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Hat-making or millinery is the
design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...
, manufacture and sale of
hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
s and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners made and sold a range of accessories for clothing and hairstyles. In France, milliners are known as ''marchand(e)s de modes'' ( fashion merchants), rather than being specifically associated with hat-making. In Britain, however, milliners were known to specialize in hats by the beginning of the Victorian period. The millinery industry benefited from industrialization during the 19th century. In 1889 in London and Paris, over 8,000 women were employed in millinery, and in 1900 in New York, some 83,000 people, mostly women, were employed in millinery. Though the improvements in technology provided benefits to milliners and the whole industry, essential skills, craftsmanship, and creativity are still required. Since hats began to be mass-manufactured and sold as ready-to-wear in department stores, the term "milliner" is usually used to describe a person who applies traditional hand-craftsmanship to design, make, sell or trim hats primarily for a mostly female clientele. Many prominent fashion designers, including Rose Bertin, Jeanne Lanvin, and
Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and Businessperson, businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with populari ...
, began as milliners.


Origin

The term "milliner" or "Milener" originally meant someone from
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, in northern Italy, in the early 16th century. It referred to Milanese merchants who sold fancy bonnets, gloves, jewellery and cutlery. In the 16th to 18th centuries, the meaning of "milliner" gradually changed in meaning from "a foreign merchant" to "a dealer in small articles relating to dress". Although the term originally applied to men, from 1713 "milliner" gradually came to mean a woman who makes and sells bonnets and other accessories for women.


Learning of millinery

Milliners work independently based on job order specifications or their designs, observing the regulations regarding work safety, health protection, environmental protection, and ensuring quality and efficiency. They combine their uniqueness, innovation, and technical skills and use different materials and auxiliary materials. In some cases, they plan and organize their schedules in cooperation with their customers' various needs. They also collaborate with the team or the apprentice to the presentation and sale of the products. The millinery industry's
apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
culture is commonly seen since the 18th century, while milliner was more like a stylist and created hats or bonnets to go with costumes and chose the laces, trims, and accessories to complete an ensemble piece. Millinery apprentices learned hat-making and styling, running the business, and skills to communicate with customers. Nowadays, this apprenticeship is still a standard process for the students who freshly graduated from the millinery schools. Many well-known milliners experienced this stage. For example, Rose Bertin was an apprentice to a successful fashion merchant Mademoiselle Pagelle before her success. There are many renowned millinery schools located in Europe, especially in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, and Italy. During
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
, many millinery courses were taught virtually.


Special tools and materials used by milliners

A wooden hat block is an intricately carved wood form shaped by skillful woodworkers. Hat blocks are the tools of the trade for milliners in creating a unique hat crown shape. Some of the hat blocks are ensembles with crown and brimmed, while some are only with crown or brim or designed for fascinators. Milliners always have an extensive collection of different hat blocks because there are specific hat sizes and custom shapes for every hat block. In the blocking process of a hat, milliners used push pins and a hammer to hold the adjustable string along the crown's collar and the brim's edge. A floral-making iron is a unique iron used by milliners to create different floral petals or leaves as the ornament for hat decoration. In the past, candles were used to heat these irons with various shapes of metal in one set. Nowadays, these irons are electric. A ball-shaped metal heading is commonly used for the curve of floral pastels. Milliners often use buckram, a stiff cotton (occasionally linen or horse hair) cloth with a loose weave. Millinery buckram is impregnated with a starch which allows it to be softened in water, pulled over a hat block, and left to dry into a hard shape. Millinery buckram comes in many weights, including lightweight or baby buckram (often used for children's and dolls' hats), single-ply buckram, and double buckram (also known as ''theatrical buckram'' or ''crown buckram'').


Notable hatters and milliners

This is a partial list of people who have had a significant influence on hat-making and millinery.


Hatters

* International Hat Company, an American manufacturer credited with inventing one of America's most popular early 20th century harvest hats for field hands, farmers, and workmen. * Hawley Products Company, an American manufacturer credited with inventing the tropical shaped, pressed fiber sun helmet used from
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
through the Persian Gulf War. * John Cavanagh, an American hatter whose innovations included manufacturing regular, long and wide-oval fitting hats to enable customers to find better-fitting ready-to-wear hats. * James Lock & Co. of London (founded 1676), is credited with the introduction of the bowler hat in 1849.Bowler hat makes a comeback
Telegraph (London). Retrieved 9 June 2012
* JJ Hat Center in New York (founded 1911) an American hat maker, which claims to be New York City's oldest hat store.The City Visible , The Hatters
NYT (New York). Retrieved 4 August 2023
* Teofilo Garcia, recognized as a National Living Treasure in the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
for pioneering the ''tabungaw'' hat, a headwear made from
gourd Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly '' Cucurbita'' and '' Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. Many gourds ha ...
. * John Batterson Stetson, credited with inventing the classic
cowboy hat The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, C ...
Reynolds, William and Rich Rand (1995) ''The Cowboy Hat book''. p. 8 * Giuseppe Borsalino, with the famous "Borsalino" Fedora hat.


Milliners

* Kate Bartholomew was an American hat designer who created the "Jazz Cap". * Vanilla Beane was an American milliner in Washington, D.C. who served the
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
community and notable civil rights activists, among others. * Akio Hirata is the most influential milliner in Japan who collaborated with many famous Japanese fashion designers, including Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo. He also created and designed hats for Japanese Empress Michiko since 1966. * Anna Ben-Yusuf wrote ''The Art of Millinery'' (1909), one of the first reference books on millinery technique.Jones, Stephen & * Rose Bertin, milliner and modiste to
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...
, is often described as the world's first celebrity fashion designer. *
Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and Businessperson, businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with populari ...
, creator of the fashion house Chanel, and of Chanel No.5. * John Boyd was one of London's most respected milliners and is known for the famous pink tricorn hat worn by Diana, Princess of Wales. * Lilly Daché was a famous American milliner of the mid-20th century. * Frederick Fox was an Australian born milliner noted for his designs for the British Royal family. * Mildred Blount is the first African American milliner to design hats for Hollywood films " Gone with the Wind' and ' The Easter Parade.' Her clientele included
Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...
, Louise Beavers, Marian Anderson, Gloria Vanderbilt, and other Hollywood stars. * Mr. John was an American milliner considered by some to be the millinery equivalent of Dior in the 1940s and 1950s. * Stephen Jones of London, is considered one of the world's most radical and important milliners of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.Biography of Stephen Jones
on the V&A Museum website, accessed 1 April 2009
* Simone Mirman was known for her designs for
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
and other members of the British Royal Family. * Barbara Pauli was the leading fashion milliner and modiste in Sweden during the Gustavian era. * Caroline Reboux was a renowned milliner of the 19th and early 20th centuries. * David Shilling is a renowned milliner, artist and designer based in Monaco. * Justin Smith is a milliner creating bespoke and couture hats under the J Smith Esquire brand. *
Philip Treacy Philip Anthony Treacy (born 26 May 1967) is an Irish haute couture Hatmaking, milliner, or hat designer, who has been mostly based in London for his career, and who was described by ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'' magazine as "perhaps the greatest ...
Irish-born milliner; first milliner for 80 years to be invited to exhibit at the Paris haute couture shows. * Gladys Tamez is a Mexican-American milliner notable for her work with
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
,
Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...
,
Kendall Jenner Kendall Nicole Jenner (born November 3, 1995) is an American model, socialite and media personality. She rose to fame in the reality television show ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians,'' in which she starred for 20 seasons and nearly 15 years ...
, among others.


See also

* Draper *
Haberdasher __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing st ...
* Hat Works * Mad hatter disease * Mad as a hatter * Marchandes de modes * James Lock & Co. * Walter Wright Hats


References


External links


All Sewn Up: Millinery, Dressmaking, Clothing and Costume

18th Century millinery

''Popular Science'', November 1941, "Pulling Hats Out Of Rabbits"
article on modern mass production hat making
''Individuality in millinery''
a 1923 book on hat-making from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF)
Millinery guide
(UK) {{Authority control Hats Fashion occupations