INTERVIEW
Headpiece made with ribbon from Julien Faure
A riot of ribbon Years ago, when I was recreating hats from the 1920s for The House of Eliott, I made a lot of pleated ribbon cockades. I’d not worked with ribbon very much since, but when The Hat Magazine ran a feature on Julien Faure (the luxury French ribbon brand), I was asked to devise something special to showcase their products. I was sent 10m of gorgeous woven ribbon to work with and I designed a little beret featuring a pleated cockade. During lockdown I spent many months trying to figure out fresh ways of working with ribbon, and that’s how my ribbon halos emerged. Once I’d tried that idea, I thought it would be interesting to experiment further and transferred the same techniques to sinamay.
The Melbourne hat scene The social lives of many Australian fashionistas revolve around the races. My year is punctuated by the Melbourne Cup, which takes place every November, but there are dozens of other meets around the country too. The millinery industry receives a huge boost from ‘Fashions on the Field’, a competition which celebrates the tradition of glamorous trackside style. Immaculately dressed women fly up and down the East Coast to take part wearing fabulous outfits, encouraging each other to look their best and having a great deal of fun in the process. These events attract a lot of media attention and often have celebrity judges. However, whilst many of the hats sported on these occasions are exuberant showstoppers, that’s not really my style.
Entry for Oaks Day Millinery Award 2018
So what is a Louise Macdonald hat? I always find it hard to answer that question! As previously mentioned, I’m not into flamboyant hats. I enjoy the sculptural element of millinery, so I don’t use many blocks. I love the movement and flow that comes from manipulating materials like sinamay, straw and parasisal by hand. I focus on quality and technique – creating simple, elegant, flattering lines. There’s certainly a hint of vintage in my hats too.
Sustainable style The colour combinations (for example, one halo features red, apricot and turquoise) really pop, and are quite a departure for me. My personal style is usually more subdued. The vibrant colours are partly due to a course I did on sustainability. I’m often asked to make large hats for fashion events, and afterwards they’re put in a box and never seen again. I thought about all that waste and decided that instead
of hiding these hats away,
I could pull them apart and reuse the materials. This has inspired a fresh approach as I have to use what I have to hand. My desire to be more
sustainable has also altered other
aspects of my work. Although I still offer seasonal collections, I’ve tried to create designs that are more versatile. I’d love my hats to be shared amongst friends and family members. Yes, I know this means that I’ll sell fewer hats, but I’m OK with that. We all need to buy less and
reuse what we have. I recently
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november 2022 | 23
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