All in a day’s work

Rachel Trevor-Morgan, who is based in St James’, London, began her millinery business in 1990. She has been making hats for The Queen for over 10 years

Royal Ascot is the pinnacle of our year. I do tend to go, maybe for one or two days, but I’m slightly on my knees by that point, so the thought of getting dressed up and going racing is not always one I relish. But when you get there it’s great, and you see lots of hats you’ve made and feel a lovely sense of achievement. It has always been a very formal, hatwearing event, and there’s nothing else like that. You also have The Queen and the royal family attending, which is very special.

The moment we’re past Christmas we get going on the spring and summer orders, and then it builds and builds until you get to Royal Ascot. In the week before Ascot I am in the workroom by 8am and I won’t leave until about midnight. I do always have a few sleepless nights wondering if I’ll get it all done, but somehow it happens.

We’ve had people come in and say they need a hat in a couple of days, and if we can slot it in, then we will. Because we make 95% of everything in our own workroom — we dye the straw to match, we make the flowers — it is possible to do things quickly, providing we have the manpower.

When I am looking for inspiration for my designs, I often look back in history: to the 1940s and 1950s, when people wore hats every day in a more effortless way. The hats I make are quite classic and elegant. I’m not trying to break new ground or reinvent the hat; I’m simply trying to make my client look beautiful.

I sort of fell into millinery by mistake. I was interested in theatre costuming, and so I wrote to lots of hat companies, asking for experience.

I was offered an apprenticeship by Graham Smith, who was a big name in millinery at the time. Without realising it, I landed on my feet in the best place I could have gone to learn. The fashion for hats has always moved in peaks and troughs, and the reality is that people don’t wear hats as much as they used to. So thank goodness for racing, the British summer social season and events like Royal Ascot and the Epsom Derby.

When you’re making a hat, you can’t worry too much about the British weather, because it can be so unpredictable. I am always conscious of how a hat feels on the head; people want something they can wear all day and not worry about too much. I do tend to say to people to have an elastic [that goes under your hair] or a hat pin, because you don’t want to be holding on to your hat all day or racing after it in the parade ring. I have been making hats for The Queen for more than 10 years, and I work very closely with Stewart Parvin, who makes a lot of her clothes, and with her personal assistants. It’s a wonderful thing to do, and I feel very privileged. She has probably worn more hats than anyone else, and always looks so fabulous when she goes out; so well dressed.

If I were to give any advice to someone wanting to become a milliner, I’d tell them to try and get as much experience as possible in other people’s workrooms.

You really want to know what you’re doing, so glean as much information as you can. Learn in the traditional way first, and once you’ve done that, then you can go out and break boundaries.

‘In the week before Royal Ascot I am probably in the workroom by 8am and won’t leave until about

midnight’