Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones...Boston

On Saturday, September 8, 2012, I was lucky enough to attend the opening day festivities of Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones!  This is the final stop on a world-wide trip this exhibit has taken over the last few years--starting at the Victoria & Albert in London, then Brisbane, Australia, then New York City, and finally to Boston, Massachusetts (actually Salem) and the Peabody Essex Museum. The PEM is the oldest continuously operating museum in the USA.

To say I was excited about seeing this exhibit would be an understatement!  My friend and fellow milliner Janet, from Philadelphia, met me there.  We anticipated a whole day of millinery bliss.  We were not disappointed.

 I left the airport and had the taxi drop me at the waterfront in Boston.  I'd heard taking the ferry up to Salem was a great way to see some of the skyline, harbor, and beautiful sailboats.

A beautiful day for a ferry ride up to Salem (yes, Salem as in witch trials)!  Fall air, sunshine, water, history, boats!

Janet and I arrived at the PEM early on Saturday, just after opening.  Guess what!  As we were just about to enter the museum Janet said, 'There he is!'  We turned and Mr. Jones himself was just getting out of his taxi.  I'm basically a pretty shy person but I was determined to meet him and this might be my only chance of the day.  We walked over and introduced ourselves and he was exceptionally nice and friendly.  We had a nice little discussion about his support of wildlife (as is Janet), his lavender patent leather shoes (!), and our excitement to be at the exhibit. I could have left right then and the trip would have been worth the cost to get there. 

First event of the day was an interactive discussion by Boston's top milliner, Marie Galvin of Galvinized Headwear.  I'd never met Marie but have been aware of her contributions to the millinery world for quite a few years.  The crowd loved her as she had audience members come up on stage and she tried different shapes and styles of hats on them to give them different perspectives on how to wear a hat.

Marie had contacted me before I got to Boston hoping we'd be able to sit and chat a bit.  We did get a chance to meet but didn't have much time to sit and chat as there was so much to do that day.   I told her how much I enjoyed her presentation and all the tips, challenges, and thrills she mentioned about owning a millinery shop.  Owning a millinery shop myself, I SO related to her entertaining stories.

Next up?  A Conversation with Stephen Jones.  This sold out presentation by Mr. Jones, the V&A's curator of fashion, and the curator of the PEM's collection, was very enlightening as they discussed how the exhibit started, how some of the hats were added to the mix, Mr. Jones' first hat (great story), and how fashion itself is now regarded as more museum-worthy.  I thoroughly enjoyed this 'conversation'...except for the very annoying woman in the audience who thought the Q&A part of the event was all about her.  But I won't go into that!

Above...check out the patent leather lavender shoes!!!  Love!!!!

 Got a chance to have Stephen Jones sign my copy of Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones, which I bought when the exhibit first opened in London.

 Here I'm asking him what he thinks about some of the newer or less traditional millinery materials like plastics and wood-shaving.  Of course, his 'Wash and Wear' hat is quite an SJ icon, and was included in the exhibit.

 Because his first hat had spray-painted plastic flowers on it (yes!), we had a little laugh about using plastic in/on hats.

 Some of my favorite hats of the 250+  in the exhibit?  (Sorry I can't show pictures as photography was not allowed in the exhibit...although that didn't stop one woman from thinking the rules didn't apply to her, and had the nerve to post on a popular social media site.)  Favorites:  Striking (a hat of struck wooden matches) by Stephen Jones, the Schiaparelli 'Shoe' hat, a Caroline Reboux tricorn feather hat, Rose Royce by Stephen Jones, and so many more I can't describe.  If you get the chance to go to Boston/Salem, DO IT!  See for yourself the wide range of what millinery can be.  You will not be disappointed!

Til next time!

International Millinery Forum 2012--part 1

So WHERE do I begin?!  Seriously, WHERE!  So many things to tell you about the most amazing millinery event anywhere in the world.

First of all, there were 15 millinery instructors from all over the world, teaching 200 millinery students from all over the world.  Then mix in the fact that it was held Down Under, in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia;  add so much creative electricity that you could shock yourself, and what you'd end up with is just a glimpse of what being at the International Millinery Forum 2012 was all about.  Yes...I'm gushing.

I'll start at the beginning.  I traveled to Australia on January 10 and arrived on January 12...crossing the International Dateline.  Trust me it is a loooooong flight, and I had to get all the way across the USA before I began the 15 hour flight to Sydney!  I arrived in the morning, got to my hotel in Potts Point (Sydney) and this was the view out my hotel window.  I did not want to leave.

While still at the airport I ran into Chicago milliner Eia Radosavljevic, a fellow IMF instructor, who had just flown into Sydney on another flight.  We decided to get together the next day and go to one of my 'must do' things while in Sydney--a ferry ride across the Sydney harbor to Manly Beach, MY favorite beach in Sydney.  We hooked up at Circular Quay and yakked all the way to Manly, past the Sydney Heads.  Once we arrived this is one of the locals we met on our walk along the beach!  Lovely, isn't s/he? AND there was a partner to this one too!

Beautiful afterdark silhouette of my view of Sydney harbor.

Anyway, that was Friday.  On Saturday I arrived at Sydney airport for the flight to Wagga Wagga.  And what a millinery reunion there was at the gate!  Tutors (instructors) at the gate were:  Eia, Irish milliner Lina Stein, Sydney milliners Rosie Boylan, Neil Grigg and Jane Stoddart,  Queensland fibre artist Carol Wilkes, and myself...all headed to IMF  I'm sure we scared the other people on our flight, which was a very small plane! Lots of hatboxes!

After landing, everyone dispersed to their hotels and hosting families, to get ready for the tutor meet and greet that evening.  Lots of reunions, including mine with my millinery instructor from many years ago, Waltraud Reiner of Torb & Reiner, from Melbourne. Here's the list of millinery tutors for the week:

Kerrie Stanley (Melbourne)

Carol Wilkes (Queensland)

Rosie Boylan (Sydney)

Lina Stein (Ireland)

Eia Radosavljevic (USA)

Neil Grigg (Sydney)

Jane Stoddart (Sydney)

Waltraud Reiner (Melbourne)

Serena Lindeman (Melbourne)

Jasmin Zorlu (USA)

Louise McDonald (Sydney)

Pam Martin (Wagga Wagga)

Eugenie Van Oirschot (Netherlands)

Carol Maher (Sydney)

and Moi (USA)

The next day was the Trade Expo with millinery suppliers from all over Australia.  I couldn't wait to get to Mimi Millinery, from Queensland.  Harold has incredible vintage millinery materials you just can't find anymore.  Here are a few pictures of that frantic but fun experience.

That's Harold in the center writing orders as fast as he can!

Hatters Millinery Supply from Sydney.

Hatblocks galore!  All of these sold within minutes of the doors opening.  Doug does a fabulous job creating all kinds of shapes--brims, crowns, fascinators.

Three very tired (and spent!) millinery tutors: (L to R) Eia, Lina, Serena.

That night was the official opening of the International Millinery Form, with a Mayoral Reception.  All the tutors rode in vintage cars to the reception and were met by all the delegates and the Lord Mayor in full regalia.

Waiting to load up in these fantastic cars for our tour of Wagga and arrival at the Wagga Civic Center.

My carmate, Jasmin Zorlu in a smashing vintage black straw hat!

Eia in her chariot! 

The USA contingent--me, Eia, Jasmin, on our way to the opening cocktail party.

(L to R)  Carol Maher, Eugenie Van Oirschot, Serena Lindeman.

The amazing Mr. Neil Grigg!!

Arrival!  Waltraud, me and Jasmin.

The Lord Mayor and Eugenie.

Neil in the foreground, with Waltraud and the Mayor in the background.

After the official opening all the tutors were featured in a hat fashion show, emceed by fashion guru Susie Ehlerman.

A few shots from behind the scenes with models and some of the tutors.

Rosie and one of the hats she made for Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge.  Crystal tophat extraordinaire!

Serena and her model.  Great line and color.

Waltraud and one of her sensational jinsin pieces, what she's famous for!

Neil with Kree in a gorgeous hot pink number.  Beautiful!  Kree is the daughter of the family I stayed with in Wagga.

Carol's feather fantasies!  Huge and fabulous!

Hats by the amazingly talented Eugenie.  I have loved her work for years.  She's a past recipient of Hat Designer of the Year that The Hat Magazine sponsors each year.  I am always in awe of her.

My two hats--All Decked Out and Flights of Fancy.  I'll talk about them later.

And for the grand finale of the evening, the Riverina Millinery Association hosted the opening of their exhibit of wonderful hats.  We were all blown away by the diversity of the styles.

I'll be posting at least one more post about the Forum which will include info about my classes and the grand gala.

Photos by Eia, Jasmin and myself.

Autumn/Winter Hats 2010--Felt

Here in the Northern Hemisphere we are settling in for Winter. I'm not a cold weather girl, but I do love the seasonal changes like a crisp morning, changing of the leaves, comfy sweaters (jumpers), fires burning bright, and a beautiful, stylish, warm hat.

Below you will see three that I've recently created to send to TLD Design Center's annual hat show in Chicagoland. I've shown several angles on each so that you can see all the elements of the hats.

This one is probably my favorite of the three. Made from 100% wool felt, I've covered the crown in a mesh ultrasuede that changes tone and color balance as it expands and contracts over the hat. I love it!

I've free-form blocked the hood into a sort of abstract cloche. This is one of my favorite styles of hats and it is quite easy to fashion over the steamer.

Here you can see another angle showing the mesh. Note also that I've made 3 leather leaves as embellishment. The leather has a slightly metallic finish with swirls of subdued color in it. I used an awl to make a hole in the bottom of the leaves and secured them to the hat by sewing up through the hole, adding a bead, then back down to the underside of the hat.

Another cloche-styled hat of 100% wool, this time in chocolate brown. See how I've nipped into the edge to create a saw-toothed look, just for added interest.

Embellishment for this hat is a handmade felt button by my friend and fellow fiber-artist Louise Giordano at Scarf It Up. Be sure to check out her website if you are into knitting, crocheting, and felting.

Can you guess what the hatband is made from? Fish leather! Yes, fish leather. I believe this one is carp. I bought this piece several years ago while teaching at the International Millinery Forum in Australia. Fish leather is very strong and has a beautiful 'nap' to it, created by the scales.

Hot pink seems to be a habit with me...and I'm not really into pink that much. But when I look around the shop I see lots of hot pink things everywhere! Love pink and black together.

This one was blocked on a very old hatblock that a friend found for me in a second-hand shop.

I added black velvet tubing and a few black beads. This is an example of me letting the shape of the hat be the most important part. Minimalist embellishment.

Stay warm!

Hats on Exhibit--Spruill Art Center

I was recently asked by the Spruill Art Center, in Atlanta, Georgia, to exhibit in their art show celebrating their 35th anniversary. This exhibit will hang during the month of July in their Gallery, and the artwork will be for sale--both through the gallery and their website.

Below you will see the two hats I entered. These hats have been given names since the gallery wanted the title of each artist's work. I hate "Untitled" so I named them based on the elements they embue.

This hat is free-form shaped from natural sinamay--a straw that is manufactured in yardage/meters. I love the way it can be manipulated into beautful folds and swirls, creating very abstract shapes. It can also be blocked over hatblocks, but in this case I've simply hand-shaped the hat. There are no embellishments on this hat, except for a piece of frayed black sinamay added for contrast. The hat itself is embellishment enough, don't you think? This hat is entitled, "Roller Coaster."

I've really been interested in creating sewn braid hats recently. Probably because I've taught the skills in the last two classes--in Atlanta and San Antonio. The hat above is a combination of sewn braid circles, about 7 as I remember, tacked together just as they touch each other. I knew I wanted to use this particular peacock feather because it had some lovely shades of lavendar in it. That was the starting point for using the lavendar coqs and veiling. This hat is entitled, "Got My Eye On You."

Happy 35th anniversary, Spruill Art Center!

Hat Show in Chicago--Millinery Education Week

Calling all milliners! You are hereby invited to participate in an annual Hat Show at TLD Designs in Chicago. Put on your Thinking Caps (um, Hats) and create some beauties to exhibit. The show always takes place in October, as an introduction to TLD's Millinery Education Week...actually two weeks if you are counting. Here's the entry information www.tlddesigns.com/entry.htm .



There are entries from those just getting started and some from callused millinery fingers, but it is a great way to have a wide demographic in the Chicago area see your work. So don't be shy about entering. You might just win 'Best in Show'!



The list of classes to be taught at Millinery Education Week hasn't been posted yet, but you'll want to keep a watch at TLD's website www.tlddesigns.com/ or on my website www.hatshatshats.com/classes.htm for updates.

Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones

I'm on an English millinery streak I suppose. How many of you have heard about the Victoria & Albert Museum's millinery exhibition? Entitled Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones it is a showing of over 300 hats from Egyptian times through the present. Oh how I wish I could see it!!

If any of you are in England through May 31, 2009, YA HAVE TO GO! Here is a link to the V&A--http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/contemporary/hats/index.html . And if you don't know who Stephen Jones is, well....

Here's a short description from the V&A's website:

"After the V&A invited Jones to explore its millinery archive, he and V&A fashion and textiles curator Oriole Cullen spent more than two years examining the cupboards, stores and archives of the V&A and other international museum collections. They made many new discoveries and uncovered wonderful examples. They came across Dame Margot Fonteyn’s Dior arrow cloche of 1949 in Bath and the straw hat worn by Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Dolittle in 'My Fair Lady' in the bottom of a box in the Warner Bros’ Hollywood archive."