Did you know that the phrase “mad as a hatter” stems from the 18th century, when milliners would use mercury to turn fur into felt? By breathing in the vapours and getting mercury under their fingernails, the milliners would contract “mad hatter disease” (chronic mercury poisoning), which led to paranoia and hallucinations.
Thankfully, the use of mercury was phased out during the 20th century, and today, mad hatters only have themselves to blame. As a trade, millinery has a rich and prestigious history, dating all the way back to the 1500s. Now, five centuries later, a new crop of hat designers are reimagining the way we decorate our heads. Below, we meet the students, graduates, and emerging designers building their brands around headwear.
Storm is a 27-year-old styling assistant and set designer from London. She worked with Swedish designer Petra Fagerström for her recent London Fashion Week debut.
How would you describe what you do?
Storm Foster: I’d say my work is a mix between sculpture and fabric manipulation. Since I studied Fine Art, I tend to treat a hat like a 3D form that I’m building.
Do you make hats full-time?
Storm Foster: Not just yet, although I’m working toward making millinery a much bigger part of what I do. At the moment, it’s a blend of styling assisting, set design, prop buying, and theatre work. All those different worlds definitely bleed into the way I approach a hat.
What was the first hat you ever made?
Storm Foster: It was a black felt piece for a course I did at Central Saint Martins. It was a start, but I actually found I learned a lot more just by playing around and watching YouTube. You don’t really need the formal stuff to get the basics down.
Niall White is a 25-year-old milliner, making hats full-time based on freelance commissions. During London Fashion Week, he worked with designers Talia Byre and Patrick McDowell.
How would you describe what you do?
Niall White: I make anything that goes on the head! Millinery can be quite a broad job description, as one week you’re designing for fashion collections and the next for someone’s wedding. I love the variety my job brings, but when I’m not designing for clients, my own work draws upon a lot of military caps and helmets.
What was the first hat you ever made, and why did you make it?
Niall White: It was a huge lilac mohawk made of cardboard, wire, plaster of Paris, handmade feathers and a few cans of spray paint. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but I was inspired by the showgirl aesthetic and it ended up looking something like a Roman soldier helmet.
What’s your favourite hat you’ve ever made and why?
Niall White: It’s a helmet made of flat-back silver pearls and white ostrich feathers. It has a short peak at the front and the shape curves like a scorpion’s tail. The inspiration came from Napoleonic officer helmets, which were often heavily adorned in gilded metal and bright horsehair plumes.
Virna Pasquinelli is an Italian milliner currently based in Surrey. She’s worked with Tolu Coker and Harris Reed, and is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust Award.
How would you describe what you do?
Virna Pasquinelli: My work is rooted in a sculptural approach, exploring form and texture across textiles, metal, glass and mixed media. I use traditional millinery as a foundation, pushing it towards more contemporary silhouettes with a strong visual identity.
Do you make hats full-time?
Virna Pasquinelli: I make hats full-time, but I’m never just making hats. Millinery is my entry point into a wider exploration of craft, which extends into props, set design and installations. It’s all part of the same language, shaping ideas through making.
What was the first hat you ever made?
Virna Pasquinelli: My first hat was a green felt dome crown with a hand-shaped brim, formed into soft twists and swirls, almost elfin. I moved to London in 2008, planning to stay for a year, but two and a half years later, I discovered millinery through an evening course. I fell in love immediately.
23-year-old textile designer Ujjal Patel was raised in Malawi, but is currently studying at Central Saint Martins. She caught our attention during London Fashion Week, when her hat-wigs appeared in Macy Grimshaw’s MA collection.
How would you describe what you do?
Ujjal Patel: My practice is centred around material exploration of menswear, womenswear and occasionally accessories. I explore movement, adornment and cultural storytelling, with a focus on bringing together traditional craft and contemporary design through constructed forms.
Do you make hats full-time?
Ujjal Patel: I actually stumbled into millinery through creating custom wigs for Macy Grimshaw’s BA womenswear collection – each piece was developed in response to a specific look. This year, I was asked to develop that further into wig-hats for her MA collection, so it’s something that’s grown alongside my practice, and I do want to develop it further.
What’s your favourite hat you’ve ever made?
Ujjal Patel: My favourite is the ‘hat hair’ collection. It was very exciting to see it on the runway, especially since it had been over two years since I’d last created a headpiece. It reminded me how much I enjoy experimenting with wigs, and I definitely want to continue developing this further.
Los Angeles-raised designer Christopher Holland Brandt moved to London in 2024 to pursue his career. Now he makes clothes and caps that parody American pop culture.
How would you describe what you do?
Christopher Holland Brandt: I design and make clothing inspired by the absurdity of American pop culture, reworking existing icons through a DIY bootleg practice.
Do you make hats full-time?
Christopher Holland Brandt: At one time, hats were the majority of my business and I have a lot of love for making them. Now, hats are just one element of what I do, along with designing garments and accessories.
What was the first hat you ever made?
Christopher Holland Brandt: The first hat I properly made was a bucket cap I created as a commission in 2020. From then, I kept making bucket caps and baseball caps, often with bunny, cat or puppy ears. My favourite hat I’ve ever made is the current iteration of my Pup Cap.
London-based designer Madeline Thornalley and her brand Hurtence made their LFW debut last September, delivering a collection that started with a single hat. Read our full interview with her here.
HURTENCE SS26
Gallery / 12 images
How would you describe what you do?
Madeline Thornalley: [Millinery] kept going wrong, but I kept trying, and I’m still making hats. I make mental tuning devices – hats become your character, or your character becomes the hat.
Do you make hats full-time?
Madeline Thornalley: I do millinery full-time, while making lampshades over at TON magazine.
What’s your favourite hat you’ve ever made?
Madeline Thornalley: I don’t like to have favourite hats because the last time I had a favourite, I lost it.