Having made many elaborate headpieces over the years, I was aware that my approach has been from a western tradition, a fitted base shape that hugged the head and balanced the statement a top.

My fascination with Oriental performance and ceremonial headpieces was with the approach to construction. How they were made? How did they fit the performers? What gave them their lightweight but ornate look?

The charming Mr Andrew Chueng was my guide and translator for our seamless subway journey to the suburb of Jordan, on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong to visit Mr Chan’s studio.

Mr Chan started his career as a performer in Chinese Opera. For the past 50 years he has been making costumes for local and international opera performers .

Mr Chan’s world is a chaotic space with 100’s of opera costumes and headpieces stored in white plastic bags hanging from the ceiling, tumbling out of boxes all stacked on top of each other. The space is so crowded that only a narrow pathway exists as a passage through this labyrinth of eye catching baubles, sharp edged costumes and twinkly theatrical bling.

 

This is the sample showroom for Mr Chan’s costume factory in mainland China.

 

 

After settling in at Mr Chan’s showroom with Andrew translating, I was enlightened by the construction of the headpieces. The  approach is two dimensional on an open , breathable mess, with a  layering of concentric rows  of repeated  motifs  to create  an ornate sense of depth – a richly textured halo.

The technique is confident and well tested.

 The fit is adjustable for a changing cast of performers and the attention to detail of the components is magical, assembled by a diligent team of experienced helpers to Mr Chan and his twinkly theatrical realm.

 

I have come away from this cultural exchange with new ideas on how to construct headpieces, how to make them cooler for the performer and how to boldly treat embellishment.  I will have to refine my oriental eye.

My task ahead is to make Mr Chan’s exquisite sample that arrived at my door in Sydney stay on the head of a tumbling performer and look pristine throughout the run of a show. The task ahead.

PARRAMATARIKI

On a cold June evening,  I caught  a sunset  ferry from Circular Quay to Parramatta in Sydney to the opening of PARRAMATARIKI – Stories from Across the Sea, a flax weaving installation at the Parramatta Artists Studios.

Two weaving artists, Maureen Lander and Keren Ruki had been commissioned by the Parramatta Council to conduct community weaving workshops with the wider Parramatta community, to share knowledge and stories about mats and mat making techniques.

June heralds the rise of the Pleiades cluster of stars, known in Maori culture as Matariki. It marks the beginning of the New Year in the southern hemisphere.

Parramatariki (Shining eyes of god) star theme was used in many of the weaving installations.

FIBRE WEAVING  has always been a very strong tradition in Pacific cultures and New Zealand Flax is a versatile fibre for splitting and making into mats, ropes , baskets and sometimes hats.

The young fronds, cut from the heart of the plant are split into strips ready for weaving.  Fine or coarse weave strips are woven with cross threads from left to right to create a variety of utility objects.

The May community workshops conducted   by the artists allowed many participants to learn the weaving techniques, to sit and share memories of hand working skills. 

 

A feast setting was  created to celebrate the New Year with a long flax mat woven especially for the event. Baskets and decorations were also woven to adorn the festive table. 

I was particularly moved by the strong sense of family, community spirit and shared traditional knowledge at this event . The collective act of sitting and hand weaving  meshed a range of a people together.

The exhibition runs from June 4^th to 3^rd September at

Parramatta Artists Studios,

45 Hunter St Parramatta

NSW 2150

images courtesy of Maureen Lander

Hats: An Anthology By Stephen Jones has been on exhibit at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane since 27th March.

This exhibition was first shown in March 2009 at the V&A Museum in London.

Tony Elwood, Director of the Queensland Art Gallery showed great forsight in bringing this exhibition exclusively to Brisbane in Australia.

It will travel to other international venues over the next few years.

For the headwear profession both in Australia and globally, this is a timely celebration of  a very prominant  part of our apparel, particularly at a time when younger people are now choosing hats as fashion accessories.

 The exhibition draws  focus to the culture of headwear design, hat making and showcases a myriad hat styles and techniques across the decades.

Many Australian milliners and headwear industry colleagues were in Brisbane on a balmy March evening to toast the opening of this event and to meet the gracious Stephen Jones.

Since the opening, Brisbane has gone mad about hats.

In just 6 weeks the exhibition has attracted over 100,000 visitors in Brisbane. This is more than visited the exhibition over the entire season at the V&A in London

Miranda Wallace, Curator of the Australian component of the exhibition says,

‘we have had an extrodinary response from a huge range of people, particularly young men. Everybody loves this exhibition’.

Miguel Aquilizan showing young people at QAG how to make headpieces

With free entry and another 5 weeks to go, I recommend a visit to this eclectic collection of headwear.

Check out the Hat Salon adjacent to the exhibition exit. It is displaying and selling the works of both Australian and English hat makers.

HAT TAT SALE

I am hosting a sale of milliners tat this weekend.

Alex Panozzo and Tess Schofield are parting with their tat.

For sale are
Braids,tassels, veiling,ribbons,buckles,buttons,flowers,
Assorted felt and straw hoods,felt and straw pieces (idealfor trims), straw braid, collapsible hat boxes and assorted sundry items.

Cash sales only.

SAT 24TH- SUN 25TH APRIL 10AM TO 4PM or until sold out.

Come along to 273 AUSTRALIA ST NEWTOWN (1min from Newtown station)
Easiest to come by train or bus and bring your own bag.
Wear a hat if you are inclined.

You can download the invite here

E-Book PDF: Open in New Window | Download

Variations in head shapes exist amongst peoples of the world.

In my work as a bespoke hat maker I have found some general variations exist  in head shape. Asian heads tend to be round with fullness at the temples. African heads are elongated like Neferatiti. Anglo Australian heads tend to be oval.

When making hats for clients hat makers must consider the shape of the hole they create to fit the head into. Headsize and shape create what is known as the ” fit of the hat”. This can vary all over the world.
Some of my clients come to me because they have trouble finding a comfortable fit in a commercially manufactured hat. In Australia most hats are made to a standard oval headshape.

Just last week a client came for a fitting.

His head was flat at the back, full at the sides with a snubby proud forehead. When I drew a picture of his headshape it looked like a piece of sliced bread!

In the glory days of hat selling, hatters had the hat conformer. This gadget measured the size and shape of the clients’ head at the same time.

A minature template was gleaned and hats could be formed to fit exactly to the clients headshape. A very handy gadget for the hatter (Place and order for a hat and have it delivered fitting perfectly.)

Recently in London I visited Lock and Co Hatters in St James St. They have a conformer on show. Interestingly on their walls they have some conformer templates of famous London hat wearers. The shape of these heads shows great variety.

I have been witnessing the trend in men’s hat wearing grow over the last few years and as a hat maker I am delighted to see people on the streets of Sydney wearing hats again.

It is a global trend and as more men rediscover the benefits  of the weather protection and dress styling that hats offer, the trend  will continue to grow.

Strand Hatters were recently in the media with an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about the return of hat wearing as a fashion trend for younger men.   See the link below

Strand Hatter’s has been a oasis for the hat lover  for years and many times I have called on them to immediately solve a hat dilema for me with my work in the stage and screen industries.

It is a tribute to good business that this specialty shop has survived in a climate where  shops that dedicate their merchandise to a few items are now limited.

Big apparel companies selling  top to toe clothing options under  the one roof  are todays’ one stop shopping trend.

Hats off to Robert and Nathan at Strand Hatter’s, offering this specialty hat fitting, styling and sales service.

Recently I visited Strand Hatters with Steven Lewis, a journalist and podcaster from the blog Open Crown.

In the spirit of promoting the wearing of hats,we worked with the Strand Hatter’s staff and a hat client to style a hat that suited this young man. We selected a range of hats to find the ones that best suited his personality and physical features. Below is the podcast of this session.

http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/style/cool-for-hats-mens-headwear-back-in-fashion-20090904-fbhs.html

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Passionate about industrial heritage and recently on a trip to Lithgow, NSW  I stumbled upon a wonderful collection of Union  banners at the State Mine Museum titled ”Beneath the Southern Cross”.

The rise of industrialism  during the late ninteenth and early twentieth centuries was cause for pride within the union movement and these giant  banners were a symbol of united identity.

The banners proudly depict  a range of trade unions  with a  utopian view that transformed the harsh working conditions of many trades into  a pastoral paradise for workers. They were used in street parades and union rallies to headline the relevant unions.

This exhibition is housed in the old mine bath house where 700 workers  at the end of their shift from underground coal mining  bathed before going home.

An evocative site for  this Unions of NSW display of these trade banners.

 Would I find a hatters guild represented amongst the banners?

No such luck but I found some affiliated references to the clothing trades with the closest being  the Presses Society.

This image depicts a room of men pressing suits with heavy irons that were filled with hot coals .

 

 

 

 

Also of interest was the Shop Assistants and Warehouse Employees Federation banner showing women selecting cloth from bolts of fabric from gentlemenly shop assistants.

Tags: industrial heritage

 

 

Selecting  this old 5 piece block , I am currently making a 1930’s inspired flat cap from a waxy, open plait panama.

I aquired this block from a Sydney firm who, for 100 years made the military and aviation headwear for our men in uniform.

 

 

 

By wetting and gently moulding the hat body over the wooden form and leaving it to dry for a few days, it takes on the shape of the cap.

 

 

The circumfirence around the top of the form is larger than around the fit line.

So how do we remove the hat from the wooden form without loosing the shape and fit line?

 

 The form is inverted and dismantled into five pieces that can be removed without compromising the newly moulded hat.

Making 5 piece wooden  hat forms is a rare trade now. I treasure these old shapes and often think of the former lives  they had in the 20th century, before coming into my care.

The midnight blue flat cap is now being finished for it’s wearer.

A  spontaneous moment on my research trip in the pursuit of men’s headwear was stumbling across this dude on the streets of  New York painting custom made hats on the sidewalk.

He had a brisk trade in spraying   logos onto his blank truckie caps. Rap tags and New York skylines were his favorite themes. He was very adept with the spray can, creating  on a very small space, logos with clever perspectives and his silver pen highlights finished the images in a slick shiny apple way.

This gig had taken him to Japan where he demonstrated his skills in the hat shops in Tokyo. This has been his living for the last 7 years.

He claimed  to be  the best hat maker in New York!

I paid up and commissioned one for the road.

Tags: hats, street styling