Millinery fashion is on the rise again
Orange City Life had the chance to speak with local business owner Julie Herbert about her speciality trade in millinery, the craft of hat-making, talking all about where it began for her in the business and the complications of the trade.
“I started doing millinery in 2014, learning the trade, skills and techniques by experts at a millinery convention in Wagga Wagga and ever since then I have been hooked,” Julie said passionately.
“Had a week-worth of learning and after that I could make headpieces and hats entirely from scratch. I also did millinery at TAFE in Parkes for 12-months and online courses furthering my skill in the trade.”
After moving to the country in the early 2010s from the city and getting married, Julie settled down in Orange where her passion for millinery flourished even more deeply.
“Millinery is such a well-known, old trade with an history where everyone used to wear these styles of hats. I’m a member of the Millinery Association of Australia and have connection so many other milliners who are so passionate about keeping the trade alive because it is so special as a craft – we don’t want it to die out,” she says.
“But I think millinery will always be a trend with the current and future generations. Everybody needs a hat for a special occasion. Straw hats are popular, people love wearing in spring and during summer. I’ve been making fedoras, veils for weddings and the Melbourne Cup which brings out the fascinator in us all,” Julie says.
“It’s not manufactured like big companies would do; it’s all done by the milliners hands. It’s a very personal craft. Most of my orders are custom, so the customers are part of the journey in designing and making their hats by sharing their ideas. I usually do stretches of my ideas for them based on their preferences for materials, size and all those things to give them options. It’s nice to have them involved.”
When it comes to physically making the hats, Julie explains, “It usually takes a few days to make the hats, it can be quite complicated, since you’re making everything from scratch by your own hands. For instance, making the trims, abstracts and flower pieces it can take up to a day for me to make because materials need to be dried, you have to wire them, and the leather flowers are made from scratch completely. It’s a very hands-on trade but very rewarding.”
With everything opened up now, Julie expresses her excitement, “It’s so lovely to be opened up and to be able to get out and about wearing spring hats again.”
“The Spring Carnival is coming up in November, so people have the opportunity to have a drink and celebrate. But also enjoying the outdoors, seeing family, seeing friends and looking forward to summer because everyone seems to be wearing millinery-style hats more over Christmas, New Years and that’s great,” she says excitingly.