How to build a hat wardrobe: the pieces that cover every occasion

Four pieces cover almost every occasion a year will ask of you. A brimmed summer straw, a felt piece for the cold months, a headband for evening and for days when a full hat would be too much, then one statement piece kept for the occasions that deserve it. Bought in that order, each piece earns its place before the next one arrives.

Everything at Maria Monica London is blocked and finished by hand by Monika Perlinska in the London atelier, and every piece is made to order. Monika qualified at a school of millinery in Poland and refined her craft in an atelier with a century of tradition behind it, then spent twenty years in London: five years in Philip Treacy's atelier making hats for the royal family and for names from film and music, seven years as head milliner at Jane Taylor, then her own house. Around thirty-five years at the craft in total, and you can read more about her on the designer page. Any design can be commissioned in another colour, which is what makes a wardrobe possible to build one piece at a time without any of it clashing. Nothing is made twice.

What should your first hat be?

A brimmed summer straw. It carries the widest range of occasions of the four: races, garden parties, weddings from May to September, travel and long lunches in strong sun. A brim also does something no other piece can do, which is to lay a horizontal line across the face and shade the eyes, so you can hold a conversation outdoors without squinting through it.

Start with the Parasisal Fedora in cream at GBP 480. Parasisal is a very fine straw, woven closely enough to take a crisp blocked shape and hold it through a long day. The fedora is unisex, and cream sits comfortably with navy, grey, tan, white and denim, which accounts for most of a summer wardrobe. It is finished with grosgrain ribbon and fits 56 to 57 cm. The same shape in emerald green runs 57 to 59 cm at GBP 450 if your head measures larger, or if you want the colour to carry the piece. Men buying a first hat can start from the men's hat guide.

Measure before you commission anything. Take a tape around the head just above the ears and around the fullest part of the back of the skull, keeping it level all the way round. A few millimetres change how a blocked crown sits, and a hat that sits wrong photographs wrong. Fittings take place in the London atelier or by video call for clients abroad, so the measurement can be checked before the block is chosen.

What does a felt piece do that a straw cannot?

Felt takes a sculpted shape and holds it through the cold months, which is the practical half. The other half is visual. Straw belongs to warm light, and a pale straw brim in a November churchyard looks borrowed from another season. Under low grey light, colours with depth carry better than pale ones, which tend to go flat.

The Classic Pillbox in Midnight Leopard at GBP 420 is a useful second piece for exactly that reason. It is felt, midnight navy with violet and a leopard motif, fitting 57 to 60 cm. A pillbox sits high on the head and keeps its position above a coat collar or a wound scarf, where a brim would be pushed out of place. It also stays on comfortably indoors, so it carries through a service, a lunch and photographs without being taken off and put back on again. For summer, the Classic Parasisal Pillbox in ice blue at GBP 480 does the same job in straw, finished with a straw bow and fitting 57 to 59 cm.

When is a headband the right piece?

Buy the headband third. It handles evening, restaurants, christenings, theatre, drinks and every daytime occasion where a full hat would put you a level above everyone else in the room. On the pieces built on a colour-matched band, the band is matched to the wearer's own hair colour, so it disappears and only the shape reads. That is the detail that separates a millinery headband from a shop-bought one.

The Silk Bow Headband in Midnight Blossom at GBP 75 is the sensible entry, along with the Draped Silk Headband in Autumn Oak at the same price. At GBP 90 the Sculptural Satin Headband in black and the Silk Velvet Draped Headband in deep burgundy give you evening and winter. At the top of the range the Sculptural Wool Crepe Headband in scarlet red at GBP 140 has enough architecture to hold its own at a wedding.

Three practical advantages. A headband travels flat in a case, which a blocked crown does not. It wears in a car and under a low ceiling. And it stays on at dinner, so you are not left carrying a hat through the evening. For an occasion that runs late, the Black Floral Crystal Veil Headband at GBP 280 works Swarovski crystals into a birdcage veil, and a veil at eye level does under artificial light what a brim does in daylight.

What makes a statement piece worth the money?

The fourth piece is the one you buy for a specific day. The Sculpted Felt Bow in scarlet red at GBP 390 is a felt bow with a tonal veil, on a headband colour matched to your hair with a hidden comb. That construction is the point. The comb and the matched band hold a large sculptural shape steady for a full day without the weight or the grip of a crown, which is why a piece like this survives an outdoor ceremony, a receiving line and a windy photograph.

Buy this one in a colour you would never repeat. The first two pieces are the workhorses, so the statement piece is where scarlet, or a shade matched to a specific dress, belongs. The Sculptural Pinokpok Bow Headband in blush nude at GBP 260 is the softer version of the same idea, also on a hair-colour-matched band, and it suits a guest at a summer wedding.

How do you choose colours that work across several outfits?

• Keep the first two neutral. A cream straw and a dark felt will sit with almost everything already in your wardrobe.
• Let the third and fourth carry the colour. By then you know what you actually wear.
• Match the hat to a small element you own, a shoe, a bag or a trim. A dress is the hardest thing to match exactly, and an approximate match reads as an accident. A deliberate echo of an accessory reads as a decision.
• Judge every colour against your face in daylight, held at the height it will actually sit. Colour that close to the skin changes how you look far more than the same colour in a jacket.
• Treat black as the difficult option outdoors. In strong sun it can flatten the face. Midnight navy and deep burgundy give the same discipline with more life in them.
• Send a fabric swatch. Because every piece is made to order, a colour can be matched to the cloth rather than guessed from a screen.

What do the dress codes actually require?

Royal Ascot publishes its dress code and reviews it each year, so check the code for the year you are attending. As published, the Royal Enclosure asks women for a hat or headpiece with a solid base of at least 10 cm in diameter. A slim headband will not meet that, so if Ascot is on your list, specify the base diameter when you commission. Men in the Royal Enclosure need black or grey morning dress with a waistcoat and tie, plus a black or grey top hat. A straw fedora is not permitted in the Royal Enclosure. In the Queen Anne Enclosure and the Village Enclosure, the published requirement for men is a full length suit with a collared shirt and tie, so read the current year's guidance on headwear before you commission a hat for those enclosures. Pieces made with the day in mind sit in the Royal Ascot collection.

In what order should you buy?

• First: a brimmed summer straw, GBP 450 to GBP 480. Covers May to September.
• Second: a felt hat or pillbox, from GBP 420. Covers October to April and every indoor occasion.
• Third: one or two headbands, GBP 75 to GBP 140. Covers evening, travel and anything understated.
• Fourth: a statement piece, GBP 260 to GBP 390. Bought for a date in the diary.

Fittings take place in the London atelier or by video call for clients abroad, and any piece here can be made in another colour for you. Delivery within the United Kingdom is complimentary, the United States is GBP 23.99 and the European Union GBP 14.99, with the rest of the world quoted; duties outside the UK are set by your own customs authority. When you know which of the four pieces you are missing, start a commission and we will take it from your measurements. The full range sits in all hats and headpieces.