NI HAT MAKERS WHOSE DESIGNS WILL BE ON SHOW AT ROYAL ASCOT
As the fashion world prepares for Royal Ascot this week, two local milliners tell Linda Stewart how they have been working flat out to have their creations ready for the horse racing extravaganza
‘I’ll have four bespoke hats in Ascot’s Royal enclosure this year’
Ihave a degree in music and for years that was my focus. The creative side of life was my first love and I was interested in art of all kinds and architecture, so it’s a natural enough progression.
I just took a fresh look at the drawing board once I became a parent 12 years ago, thinking about how I could become self-employed. Then I had a eureka moment when I was reading a magazine and thought I would love to make hats.
So I started learning the skills and once I was happy that I had the skill set, I started my own business. In 2011, I opened my first pop-up boutique, Proof, on the Ormeau Road in Belfast
The week before Ascot is great — it’s a wonderful time. It’s what it’s all about for us. It is really exhilarating — making hats for race outfits is where you can really let your creative juices flow and it’s a change to do the most OTT versions, the most dramatic versions of the techniques you’ve used for wedding hats.
The magic happens when you know not to go too far — there’s a nice fine line not to cross and that’s the exciting thing. It’s a privilege to have hats at Royal Ascot. I’ll have four bespoke hats in the Royal enclosure this year and I guess there must be another eight in total at the general Ascot, between the ones we are making and the ones we are hiring out.
Making a hat can take days or it can take one day. It’s a very subjective thing because there are so many different skills and techniques.
At the moment I am working with a lot of handcut leather and it takes hours and hours just to cut them out before shaping them into flowers and petals and putting the hat together. It can take up to a couple of weeks, stiffening things and going back to it — each piece is very individual.
Hats cost up to about £350 — that would be normal for a very special piece. I’ve sold the odd piece for more than that but it’s a very rare occasion. They would usually be around £150-£200.
I’m seeing a combination of very classy, classic, even vintage style at the moment — even pillboxes are becoming very popular. The hat is dictated by the style of the outfit. You always consider what you are wearing from the neck downwards. Lots of people are going for jumpsuits and capes and a little pillbox or pork pie hat works well with that.
But anything goes as far as size, and the bigger the better. There are size rules for the Royal enclosure — fascinators are not allowed and there is a 14cm diameter minimum requirement for hats.
As a result people err on the side of caution and go for big full-brim full-crown styles. For years that was the realm of the mother of the bride, but they are wearing them again — the difference is in how they are trimmed and edged. They may be a bit more sculptured.
As for influencers, there is a whole set of milliners in London who are them- selves setting the trend. There’s Philip Treacy who has been based in London for 30 years and Stephen Jones. There are also several other milliners appointed to the Queen who would be leading the way, such as Rachel Trevor-Morgan.
I guess Kate Middleton is a good rule of thumb when it comes to trends. I don’t know whether Victoria Beckham will be at Ascot, but she will be one to look at too.
Some of my clients at Ascot will be wearing hats from my new collection which is on pre-collection release — its working title is the Fantasy Floral Collection. It’s hand-cut leather in rose gold metallic, real gold me- tallic, patent leather in very vivid colours and finishes, perforated leather, suedes. Another shape that I’m doing for the first time is an urban turban shape which I am quite excited about.
The bread-and-butter of what I do is the wedding market, which is a lot safer — classic, classy, straightforward work that is all year round. It’s really weddings and the races — there are not too many other occasions apart from the odd garden party. There would be trilbies and so on in the winter.
I think everybody in Northern Ireland is very stylish and in tune with what’s going on on a global platform for fashion in general.”