HOMEGROWN

MILLINER FIONA SCHOFIELD HAS BEEN MAKING BESPOKE AND READY-TO-WEAR HATS IN ORANGE FOR 17 YEARS – AND BUSINESS IS BOOMING.

Milliner Fiona Schofield says there’s a hat out there to suit every head, and it all comes down to details.

FIONA SCHOFIELD nearly became a fashion designer. But thankfully for the stylish heads of Australia, when she took a millinery component while studying fashion design and illustration at the Whitehouse

School of Design in Sydney (now the Whitehouse Institute), she realised straight away this was her future path. “It made my heart sing,” she says simply. “Millinery is much more hands-on making and working with materials, rather than the very outsourced production process for clothing. And it was the making I really loved, and still do.” She ended up specialising in millinery in her final year. “Our lecturer was a milliner in Sydney, Neil Grigg, and I just pestered him until he employed me when I graduated!”

Hats are unique in the world of fashion, says Fiona. “They’ve always been much more about style than fashion. A hat is very particular – it’s an extension of your face, and people are absolutely going to see it, so the balance has to be right. You know it works when you see someone wearing a hat in a crowd and your instant response is, ‘They look so stylish,’ rather than, ‘Look at that person in the hat.’”

Although many think hats don’t suit them, this isn’t true, Fiona says. “A strange thing happened with hats. They’re like shoes, in that everyone has a size, but at some point hats became generic in their sizing. I think that stopped people wearing them, because they couldn’t get anything to fit. But you can have a hat made to fit you, one that will suit you, and suit your needs.”

During the consultation period when she’s creating a bespoke hat for a new client, Fiona will ask questions ranging from the expected – what sort of occasions they want to wear the hat for – to the rather more surprising. “People often get thrown when I ask them how tall they are. But a hat has got to suit you proportionally.”

The trickiest clients to please aren’t necessarily the gender you might assume. “I’m seeing more men, and they are so particular about what they want! It’s good, though – they have a clear picture of what they want their style to be.”

Neil Grigg shaped a lot of Fiona’s philosophy on hats – she worked with him for six years after graduating – with clients ranging from custom-made hat lovers to theatre companies and commercial work. She, her husband, Max, and their two sons (they’ve since had another) then moved to Orange 17 years ago, not far from her home town of Forbes, to set up Fiona Schofield Millinery. “We wanted regional living,” says Fiona, “but the town had to be big enough to support both our businesses – our other business is Fresh Fodder, making dips and soups. So Orange was big enough, but small enough, and close to Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. It’s such a thriving, diverse community. So I hung my shingle on the door and crossed my fingers and hoped people would come. Thankfully, they have!”

With the development of technology, it’s become a lot easier in recent years for Fiona to spread the word about her work. “When we first moved to Orange, we had dial-up internet. So telling your story and finding your community of supporters via Instagram just wasn’t a thing. Markets weren’t even a thing!”

Now that she’s a regular market-goer and popular Instagrammer, even the event cancellations of 2020 didn’t dent demand for Fiona’s wares. In fact, it’s had the opposite effect. “I got a lot of messages last year that said, ‘I’ve been a long-time admirer of your work, and I’d like to place an order and be a part of it now.’ I can’t put my finger on what it is, but something has given them confidence to make that connection.” That something can only be a renewed appreciation for things that are beautiful, useful and of true quality. Things like Fiona’s handmade, personalised creations, which speak eloquently of the skill and love that goes into them.

Follow Fiona on Instagram @fiona_schofield_ millinery and visit freshfodder.com.au