Hats by Susanne Oliver, Amanda Ziljoen, Kee Wilkinson, Aliona Kononova and More

Issue 71, February 2012 Next issue due 15th February, 2012

the e-magazine for those who make hats

This Month: Hats by Susanne Oliver, Amanda Ziljoen, Kee Wilkinson, Aliona Kononova and more... i click here to turn over Issue 71 Contents: February 2012

Millinery in Practice People at work in the world of hats. This month: Irish milliner Susanne Oliver.

Hat of the Month Learn about this lovely hat and something about Amanda Viljoen, who created it.

Collector’s Items... We talk to Kee Wilkinson about creating hat collections.

Cover Story... Aliona Kononova’s amazing Dandelion Hat.

How to... Make a silk pillbox. Part 2 - Creating the trimmings.

This Month’s Give Away We’re giving away three instructional DVDs.

Letters to the Editor This month - keeping your hat on.

The Back Page Interesting hat facts; books; contact us and take part!

1 previous page next page Susanne Oliver Couture Millinery in Ireland

Susanne Oliver is a hat designer from Galway, Ireland. A true creator of couture headwear, Susanne’s work has been commended by Stephen Jones and she has done an internship with Philip Treacy. We interviewed Susanne to find out a bit more about herself and her millinery...

Where did you learn how to make hats? I studied textile design in college, specialising in hand painted fabrics and accessories. I then worked in fashion retail for many years, where I noticed a growing demand for hats and headpieces that were completely different from what was on the market. When a work colleague couldn’t find a headpiece to match her outfit I created one for her. I was pleasantly surprised at the reaction it received! I went to a two day workshop with milliner Linda McKay in Kilkenny and learned blocking techniques. She was surprised with my quick grasp of these techniques and encouraged me to continue to play around with different fabrics and materials.

Do you specialise in any particular styles of hats? I create couture hats and headpieces made to match a lady’s outfit or bridal gown. I also sell finished pieces from my collections. I specialise in hand blocked and hand stitched hats and headpieces. I love to create pieces that are totally different but with a vintage or modern twist. I like to make my own flowers and trimmings too - my hats are all handmade from start to finish. I never create the same hat twice, so that a lady will never be caught at a wedding with another lady wearing a similar piece. I use hat blocks and my own freeform blocking techniques, so that my pieces have unique shapes and styles. I am now working on my own m www.mikepatterson.co

2 previous page next page Where do you make your hats? I have a studio at home where I create all of my hats and where ladies can come and view my collections. I work full-time in my studio. It’s hard to switch off from hat making and I often find myself sleeplessly thinking of techniques and ideas!

Which part of your business do you enjoy most? Creating hats and being able to work in such a creative environment. I love the reaction and drama that a hat brings. It’s great to be able to advertise my medium in such a fun way and to meet such interesting ladies.

Which part of your business do you enjoy least? I don’t enjoy the book keeping side of the business - I like to think that I have an endless materials budget! Also, I sometimes feel that some of my fellow hat designers focus too much on the competitive m www.mikepatterson.co

Right: Ooh La La - Hand blocked sinamay and lace flower.

3 previous page next page How did you get an internship with Philip Treacy? Tell us a bit more about this experience. One night, on a whim, I decided to send Philip Treacy photos of some hats that I had created. I was delighted when, two weeks later, I got a call inviting me to do a one month internship at his studio in London. Philip was very down to earth and looked after me very well during my time there. He has a very strong team of hat designers who work long hours creating his beautiful hats. I have great memories of his studio, one of which was assisting him with masked pieces created for the Vogue Anniversary Ball in Paris. As a thank you, Philip let me choose two of his completed hats to take home and another hat for me to finish off at my home studio. I was soooooo happy to receive a lovely Christmas card from Philip saying he loved the g Hotel hat that I had created, based on the fabulous g hotel here in Galway which Philip designed. He and I were both recently involved in a documentary about people’s love of hats. It features a lady who collects hats from Ireland, Philip discussing his Royal Wedding hats in his London studio and me creating hats for a group of clients and friends attending the Galway Races - which is like our little mini Ascot!

Left: Susanne, in the Philip Treacy hat which was given to her to finish off at home, and her puppy Ted, wearing the Christmas headpiece that she made especially for him.

Above: The g Hotel and Susanne wearing the hat that she made for the Hotel’s Hat Design Competition last summer.

4 previous page next page How do you advertise? I have just launched my website, www.hatsbyoliver.ie. Business also comes from my Facebook page, but I still find the most effective advertising is by word of mouth. It is the best compliment when a lady recommends you to a friend or family member.

What are your plans for the future? I would like the opportunity to travel to find unusual millinery materials.

Last year, Susanne gained international recognition as the only Irish milliner to be chosen as a finalist in the Stephen Jones’ Hat Design Competition. The Competition, which was judged by Stephen Jones himself and Vogue.com’s Editor Dolly Jones, was put on in conjunction with the Hats: An Anthology exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City. Aliona Kononova was chosen as the winner (see page 10) and nine other hats were given a special mention. Susanne’s Cotton On hat (above), which is made completely out of cotton buds, made the final shortlist. Stephen described it as “fun, light, innovative and very beautiful.’’

The Red Shoe Productions hat documentary, featuring Susanne and Philip Treacy, will be aired later this year on TG4, Ireland’s Irish language television channel. Look out for more information in the How2hats newsletter. Some masks from Susanne’s collection.

5 previous page next page Hat of the Month by Amanda Viljoen

This stylish sinamay saucer hat comes all the way from South Africa and was made by Amanda Viljoen on a Guy Morse-Brown Hat Blocks Ltd FB9 hat block...

“I saw the FB9 block on Guy Morse-Brown’s website at the end July and fell in love with it,” says Amanda. “It was just one of those items that I could not do without.” The FB9 is a 450mm saucer block with a gentle downturn on one side and an opposing upturn on the other. Having found the right block, Amanda then had to decide what materials to use. She knew that she wanted the finished hat to be elegant, with a minimal amount of trim to compliment the shape of the blocked design. She found some blue cord and bows in her collection of notions - just the type of thing she had been envisioning - and then chose blue sinamay to match these trimmings.

Saucer blocks come in two parts - a large saucer shape block, which has a circular hole in the centre, and a small dome shaped block which is used to press the ‘bump’ into the hat. Amanda wet three layers of sinamay and stretched them onto the saucer block, covering the hole. She then pressed the dome block upside down into the hole and placed a weight on the top of it to form the ‘bump’. Finally, she pinned the sinamay tightly to the rest of the block. Once the blocked sinamay was dry she began the rope design, curving it little by little. This part of the process was time consuming, but the result was worth the effort. Amanda plans to make another saucer hat soon and to experiment with tracing a design onto it to sew over.

6 previous page next page Finally, Amanda had to make sure the hat would stay safely on the wearer’s head. Some people attach saucer hats to a headband to achieve this, while others create a skull cap to place underneath the hat. Amanda opted to make a small skull cap using the dome block which came with her saucer block. Once she’d attached the skull cap to the saucer hat, she sewed two loops inside the cap and inserted hairpins.

Amanda’s studio is located in Langebaan, on the Western Cape of South Africa. While this is a beautiful part of the world, it can be a difficult place to be a milliner due to the lack of local hat making supplies and the prohibitive shipping costs for receiving materials from overseas. “I mostly work with rolled flat sinamay, as it is the only material currently available in Johannesburg,” she told us, “I order my material via email and patiently wait for the delivery. I am not aware of any hat block makers in South Africa and have been searching the web for new and vintage blocks. Ebay - wow! What a lovely website to find interesting goodies for hat making. It is, however, time consuming as it takes between two and three months to get the blocks to my door.”

Amanda began as a self-taught milliner and then attended a Millinery Masterclass with Dillon Wallwork at Chateau Dumas in the South of France last July. “My hats are trial and error and I am trying out new techniques as my collection of blocks increases,” she says. “I love the unexpected and love to create hats that are unique in design. I was very fortunate to attend the Masterclass at Chateau Dumas. What a wonderful experience!!!!”

Amanda recently launched her website, www.esterahatdesign.com, where you can find more of her work, including this pink and orange sinamay hat which she made on a BB17 double brim block.

7 previous page next page Collector’s Items Kee Wilkinson on Creating a Hat Collection

Progressing from the creation of a group of hats to the creation of a cohesive hat collection can take your millinery skills to a whole new level. We’ve been asked lots of questions about creating collections, so we decided to speak to some professional milliners about their take on this issue and will be featuring their insights over the next few months. We spoke first to Kee Wilkinson, a London milliner who got into millinery when asked to make bonnets as part of her work at Sands Films Studios. Kee went on to train at Central Saint Martin’s and with Marie O’Regan. Here’s what Kee told us about her two most recent collections, Madcaps and Cardplayers...

I generally create collections, as I like to work within a framework of references and research and ideas. I produce two small collections a year, in parallel with the fashion world. The Madcaps are for women and The Cardplayers (above) are for men, although they could equally be for women (right). The Cardplayers are a blocked collection, inspired by the hats worn by the French peasants in Paul Cezanne’s extraordinary paintings of the same name. They are a series of paintings where the same hat appears more than once but always manages to look entirely different, they were painted in the Aix in the 1880s. The Cardplayers are blocked in wool felt or fur felt and all have silk linings. The colours and Above: Photo by Richard Goodwin. variety of shapes were inspired by Cezanne’s paintings. Left: Paul Cézanne, Les joueurs de carte, 1892- 95. Oil on canvas - Courtauld Institute, London.

8 previous page next page The name Madcaps is a homage to Elsa Schiaparelli’s Madcaps of the 1930s, but they are based around my interest in flat pattern cutting using simple geometric shapes, in this case the diamond, to create 3-dimensions. Also my interest in patchwork.

Obviously the link between the two collections is the diamond, on playing cards and used in patterns and patchwork. The Madcaps are all silk - silk habotai, velvet and Faille - and are hand sewn to give that uneven touched quality and a sense of nostalgia. The colours were chosen in collaboration with a fashion designer, Katherine Harrison, as these hats were commissioned for a photo shoot (right). Patchwork Madcap by Kee Wilkinson. Clothes by Katherine Harrison. Photo by Zoe Barling. Here are two more photos, taken by Richard Goodwin, of Kee’s Madcaps being tried on at the Bridport Hat Festival (left), where she exhibited both of her 2011 collections. As well as creating biannual hat collections for private sale and undertaking individual commissions, Kee continues to make hats and masks for film, TV, theatre and ballets. For instance, she created masks for the Royal Opera House’s production of The Tales of Beatrix Potter and Tim Burton’s film, Sweeney Tod. She also made bonnets for the films Young Victoria and Bright Star. To find out more about purchasing one of Kee’s hats, you can email her on [email protected].

9 previous page next page Dandelion... by Aliona Kononova Aliona Kononova (left) caught the attention of the milinery world last August, when she won the Stephen Jones Talenthouse Design Competition. Here’s a closer look at her amazing Dandelion design (below) which so impressed the illustrious Mr Jones...

The 29 year designer, originally from Moldova but now living and working in Milan, created this dandelion headpiece using fishing line and nylon thread which were attached to the metal base with magnets. She also used fire to melt parts of the hat together.

Aliona’s inspiration for the piece came from her firm belief in making the most of life. “Dandelion is a perfect example of how short life is,” she told us. “It’s the ideal image of reality. Concentrate, catch the moment and let it go. Enjoy every minute of your life. Dandelions are so fragile and beautiful, the smallest breeze of air can send them flying far away. Live the moment and appreciate all the beautiful things and people around you. Let this dandelion be a reminder and a messenger of that!”

10 previous page next page Aliona’s first place prize included having her hat on display with theHats: An Anthology exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery in New York City and having it featured on stephenjonesmillinery.com, Jones’ Facebook page and Britain’s Vogue.com. She also received two tickets to the opening night party of the exhibition at the BGC, a signed copy of Stephen Jones’ book Hats: An Anthology, a one year membership to the V & A and, last but certainly not least, a two week internship with Stephen Jones in London.

“I was incredibly happy to learn that my design won the contest,” Aliona says, “For almost a year I have been thinking of introducing a new accessory to my collection, which resulted in a dandelion hat. I found out about the contest by accident, from my friend who is a true hat addict. Honestly, I did not have a lot of time left before the deadline, but a key point which made me decide to enter was that Stephen Jones initiated the competition. I pooled all my efforts and here I am - a very happy and inspired winner. I had heard a lot about Stephen Jones – how charismatic and open he is. It was a true pleasure to meet him in person and experience this firsthand. My reception was warm and delightful and I was very content and grateful to be a part of the wonderful world of hat makers. I have not done my internship yet, but am looking forward to it!

You can see more of Aliona’s couture label, MOË, at www.moe12.com.

11 previous page next page Make a silk pillbox with Helen Richardson Part 2: Creating the Trimmings

In the January issue, Helen Richardson demonstrated how to block and line silk pillbox hats like the ones pictured here (right). Now, she is going to teach you how to make these lovely leaves out of the remnants of silk left over from making a pillbox. Once you’ve mastered this simple technique, you can experiment with making these leaves from other fabrics and using them in different ways to decorate your hats. Perhaps adding a flower in the middle or attaching them to a fascinator base, the possibilities are endless...

To create these flowers you will need... A piece of silk dupion, scissors, thread and a sewing machine.

The remnant of silk has a big hole in the middle and, as a result of the blocking process, the material is unevenly pleated at the edges of the hole. Helen doesn’t iron these pleats out, but rather uses them to give the leaves some 3-dimensional form. She folds the silk in half, wrinkled edges together, and then uses her sewing machine to sew one leaf shape after another, some larger than others, all around the circle (right). She doesn’t mark the shapes, but stitches them freehand.

12 previous page next page Once she has finished sewing her leaf shapes, Helen cuts them out, being careful not to cut through the stitching (above left). Next, Helen turns the leaves inside out to hide the raw edges and then binds the open ends tightly with thread (above right). They are now ready to be placed on the hat.

How you use the leaves to trim your hat is up to you. As you can see from these photos, you can acheive different looks by varying the number of leaves you apply. Although both of these pillboxes are unfinished, with the leaves just pinned into position, they already look very attractive. Helen is thrilled to be able to offer something so wonderfully desirable (and so easily made) to her clients, who, she says, are always delighted! You can check out more of Helen’s work at www.helen-richardson.com. If you missed last month’s issue, you can purchase it from our website.

13 previous page next page This Month’s GIVE AWAY

If you enjoyed making Helen Richardson’s silk pillbox, why not enter this month’s draw to win one of the three copies of the ever popular Make Hats! DVD from how2hats. In this DVD, Helen demonstrates, step by step, how to create hats from the three most commonly used hat making materials - felt, straw and sinamay. You can learn blocking techniques from the comfort of your own home with the added benefit of being able to go back over the lesson as many times as you like. By following Helen’s clear instructions you’ll quickly be able to make hats like hers and then take things further by experimenting with your own unique styles.

To enter the draw to win one of the three copies of the how2hats DVD Make Hats! being given away, email us before 1st February, 2012 at PRIZE DRAW RULES [email protected] Entry to the draw is free to subscribers to HATalk and no further purchase is necessary. Only one entry with ‘Make Hats! DVD’ as the title. per subscriber. Entry is not open to employees or Please include your name and full address. associates of the publishers or to their families. The winners will be drawn by an independent person two weeks after publication date. They will be notified by The winners in last month’s calendar draw were: email and their names published in the next issue of HATalk and on social media websites. The organiser's Patricia Drew & Evangelia Paschalia decision is final.

14 previous page next page Send us your questions and comments! Do you have a problem needing a solution? Or information that you’d like to share? Email us! [email protected]

Problem: I was recently looking at the hat Ginger Rogers wore in the 1948 movie Easter Parade (left). I am wondering how she got it to stay on? I have trouble keeping large brimmed hats on, especially in the wind, and where I live there's always wind.

Solution: Having your hat held securely on your head makes all the difference when it comes to wearing it with confidence. A great way to make sure your hat doesn’t fall off or blow away is to attach a hat elastic to it. A hat elastic can be sewn into the inside of a hat and then discreetly worn around the back of your head. Hat elastics, like those shown here from The Trimming Company, can be purchased from most millinery suppliers or from ebay.

Hatpins are also a good option for keeping your hat on, providing you have enough hair to pin them into. You can get some truly beautiful hatpins which can add extra flair to the hat itself. Check out HATalk Issue 2 to find out how to make your own decorative hatpin.

If you’re really desperate, you could always do a Grace Kelly and tie a beautiful scarf over the top of the hat. This is an especially good style for riding in open top sports cars!

15 previous page next page The BACK PAGE

Each year, experts from the Pantone Color Institute® name their color of the year - a color which is sure to be seen on cat walks around the world following this announcement. The 2012 colour is Tangerine Tango...

“Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

Fashion designers featured in the PANTONE Fashion Color Report Spring 2012, including Tommy Hilfiger, Nanette Lepore, Cynthia Steffe by Shaun Kearney, Elie Tahari and Adrienne Vittadini, are incorporating this attractive orange into their spring collections. A fun, lively take on a traditional autumnal hue, Tangerine Tango will surely carry through to fall fashion as well.

Pantone LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated, has been the world’s color authority for nearly 50 years, providing design professionals with products and services for the colorful exploration and expression of creativity. Always a source for colour inspiration, Pantone also offers paint and designer- inspired products and services for consumers.

Contact Us! Will you be using Tangerine Tango in your 2012 hat collections? Send your photos and comments to [email protected] or post them on the HATalk Facebook page. By the way, we’re on Twitter now too!

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