Vintage Styled 40′s Glamour

Happy New Year!

We are off to a great start for 2011 and we’re hoping it’s going to be a fabulous and creative season. With the drop in temperatures we have created a couple of felt vintage styled ‘perchers’ to wet you’re appetite for the coming year and to add that bit of glamour for those  dark January days.

We are looking forward to working with clients to create their perfect racing hat or headpiece and of course with brides and their mums and mums in law!

Here’s to an exciting and glamorous 2011.

Choosing a headpiece for your special occasion, whether it be a ladies race day, your wedding day or garden party, can be a headache in itself. Working with a milliner may sound more expensive than simply picking a hat off the shelf at your local department store, but to have someone who has years and years of experience, an eye for detail and the imagination to create you something truly outstanding will not only leave you with a headpiece you will love forever but will also ensure that you don’t waste money on something that was never quite right to start with.

Fit, style, availability, colour and service are all major factors in choosing the perfect hat and buying a hat ‘off the shelf’ may tick some of these boxes but never all of them (unless you’re really lucky and if so, you don’t need to read any further!). Here at Sharper Millinery, we take the utmost care to design you a headpiece that will be comfortable, stylish, in exactly the right fabric and colour that you want and we will be with you every step of the way.

Confidence is key when you are wearing a headpiece. If you have bucket loads of the stuff, then the bigger the better – wear a hat that will become the centre of attention (as long as you don’t overshadow the bride!) – if you are the bride, this is the perfect opportunity to make a statement and start a new fashion trend amongst those that are looking for wedding ideas for themselves.

If you would rather the more subtle approach, then something more discreet, but that compliments your outfit perfectly, like a fascinator, headband or corsage will give your special outfit that little extra something something and your confidence a little boost in the process.

Face shape, your build and your personal colouring is also key when deciding on the perfect headwear. Bring your outfit with you or a swatch of material that you want to work with, sit with us and try on different types of base, on different places around your head, to make sure you love the look and can wear it all day and don’t be afraid to tell us your ideas. The best and most loved hats are built from your dreams and ideas, and mixed with our expertise.

Give us a call to have an informal, no obligation chat – We’re looking forward to it.

Rain Doesn’t Stop Play!

Choosing the right headpiece to match your outfit is vitally important. Choosing one that will withstand the wind and rain that we faced on our visit to Bath races recently, is something that should always be a factor, but is rarely considered, even though we now come to expect the downpours during the summer months.

This was the first time we had visited Bath racecourse and what a fabulous spot right up on the top of a hill. It was extremely windy though and there was a torrential rain storm leaving lots of ladies with ruined hats and men with shrinking suits!

Our lovely friend Becky was in the finals for Best hat with a twisted pink and purple sinamay headpiece with many butterflies.  The vivid colours and summery theme brought a ray of light to an otherwise dreary day.

Wolverhampton Ladies Night

Just to prove that it’s not all work work work for us at Sharper Millinery, we do manage to get out and paint the town red (or blue in our case) on occasion!

Here is yours truly and lovely hubbie at the Wolverhampton Ladies Night event which was a fantastic evening, with us taking a place in the finals of Best Dressed Couple.

The table in the restaurant allowed us to see the racing perfectly with panoramic views across the course.

Debbie won best dressed lady and was picked out of the crowd by Miss Black Country and Toby Anstis from Heart FM.

Doncaster Delights

Alongside the other lovely ladies of Doncaster, we had the pleasure of designing two headpieces this year.

This hat was at the Doncaster St Leger meeting for ladies day on Thursday 9^th September made for our lovely client Lystra to compliment her elegant red woollen dress.  She didn’t enter any of the competitions but wanted a hat to stand out from the crowd and that she certainly did!

Debbie was also there with one of her favourite headpieces from this season. She was representing Redcar Racecourse in the Yorkshire Best Dressed  Lady final at the St Ledger meeting.

Check out this link to see both the ladies standing head and shoulders above everyone else!

On a Wing and a Prayer

Regular readers to our blog will have seen one of our lovely clients Debbie, taking pride of place (and first prize for best hat) at many a Race Day across the country.

York Races last month was no exception and this year’s headpiece is a celebration of all things feathered!

We love Debbie because as well as her own ideas for what she wants from her race day ensemble, she lets us have free reign on her designs and is always extremely pleased with the outcome.  The shelf bending under the weight of trophies and awards speaks volumes!

This headpiece was created to show the versatility of using feathers. There are so many hats and headpieces using rooster, peacock and ostrich feathers and we wanted to create something more dynamic. For the drama of the races this headpieces was created using whole wings from magpies, crows and jays and decorated with guinea fowl and mallard finished off with lengths of millinery net.

Delicious Vintage

Whilst flicking our way through Grazia Magazine last month and a few others besides, we came across this article about Vintage fashion and how to wear it.

Sharper Millinery is a lover of all things vintage inspired and so we have chosen a few headpieces that would be perfect against some of the pieces shown in this article.

Pink lace skirt with cream t-shirt – We would suggest a piece from our vintage styled collection – lace and jewelled flower comb, three gold flowers or silver jewelled tiara, perfect for an informal wedding or vintage styled party!

Red and black 60’s dress – Thinking of a bit of winter glamour by adding a striking red wool felt hat with leopard trim or perhaps a black wool felt hat with a short brim and red ribbon (not yet created, but an idea!)

Celebrity Look Book

We’ve been browsing through some of our favourite mags and last month we came across the forever gorgeous and eccentric Paloma Faith in Look Magazine at the very prestigious polo event in Windsor wearing a Philip Treacy headpiece.

If  Sharper Millinery were to create a headpiece for Paloma that she could wear with this dress for a sports event it would be a large black organza flower possibly trimmed with some yellow feathers or small flowers.

Winter Sun Beachwear Stunners

We have a lot of fun at Sharper Millinery creating some amazing headpieces and recently we were asked to design two hats that would be perfect for making a statement by the pool or on the beach but that would easily fold down into a suitcase.  We’ve all done it haven’t we – bought a hat and then had to wear it or carry it around the airport and worst still, home again!

So here we are some quite incredible hats that might not necessarily keep the sun from your eyes but all eyes will be on you!

Crin bubble brim beach hat – Using lengths of distressed crin this hat is sculptured to create a crown and a brim of any size. This hat can be made in various colours including fuchsia pink, light green, lilac, royal blue or cream and can be trimmed with flowers, ribbons and jewels.

Straw zip hat – Using a continuous zip around the hat and trimmed with distressed crin, this hat makes a sculptural statement and can be worn zipped or partly zipped.

Two New Racing Hats

We’ve made so so many racing events hats and headpieces this season and we just wanted to show you a couple of our latest designs.

Sharper Millinery can create any design, any size and to any colour or fabric you desire. We can even advise on the best detailing and style to suit your face and your outfit.

Crin polka dots with flowers and feathers…

Pink and purple butterfly headpiece…