Frederick Fox LVO (2 April 1931 – 11 December 2013) was an Australian-born British milliner who designed hats for

Queen 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.

Early life

One of nine children, Fox was born in

Urana Urana is a small town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is in the Federation Council, New South Wales, Federation Council local government area. Urana is located between Lockhart, New South Wales, Lockhart and Jeril ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and began assembling and making hats from the age of nine. Fox trained under the Australian milliners Henriette Lamotte, Mrs Normoyle and Phyl Clarkson, from 1949 to 1958. Fox moved to London in 1958, and studied under the milliner

Otto Lucas Otto Lucas (9 July 1903 – 2 October 1971) was a German-born, London-based milliner. Running a hugely successful hatmaking studio in London between the 1930s and the 1970s, his business supplied both major stores throughout Europe, the US and ...

Millinery

Fox joined Mitzi Lorenz from Otto Lucas, then went to Langée in Brook Street, Mayfair. Fox took over Langée in 1964, and later moved his

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or vi ...

to Bond Street. By the late 1960s, Fox had joined the Queen's dressmaker

Hardy Amies Sir Edwin Hardy Amies Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, KCVO (17 July 1909 – 5 March 2003) was a British fashion designer, founder of the Hardy Amies (fashion house), Hardy Amies label and a Royal Warrant holder as designer to El ...

. Fox's first hats for the Queen were designed in 1968 for her tour of Argentina and Chile. In 1974, Fox was the recipient of a

royal warrant of appointment Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to tradespeople who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The royal warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the issuer of t ...

as 'Milliner to HM The Queen'. Fox made 350 hats for the Queen over 35 years, and also made hats for many members of the royal family, including

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (born Lady Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott; 25 December 1901 – 29 October 2004) was a member of the British royal family. She was the wife of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of King ...

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

Princess Alexandra of Kent Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel; born 25 December 1936) is a member of the British royal family and the only daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and D ...

Princess Michael of Kent Princess Michael of Kent (born Baroness Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, 15 January 1945) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Michael of Kent, who is a grandson of George V, King George V. Prince ...

and

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...

. His other notable clients included

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

and

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emm ...

. Notable hats designed by Fox included flying-saucer-shaped hats for Princess Diana. When he died in December 2013, numerous sources cited the pink hat with 25 fabric bells that the Queen wore to mark her

Silver Jubilee Silver Jubilee marks a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, the 25th year of a monarch's reign or anything that has completed or is entering a 25-year mark. Royal Silver Jubilees since 1750 Note: This ...

at a thanksgiving service at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

as Fox's most famous design for the Queen. But it was confirmed by the

Royal Collection Trust The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

in August 2016 to be the work of Simone Mirman. In films, Fox designed the white "crash helmets" worn in '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1969) and hats for ''

The Great Muppet Caper ''The Great Muppet Caper'' is a 1981 musical heist comedy film directed by Jim Henson (in his feature directorial debut) and the second theatrical film featuring the Muppets. The film stars Muppet performers Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Jerr ...

'' (1981) and ''

Evil Under the Sun ''Evil Under the Sun'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1941Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. ''Collins Crime Club – A checklist of F ...

'' (1982).

Honours and assessment

In 1999, Fox was appointed a

Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the ...

, and in 2013 he was named Australian of the Year in the UK. Fox was president of the Millinery Trades Benevolent Association and an honorary patron of the Australian Millinery Association. The Royal Mail stamp collection issued for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee featured four images of Queen Elizabeth wearing Fox's hats.

Retirement and death

Despite his retirement in 2002, Fox occasionally made hats for his most established clients. A

Freeman of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

, Fox lived in Suffolk. Fox also regularly visited Australia and helped judge the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms part of the ...

's Fashion Field for over 20 years. For 53 years, Fox was the partner of the British fashion designer

Murray Arbeid Murray Arbeid (30 May 1935 – 22 August 2011) was a British fashion designer, known for his eveningwear. His notable clients included Princess Diana and Shirley Bassey. He once joked that if there were a Nobel Prize for creations in taffeta, he ...

, who predeceased him in 2011. The British milliner Stephen Jones wrote an obituary for Fox in ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

''. Jones wrote that

When I first started in hats, Freddie was the person in London and the greatest milliner there was...His hats had balance and they were never too heavy. He created hats for women who wore hats all day, and they could just forget about them once they put one on...He made hats that became part of the person; they never jarred...He had such an air of refinement about everything that he did; he had tremendous class and never did anything that was too much.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Frederick 1931 births 2013 deaths Australian emigrants to England Australian fashion designers LGBTQ fashion designers Australian LGBTQ artists Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order British milliners People from the Riverina