Fair, which is coming up this August. I used to (and still do!) make hats for my colleagues at Melbourne Art Fair to wear to the Melbourne Cup. When people started to compliment on them and ask where they were from, I was inspired to start my own business.

Where do you get inspiration for your designs?

Inspiration comes from many different areas: organic forms, other cultures and their fashion. My second collection was inspired by the 60s films of French director/actor Jacques Tati.

How did you become interested in millinery?

Before I became immersed in the world of hats, I spent most of my free time doing my family genealogy. I decided to combine this hobby with my love for sewing. So I started making a 1910 tea dress. Well, a little research showed that ladies of the day wore hats. I decided I needed one. Well it is now 5 years later, I’ve made about 400 hats and the tea dress is still not finished.

Where and why did you learn millinery?

I began with a class at a local fabric store, an introductory class. I took several more classes from Jan Wutkowski in North Carolina, United States. Then I really got hooked! Since then I have bought ever book, both vintage and current, on the subject and just practiced and practiced. The Wombourne School of Millinery e-books have been really helpful. The more I learn, the more I realize I need to learn.

How long have you been a milliner for? Where else did you work?

I have been making hats for a short time. This is my fourth year. At first my millinery was a hobby, but, when friends and acquaintances started asking me to make them hats, it soon became a business. I sell hats from March to October at art festivals and make hats the rest of the time. I also work full time as a teacher.

How did you become interested in millinery?

I became interested wearing hats when I was in high school. I had a fabulously popular sister and my two best friends (one blonde and one red-head) were all gorgeous. How was I to compete? In hindsight; I realized that I could get attention from wearing hats. And I did! But it was not until my first professional job after college that I started making hats. I was the assistant costume designer at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia; I met Barbara Taylorr, a theatrical milliner. I watched her trim a hat for “My Fair Lady” and I fell in love! I was taught the secret little movements that make the hat special! I begged her for a job and she hired me! And that was it! I found my passion.

Where and why did you learn millinery?

I majored in theatrical costume design and I apprenticed with other milliners. My main mentor is Rodney Gordon from Rodney Gordon Studio, Inc. I was his assistant for years. He taught me the finest points on the perfections of millinery. The finest points on shape, trim, and attention to detail. I have ripped many seams out and redone them!!!!

How long have you been a milliner for?

Professionally, I made my first hat in 1988. So that is 18 years! I have owned my business and worked in it full-time since the summer of 1993.

Where else did you work?

Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania); Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery (Alabama); ABC: Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland (Ohio); Studio Area Theatre in Buffalo (New York); Barbara Taylorr Millinery in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania); Rodney Gordon Studio, Inc in New York City (New York).

 

How did you become interested in millinery?

I became interested in millinery while studying for my Diploma in Fashion Design and Manufacture in Perth, Australia.

Where and why did you learn millinery?

I completed the millinery components of my Diploma in Fashion Design and Manufacture at Seaforth College in Sydney and enjoyed it so much that I haven’t stopped making hats and collecting hat blocks since.

How long have you been a milliner for? Where else did you work?

For the last 4 years we have been living in Dubai and this is the first time that I have relied solely on my millinery for an income. Before moving here, millinery was more of a hobby for me as I worked in administration during the day and made hats at night.

Where do you get inspiration for your designs?

I don’t know where I get my inspiration for my designs – it just happens. I love glamorous hats and there is nothing more rewarding than seeing the transformation in a lady’s appearance when she puts the right hat on. It is a shame we don’t wear hats more often.

Who do you make hats for?

The Dubai World Cup, which was held on 25 March 2006, was my third Cup. All year I make hats and sell them in the ten days leading up to the Cup. I try to have around 200 hats finished for each Cup. I only make one of each design and they are all hand finished.

How did you become interested in millinery?

From an early age I enjoyed wearing hats and as a child I loved to dress up in my mother’s hats. Inspired one day by a fabulous Philip Treacy hat, I began experimenting myself and never looked back.

Where and why did you learn millinery?

My millinery education started at the London College of Fashion, followed by a year at Kensington and Chelsea College.

How long have you been a milliner for? Where else did you work?

I have been a milliner now for 4 years, initially working for Stephen Jones and Edwina Ibbotson, before launching my own label almost 2 years ago. Prior to becoming a milliner I worked in advertising and marketing for 5 years.

Where do you get inspiration for your designs?

I find nature is full of inspiring shapes, often the simplest ones are the best. Art, particularly sculpture, is a good source, as is the elegance of vintage fashion. Inspiration may also just be elements of everyday life, the curve of a chair or the contours of a roof.

What has been your most enjoyable commission?

They are all so different! I love commissions where I am given a free rein to produce a hat encapsulating the wearer’s style, inspiring her to walk tall and feel wonderful.