“Feathers and natural materials have always been used in Millinery and traditional headwear. Taking inspiration from nature and culture has always been part of fashion designing including hats. In todays language it is less accepted to use animal and bird parts whether they are by-products or not. As a milliner and a vegan (Plant Based probably a more suitable description for myself more recently ) for just short of 40 years, my work has always torn my believes and my heart to shreds. I truly believe that we are close to stopping the use of such materials however for the time being there is nothing as beautiful as a birds feather and as long as it is a by -product I still find myself using them .

I wanted to create a piece that typically uses many of my everyday skills. Skills that have been used for generations, creating a piece that will stand proud and be of interest to the eye. The silhouette is so important when designing a hat and I try to make all my work beautiful from all 360 degrees, alongside being easy and comfortable to wear.”

“I studied photography briefly, I dropped out as my then boyfriend who was also studying photography always took a far better photo than me. I guess I am quite competitive in some things and I wasn’t winning in this case so I gave up and started going to hat making classes. I moved to Connecticut NY to be a au pair, soon leaving to move to NY , attending millinery Classes at FIT ( Fashion Institute of Technology) taught by the wonderful Ann Albrizio amongst others; all whist working as a nanny within a New York cult .
Moving back to London I continued studying Millinery at LCF with Marie O’regan and Rose Cory; along side taking private classes with a wonderful French milliner Roland whom I sat next to in the workroom whilst working at Philip Somerville’s. After leaving and travelling for a good few months, set up my own millinery business with help from the Princes Youth business trust.
Traditional Skills along with the Heritage of Millinery is incredibly important , we cannot afford to lose such incredible skills , and the knowledge shared throughout generations, helping us and the future milliners develop whether using modern materials and techniques, whilst keeping heritage and traditional skills in the forefront.

No family connection to millinery, however both my Grandmothers although neither needed to work officially ( apart from bringing up their children ) One I believe worked in the soft furnishing department in her local department store before marrying my Grandfather, making curtains and cousin covers for clients . They where both very crafty and good Knitters, or crochet. One Grandmother taught myself to Knit and the other taught my sister to crochet, I still have know idea how to Crochet. At school everyone had to do Crafts and Sewing . I was much more crafty, I didn’t like sewing, however I think that had more to do with the teacher, who used to pick her nose in public!
My cousin has her own soft furnishings business.”