She has arrived! The amazing Josephine Baker at Berlin’s fantastic Madame Tussaud’s! This was a dream costume project, I loved every minute of this make.

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Here is an example of the endless possibilities available when it comes to making hats when you let your creativity flow.

For these hats firstly I made the hat block which is the base shape all these hats are formed on. I did this by adjusting a sharp brim block which I then made into this Ascot style dish shape.

From there I created these four hats over the time I was working at John Boyds. As you can see they are all very different, using a variety of materials, colour combinations and trimmings, and I’m sure there are hundreds more styles waiting to be made!

One of my favourite things to do in millinery is working organically with materials to create something totally unique. I got that sense of excitement when coming up with this way of using sinamay, sculpting it by hand to make beautiful and flattering shapes, and they are so light to wear too!

It’s always fascinating working with a new material. The possibilities seem endless and at the same time the fabric often dictates what you make, creating a lovely two way creative relationship between the maker and material. This was the case with this neon plastic, I really enjoyed figuring out how to make the flowers using some tried and tested techniques and adapting them to create something elegant and sophisticated with a fun element, something a little different.

A selection of favourite makes full of different colours, shapes and textures 💞