The
story of Daisy Darling is a personal one that began with me making cloche hats
for my daughters, Eleanor and Martha and it grew from people stopping me in the
street and asking where they could buy them. At first I just produced childrens
millinery but I soon realised after watching customers trying to squeeze their
heads into them that it was time to focus on adult designs!
For me,
millinery is a real labour of love; hard work but artistically fulfilling. It
takes upwards of two days to manufacture each hat but my clients know that the
end result is unique. The art of bespoke hat making is a skill which could so
easily have been lost without the support of customers wanting something unique
and understanding the importance of something being handcrafted.
The
felts themselves are sourced from British supplier Baxter, Hart and Abraham, a
Luton-based family business who have been trading for over 200 years. Britain
has a huge history in millinery. Places such as Stockport were once home to
over 100 hatting businesses and now even boasts a museum dedicated to
millinery.
The hats
themselves are blocked on antique blocks in the traditional way. I don’t use a
pattern, preferring instead for each piece to be individual. The smaller
pillbox style felts are more difficult to shape but can be piled high with
wonderful vintage flowers. To me they are like the cupcake of the millinery
world, a small base topped with delicious looking flowers and trims. They are
always worn at a slight angle and further forward on the head making them ideal
for occasions like weddings.
The
cloche is my favourite style as it looks great on most people and can be made
in felt or straw. It frames the face and gives the wearer a slightly coquettish
look as they peer from beneath its brim. It’s a classic 20’s style and became
popular due to the fashion for shorter hairstyles and drop waist dresses. It
gives me lots of choice with trim from simple felt shapes with vintage buckles
to antique silk flowers and vintage French ribbons.
I source
original trims from antique fairs, dealer friends and The Vintage Bazaar www.thevintagebazaar.blogspot.com that I
run with my friend Liz Van Hasselt. Originally designed to showcase the most
eclectic and inspiring of traders and designers in the UK, the VB has grown to
become a real celebration of the best of British vintage and chic recycling. I
have built up quite a collection of vintage ribbon, silk flowers and other
embroidered trims although parting with them can sometimes be a bit of a wrench
as I know it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find them at a reasonable
price!
In the past few years I’ve seen hat wearing
grow from a niche fashion into an increasingly popular trend, perhaps in part
thanks to Angelina Jolie in The Changeling, the women of Downton Abbey or Baz
Luhrmann’s hotly anticipated new production of The Great Gatsby. Personally,
the roaring twenties have always fascinated me. It seems that women really
found their voice during the period with changes in fashion reflecting their
newly acquired role in society. ‘The Bright Young Things’ were gadding about
London, Dorothy Parker was beguiling and offending in equal measure and the era
just oozed decadence, wit and elegance. I hope that in some way my work
reflects this mixture of style and joie de vivre.
--My
work can be found at The Vintage Bazaar events in Frome, The Original Vintage
and Handmade Fair event in Chipping Sodbury and the vintage haven ‘Poot’ in
Frome, Somerset.
