Issue 110 - May 2015 Next Issue: May 20th, 2015

This month... London Week Monica Feher HATWALK 2015 Leather Tutorial And More... the e-magazine for those who make Issue 110 May 2015 Contents: London Hat Week 2 Over 40 pictures from London Hat Week 2015. Hat of the Month 16 HATWALK Design Award winner Monica Feher’s leather creation. Make a Leather Rose - Part 1 20 A step-by-step tutorial by Svetlana Faulkner of PresentPerfect Creations. Sara ’s 365 Day Challenge 26 Using hats to fight cancer. Letter to the Editor 28 Advice on securely attaching a hat to fine hair. The Back Page 29 Royal Ascot Style Guide and how to contact us.

Cover Page: Hat by Philip Treacy Back Page: Hat by John Paul 1 www.hatalk.com Images by McLaren Photography The second London Hat Week took place from March be having an amazing time. People were enthused about 26th to April 1st 2015. With over 50 hat-centred events hats, loving being in London and genuinely enjoying taking place across the English capital and hundreds meeting other like-minded hat lovers - what more could of visitors travelling from around the UK and at least 16 we have possibly asked for?” other countries to attend, the week was a real triumph for hats and hat makers. London Hat Week 2015 was sponsored by Bates Hats, Lock & Co, the Riverina Millinery Association, Chateau “It is absolutely amazing to think that what began as Dumas, Judith M and Company Jedrzejko. Like last a grain of an idea less than two years ago has become year, events were organised by a number of different such a successful event so quickly,” says HATalk Editor individuals and organisations. Some of the world’s most Becky Weaver, who co-founded London Hat Week in renowned milliners taught workshops on a variety of 2014 along with Georgina Abbott of Atelier Millinery. “It different subjects and there were also exhibitions, talks, has taken a lot of work and time, but it has been so worth social and informational events and supply sales. it. We love seeing people from all over the world coming together to make and wear hats. As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” so the following pages are packed full of images from Throughout the week, everyone we talked to seemed to London Hat Week...

2 www.hatalk.com Image by Paul Lee Photography

Above: London milliners Martine Henry, Georgina Blyth and Harvy Santos pose for a selfie with Anna Mott (in blue), Racing Australia’s global millinery ambassador. The Official Launch of London Hat Week was held in the atmospheric St Cyprian’s Church near Baker Street and was attended by around 200 people. The event was sponsored by Lock & Co Hatters or St James’s Street and included live musical performances from the Marylebone Rock Choir and Elaine Buckle.

3 www.hatalk.com Images by Paul Lee Photography Lee Paul Images by

Top Left: London Hat Week Founders Becky Weaver and Georgina Abbott. Right: Irish milliner Suzanne Ryan. Bottom Left: A launch guest looking dapper in a red bowler. Bottom Right: Anna Mott in a striking hat by Australian milliner Richard Nylon.

4 www.hatalk.com Images by Paul Lee Photography Lee Paul Images by

Top Left: #LHW was the official London Hat Week hashtag - check Facebook and Twitter to see the latest posts. Top Right: Milliner Katherine Elizabeth shows off her new hairstyle at Duck & Dry’s pop-up blow dry bar, where launch goers were treated to complimentary hairdos to go with their hats. Bottom Left: American milliner Laurie Carlson Steiger. Bottom Right: The Marylebone Rock Choir performing in Lock & Co bowlers for a real London look.

5 www.hatalk.com Images by Paul Lee Photography Lee Paul Images by

Above: Guests, including Duck & Dry founder Yulia Rorstrom (top right) and burlesque performer Immodesty Blaize (bottom left), came dressed in a wide range of styles and everyone looked fabulous. People stood taller with their hats on, feeling confident and ready to enjoy themselves as they caught up with old friends, met new ones and prepared for the fantastic week ahead. Launch goers were served complimentary drinks and given a personalised notebook from printers Barnard & Westwood and a goodie bag from Lock & Co Hatters containing Sylvia Fletcher’s book, Headfirst. 6 www.hatalk.com Image by Elly Stemerdink Image by

Top Left: One of the main reasons people travelled to London Hat Week was to learn new millinery skills. These were made by students in a draping workshop taught by London College of Fashion tutor Chloe Scrivener. Top Right: Jane Fryers taught a fish leather class at Atelier Millinery in Carnaby. Bottom Left: Chloe Haywood of Hatastic! held a making course which was suitable for all skill levels. Bottom Right: The Bailey Tomlin Sinamay Techniques courses were some of the first to sell out.

7 www.hatalk.com Top Left: Judy Bentinck (right) with a student at her velvet flower making class at Cockpit Arts in Holborn. Top Right: Jane Taylor, milliner to the Royals, held straw workshops at her studio. Bottom Left: Sally Harper-Kenn demonstrated flower making techniques from her book - Silk Flowers. Bottom Right: Emi Suzuki taught students new feather flower making skills at Siggi Hats in Fulham. London Hat Week classes were also taught by Dillon Wallwork, Edwina Ibbotson, The British School of Millinery, Natasha Moorhouse, Tina Giuntini, Katherine Elizabeth and Joy Scott. 8 www.hatalk.com Image by Elly Stemerdink Image by

Top Left: As well as coming to learn, many visitors came to London Hat Week to shop - both for millinery supplies and for hats. Hat shops across the city joined in the LHW Hat Trail by decorating their windows for the occasion. Top Right: Owen, of Guy Morse-Brown Hat Blocks, spent time meeting milliners and answering their questions. Bottom Left: The team from Parkin Fabrics had plenty to offer shoppers at their London Hat Week Road Show. Bottom Right: Many workshops and other London Hat Week events sold out in record time this year.

9 www.hatalk.com Top Left: World class milliners Edwina Ibbotson, Rachel Trevor-Morgan and Noel Stewart at Milliners’ Question Time, where Leanne Fredrick of Hattin’ Around interviewed them in front of a live audience. Top Right: Leanne (2nd from left) also collaborated with HATalk to organise an information sharing session. Bottom Left: Cutting edge milliner Laura Apsit Livens opened her studio for seminars and visits. Bottom Right: London Hat Week sponsors Bates Hats held an evening talk on the history of the .

10 www.hatalk.com Images by BethanImages Eccles by

Above: An exciting addition to the London Hat Week 2015 schedule was hat designer Carrie Jenkinson’s collection launch at department store giant House of Fraser’s flagship Oxford Street store. It was wonderful to see hats become the focal point of the store’s womenswear department for an evening.

11 www.hatalk.com Above Left: 2015 also saw the introduction of some great new hat exhibitions during London Hat Week, including the UglyLovely Millinery Exhibition at Craft Central in Clerkenwell. Top Right: UglyLovely Creative Director Sahar Freemantle wore one of her signature macabre headpieces to the exhibition’s press night. Bottom Right: Swing band Minnie’s Henhouse performed at the opening, which was sponsored by Dalston Cola.

12 www.hatalk.com Top: The 21st Century Hat Exhibition was another exceptional LHW event, showcasing over 75 unique millinery creations by designers from 15 different countries and curated by Monique Lee and Anna Mott. The exhibition was organised by X Terrace Fashion and was sponsored by Coventry University London Campus. The graphic design sponsor was Art and Design Ways Ltd and the launch was catered by pastry chef Theodora Tsaveli. Bottom Left: Some rare pieces by the late Australian milliner Paris Kyne were on display at East India House. Bottom Right: Monique Lee (right) with wearable technology expert Paul Gough from Lab Alpha 7. 13 www.hatalk.com Image by Alena Kobylkova Alena Image by Images by Debbie Annette Images by

Top: Despite disappointingly British weather, the second annual London Hat Walk was very well attended. A number of Red Hat Society chapters joined in, adding to the crowd of hat wearers who walked through Central London. Bottom Left: HATalk Editor Becky Weaver, London Hat Walk organiser Liz Waldy, Georgina Abbott of Atelier Millinery and Carole Denford of The HAT Magazine strolled down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace together. Bottom Right: Many hat wearers ended the walk with a meal at a restaurant in Trafalgar Square.

14 www.hatalk.com This year, London Hat Week was intentionally scheduled who won a hat, Miles Rochford, who won to coincide with Wear a Hat Day, an annual fundraising a hat by Rachel Trevor-Morgan, Amanda Loiselle, who campaign held by Brain Tumour Research, LHW’s official won two places on a fascinator making course at Atelier charity partner. A number of events raised money for Millinery and Sarah Burnett-Moore, who won a one year Brain Tumour Research and there was even a London Hat subscription to HATalk e-magazine. Through the prize Week pop-up for Wear a Hat Day in the Piccadilly Circus draw and other London Hat Week fundraising initiatives, branch of Barclays Bank (above left). over £1000 was raised for Brain Tumour Research.

The LHW Charity Prize Draw was announced on Wear a As with all good things, London Hat Week 2015 came Hat Day - the first full day of London Hat Week - so people to an end and people made their way home, travelling could give to the charity online in return for the chance back to the far corners of the world full of fresh to win some outstanding prizes, including couture hats inspiration and enthusiasm for making hats. Next which had been generously donated by Stephen Jones year’s details have not yet been released but you can and Rachel Trevor-Morgan. On the last day of London Hat join the London Hat Week mailing list to be the first to Week, the winners were announced as Eleanor MacPhee, hear when more information does become available.

15 www.hatalk.com Hat of the Month by Monica Feher

Monica Feher won first place in the HATWALK Irish Millinery Design Award in March with this unique wired leather headpiece.

Like London Hat Week, the third annual HATWALK was also held on Wear a Hat Day (27th March 2015). As in previous years, Ireland’s premier millinery catwalk show had two aims - to showcase homegrown hat making talent and to raise funds for Brain Tumour Research. The event also included the announcement of the winners of the prestigious HATWALK Design Award, which was set up to identify the world’s top up and coming millinery designers and was open to both professional and amateur hat makers. This year’s competition was judged by milliner Justine Bradley-Hill and Daily Mirror

McLaren Photography McLaren fashion columnist Niamh McEneaney.

16 www.hatalk.com HATWALK’s 2015 Design Award After seeing the shortlisted hats competition took its inspiration and headpieces on HATWALK’s from the Irish film and television catwalk, the expert judges were industry, a sector which has seen very impressed with the overall huge growth over the past few standard of the entries, the wide years as movies such as Dracula variety of styles presented and Untold and Calvary and TV series the inventive interpretations of The Fall and Game of Thrones the brief. Both agreed, however, have been filmed in Ireland. Like that Monica’s wired leather Irish millinery, the Irish film and headpiece (right) clearly stood TV industry is disproportionately out as the winner. According successful to the small size of to judge Niamh McEneaney, “It the country, with both industries wowed both us and the crowd. thriving and promoting Ireland The leather had the most intricate and Irish talent across the globe. hand stitching and the subtle To celebrate this, HATWALK hand-sewn diamantes gave it competition entrants were asked that little bit of sparkle as the to design a fashion forward catwalk lights hit it.” headpiece to be worn by an Irish Film or TV actress on the red Monica (left), who has a millinery carpet at a film premiere or an business in County Meath, award ceremony. Ireland, told us a bit more about her winning design and her millinery background.

“After reading the brief I was so glad that the movie Dracula Untold was mentioned as I am originally from Romania and it felt really close to me,” she says. “Throughout the process of making the hat I kept in mind the powerful woman that stood by Dracula ( the hero and villain). I knew I took a great risk by going for black for a competition but I

trusted my instincts.” Photography McLaren

17 www.hatalk.com “The way I work is directly connected “My first teacher was Davina Lynch - Amy Leslie of Headstrong Millinery with the material. I had the brief, I had a great person and a lovely teacher. Design, who created a wearable, the idea and then I started looking Since then I’ve taken a couple of elegant piece (below right). for textures and fabrics. I wanted to classes in and with Carole edge away from traditional blocking Maher and Lina Stein. The way I The catwalk show also featured hats but I still needed to achieve that work is by not obeying the rules from seven of Ireland’s top milliners blocked-like look, so I used wire to and letting the materials guide me. - Bronagh Marron (2014 HATWALK get the leather into shape. I finished It is a unique relationship with the Design Award Winner), Sara McNally off the edges with crochet chain and craft. I don’t have many blocks so I (Bluebird Millinery), Audrey Doherty, diamantés.” constantly have to improvise, but it Mark Garvie, Fiona Mangan, Leonora gives me great pleasure to see what Ferguson and John Paul - as well “My story began three years ago. can happen.” as a striking asymmetrical topper After I had my daughter I found donated by celebrity milliner Philip myself forced to leave my job as a HATWALK Design Award second Treacy as the Wear a Hat Day raffle beautician because the hours were place winner was Martine Munaut, prize. A few of the catwalk hats are 9am to 9pm three days a week with whose headpiece featured a hand- shown on the following page and the other two days finishing at 7pm. blocked sinamay person (below more pictures can be found on the I was commuting and it was just too left), and the third place winner was HATWALK Facebook page. much. One day, when I was out for a walk with my daughter, I met a friend who I hadn’t seen for a long time. We got talking and I told her that I needed to find something to do at home as things weren’t good as they were. She asked me, ‘What do you like, Monica?’ and I said, ‘I love hats!’ We each went our own ways and I didn’t think of it after that.”

“A couple of months later I got a text from my friend that said, ‘Monica, there’s a millinery course in Oldcastle - you should look it up!’ I went, I fell in love with it and felt like I belonged. It was the first time that I didn’t need a notebook as all the information was

so welcomed by my brain.” Photography McLaren

18 www.hatalk.com Hat by Philip Treacy Hat by Fiona Mangan

Hat by Bronagh Marron Hat by John Paul McLaren Photography McLaren 19 To find out more aboutwww.hatalk.co HATWALK, mgo to www.hatwalk.info. PartMake 1 a Leather Rose The first of a two-part tutorial contributed by 2014 HATalk Competition second place winner Svetlana Faulkner, of PresentPerfect Creations.

You will need the following materials to complete the first part of this project... • Thin leather (a thickness of approx. 0.6-0.7mm works best) in two colours. Alternatively, you can use a single colour for a more stylised rose. • PVA glue in two thicknesses - one thick and tacky for gluing parts of flower together, the other diluted for stiffening the leather. • A 2-litre bowl for preparing the stiffening solution. • Rose templates - click here to download and then trace onto card to make cutting guides. • Scissors

*Other tools and materials pictured here will be used in Part 2 20 www.hatalk.com of this tutorial which will be featured in HATalk Issue 111. 1) Dilute some PVA glue with water to make a stiffening 2) Take all the leather shapes out of the stiffening solution, solution. Tips on how to prepare a stiffening solution can squeeze out excess liquid and spread them on a craft be found on my blog. Using the template as a guide, cut mat or other suitable surface. Leave for 30 minutes to dry out the required number of leather petals, leaves and the slightly. calyx. Dip all the leather parts into the stiffening solution and let them soak until they are completely saturated, about 5 to 10 minutes is usually enough.

3) Once the parts have dried a little, you can start shaping 4) Pile all the folded sepals together. by hand. Take the calyx, wrong side up, and fold every sepal in half lengthwise.

21 www.hatalk.com 5) And then wring them all by twisting and squeezing out 6) Now shape the two leaves. Take one of them, wrong side any extra stiffening solution. Put the calyx aside. up, and fold it in half lengthwise.

7) Going from the tip of the leaf, start pleating the leather 8) Continue pleating until you reach the bottom of the at approximately a 45° angle to the midrib. leaf.

22 www.hatalk.com 9) Holding the pleats together, wring the leaf. 10) Repeat steps 6 - 9 with the other leaf and then put both leaves and the calyx aside.

11) Now move to the ‘E’ petals (as labelled on the template 12) Holding the pleats together, wring the petal sheet). Pleat each of the 10 E petals as shown in the individually. picture.

23 www.hatalk.com 13) The leaves, the calyx and the 10 E petals are now 14) Let’s move to the A, B, C and D pieces. Starting with one shaped. of the A pieces, pleat one of the petals in a same way that you pleated the E petals.

15) Holding the pleats, wring the petal as shown. 16) Repeat steps 14 and 15 with the other three petals of the A piece.

24 www.hatalk.com In the same way, repeat steps 14 and 15 to shape all the A, After one or two hours, when the flower parts are half dry, B, C and D pieces. carefully unwring all of them, trying not to ruin the effect that has been achieved but at the same time loosening them before they are completely dry to prevent the folds from sticking together.

Stretch the base of each of the petals of the A, B, C, D and Now the parts are completely dry and ready to be tooled E pieces. with a flower iron. This will be demonstrated in Part 2 of this tutorial in the June Issue of HATalk.

25 To find out more about Svetlana Faulkner and PresentPerfectwww.hatalk.co Creations,m go to www.presentperfectcreations.com. Sara Snood’s 365 Day Headgear Challenge

Last July, Sara Snood (right) was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer. A few weeks later, she underwent surgery to remove the tumour and began an eighteen week course of chemotherapy. In an inspirational display of courage and strength, Sara has risen above the challenges of illness and hair loss and has used hats to raise over £10,000 for MacMillan Cancer Support since then. Day 136 - Hat by Philip Treacy

“Throughout this most surreal roller coaster of True to her word, Sara has appeared online in different appointments, pain, fear, laughter, tears, guilt, anger, headwear each day - managing to smile for the camera hysterics, bad-taste-jokes, sleepless nights and denial, on even the most gruelling days of her treatment. Most my MacMillan Nurse Lisa and the MacMillan counsellors of the creations Sara wears are her own - some as simple (both emotional and practical) have been there and will as sticking a teapot on her head or making a headpiece continue to be there during my treatment and recovery,” from coffee cups - but she has also been assisted by a says Sara. “In order to raise awareness of breast cancer number of generous milliners. and funds for MacMillan, I decided to take control and shave off my golden locks in stages over the days before “The most famous milliner to lend me a hat is Philip my treatment started and then commence with a 365 Treacy - on day 136 of my challenge. Needless to say, I Day Different Daily Headgear challenge and post the was totally thrilled to be in possession of such a beautiful photographic evidence on Instagram and Facebook.” piece, albeit for just a week or so,” says Sara.

26 www.hatalk.com Other hat makers and shops who have lent or given Sara hats to help her to complete her challenge include Joanna Zara, Judy Bentinck, Titfers by Nest, Hatastic, Feathered Fantasy, We Creatures, Hectic Hat Hire and What A Hat.

Sara’s bravery and amazing fundraising success has not gone unnoticed by the mainstream media. She has recently appeared on television’s Good Morning Britain, Sky News and ITV Meridian and has also been featured in UK newspapers such Day 40 - Hat by Hectic Hat Hire Day 47 - Hat by What a Hat as and Daily Mail.

Sara is more than halfway through her challenge now but still needs to be photographed in over 100 different hats to finish it. If you’d like to help by lending her a hat, you can contact her through the Facebook page Chemo Snood Head Different Daily Headgear Challenge. To make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support, visit Sara’s fundraising page www.justgiving.com/chemo snoodhead.

Day 62 - Hat by Judy Bentinck Day 106 - Hat by Joanna Zara

27 www.hatalk.com Send us your questions and Letters to the comments! Do you have a problem needing a solution? Or information Editor... that you’d like to share? Email us! [email protected]

Question: Some of my clients have extremely fine, silky hair and find it very difficult to get hats to stay securely on their heads. Do you have any tips that I can pass on to them?

Answer: Cutting edge London milliner Laura Apsit Livens and expert hair stylist Kieran Tudor held some informative seminars about hats and hairstyles during London Hat Week. They stressed the importance of finding a ‘point of anchor’ for your hats - the place where the hat should be secured on the head to achieve the correct balance and angle. Once you’ve found this point, Apsit-Livens suggests adding a comb, which can be used in conjunction with millinery wire prongs for a truly couture effect (see Issue 87 for information on how to make these).

Tudor (right), who is the Art Director at D&J Ambrose, explained that the secret to securely attaching a comb to even the silkiest of hair lies in the simple technique of ‘back combing.’ Back combing, which is done by combing and teasing sections of the hair back towards the scalp and then adding hair spray, should give the hair enough added texture to keep the comb in place. When you’ve determined your point of anchor, the corresponding section of hair should be well back combed before the hat is fitted onto the head.

28 www.hatalk.com The Back Page

It’s that time of year when British milliners are beginning to get very busy in the run up to Royal Ascot in June... This year’s highly anticipated Royal Ascot Style Guide was launched at the flagship Bond Street store of renowned British retailer Fenwick, where Martha Ward, British stylist and Royal Ascot TV Fashion presenter, introduced her special curation of womenswear outfits styled from the Spring/Summer collections of celebrated British and international designers from Fenwick, including several looks from this year’s official Royal Ascot Style Guide. The Royal Ascot Style Guide is designed to help racegoers appropriately for the highly anticipated iconic British summer- time event. Dressing according to the Royal Ascot is an integral part of the event and an important part of the Royal Ascot experience. Even if you’re not making hats for Royal Ascot this year, the Style Guide is a great place to get some millinery inspiration from this most British racing and fashion event. Click here to download the 2015 Royal Ascot Style Guide or visit www.ascot.co.uk for more information. As a HATalk subscriber, you can also download our Royal Ascot bonus editions to see what millinery styles have been popular in previous years.

Contact Us! Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or post on our Facebook, Twitter or HATalk Social pages and we’ll be sure to get back to you.

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