Journal

What Does a Milliner Do

A milliner designs and makes hats and headpieces by hand. The word covers a trade rather than a job title, and the work is closer to sculpture than to dressmaking. Cloth is cut flat and sewn. A hat...

How long a good hat lasts, and what makes one worth keeping

A hand-blocked felt or straw hat lasts decades if it is stored properly, because the structure can be rebuilt. It can be re-blocked into another shape, retrimmed and recoloured. A pressed factory h...

How to commission a hat, from first email to final fitting

A commission is five stages: the first conversation, the colour match, blocking, a fitting, and finishing. It takes one to four weeks for a remake of an existing design and longer for something new...

Where to buy a handmade hat in London

There are four routes: a millinery house direct, a department store concession, a specialist hat shop, and hire. Buying direct from the maker is the only one where the hat is blocked to your head a...

What makes a hat couture rather than mass produced

A couture hat is blocked over a wooden form by hand, wired and edged by hand, and made by the person who designed it. A mass produced hat is pressed by machine to a standard size. The difference sh...

Bespoke, made to order and ready to wear: the three ways to buy a hat

Ready to wear means the hat exists and ships as it is. Made to order means an existing design is remade in your colour and to your measurement. Bespoke means the shape is designed for you from noth...

What a handmade luxury hat costs, and what you are paying for

A hand-blocked occasion hat from a London milliner runs from about £400 for a headpiece to £1,500 and beyond for a large worked brim. The price is made of hours, materials and the fact that one per...

Hat designers in London: who makes what, and how to choose

There is no single best hat designer in London. There are several distinct kinds of maker, and the right one depends on whether you want a name, a fitting, a shape nobody else has, or a hat you wil...

How a made to order hat is commissioned

A made to order hat is commissioned in four stages: a conversation about the occasion and the outfit, a colour matched by hand against your own fabric, the blocking and hand work, then a final pass...

Wedding hat etiquette in the UK: who wears one, when to take it off and what the rules actually are

A London milliner answers UK wedding hat etiquette question by question: who is expected to wear a hat, whether it stays on indoors, when it comes off, what each mother wears, hat against fascinato...