Wearing Millinery

Many of us haven’t had a chance to wear our beautiful millinery as often as we would like over recent years. After seeing some comments made by members after recent race days & photo shoots of their own issues with millinery (think the fly away brim!) and through years of conversations with other race goers about their beautiful millinery, I thought it would be great to touch on a few common issues I know are regularly discussed in an effort to assist each other & feel more confident wearing different styles and shapes.

Some common issues with wearing millinery I’m often hearing discussed by milliners, wearers themselves & even at the judges table include: 

- Hat elastic different colour to hair 

- Wearing millinery incorrectly ie upside down, too far back etc 

- Visible wire headbands 

- Hair pins obviously standing out 

- Fly away millinery not secured firmly

- Taking millinery off after FOTF

- Buying & wearing millinery that does not suit your face shape

-  Millinery colour not matching outfit 

Easy solutions I know of but welcome more! 

- Ask your milliner to change your hat elastic to a colour that matches your hair or purchase some hat elastic in the same colour as your hair to sew in yourself. I’ve seen people with dark hair, colour blonde hat elastics with permanent  marker to a shade the same colour as their hair so it blends in as a quick fix.

- If you can’t see your milliner prior to race day, ask them to take a photo of themselves or on a dummy head wearing your millinery correctly. If still unsure when you receive your millinery, take a selfie and send to your milliner to check. Some millinery can look great worn on various angles but other pieces were designed to be worn a certain way, so it doesn’t hurt to check! 

- Have your hair styled with your millinery in place, so hair covers visible wires. This can also look good for hat elastics if you want to achieve a flawless look where the millinery appears to be magically attached. If it isn’t possible to get to the track with your millinery already in place, leave a strand or two of hair out that can cover the wires or elastics at the track then secure with some spare hair pins. Take hairspray with you also if you do this! 

- You may consider adding some metal tooth combs (or additional combs) to your millinery as an aid to help anchor your millinery in place. These can be purchased in different sizes & colours. Try your millinery on at home first & see where you would like to anchor the millinery. Your choice of hairstyle may also assist in helping to attach the millinery. Some millinery pieces can have small elastic or metal loops sewn on underneath as anchor points so hair pins can more easily be attached. There are many clever ways of securing your millinery, just think about it prior to the day! Again, wire headbands & elastics hidden under hair can also assist in securing your millinery more firmly in place. If a hat is too big at the crown, padded hat inserts can be added.  

- Have a few basic supplies on hand. I always keep some hat elastic & combs on hand ‘just in case’ something breaks or I require extra grip. I also keep a wide range of hair pins in different styles & sizes at home & also take a supply with me to the track. 

- If visiting a hairdresser on race day, take your millinery with you so they can either secure it firmly to your head for you and/or build your hairstyle around your millinery. Think carefully about your hairstyle complementing your entire look as well as your millinery. There are many simple hairstyles that can be achieved without the assistance of a hairdresser.

- Ensure you try on your millinery prior to the race day & even have some practice runs wearing it to ensure you are comfortable with the style, just as you might a pair of shoes. If attached comfortably to your head, there should be no problem wearing your piece all race day.

- Trying on millinery, whether it be at a private milliners, an expo with many milliners present or at a department store is a great idea in learning what styles & shapes work well on your face. I have tried on pieces before where the shape just didn’t work, so avoid these. When commissioning custom millinery, ensure the milliner is aware of styles that suit you as this will help guide their vision. Measuring your head circumference & having this knowledge available is also handy when purchasing hats with a crown! 

- In order for a perfect colour match, provide your milliner with a sample of your fabric, a piece of your outfit ie matching belt, your whole garment or an accessory like a shoe or bag you are wanting to match. Unfortunately as good as technology is, colours and patterns can look very different on a screen to real life. If you are having an outfit made, a sketch of the design can also be useful to the milliner so they can develop a style they believe will complement. Photos of outfits are also useful, but not always available. Milliners need time to source millinery fabrics and if specific colours are not available, having millinery fabric/straw dyed is often a solution. Having sample outfit pieces to work from can therefore be of fantastic assistance! 

I welcome anyone to open up their own questions and suggestions! I know we have hundreds of experts we can tap into within our group, be it milliners or millinery wearers! I am just a millinery devotee and fashion collector and have never made millinery myself, so would love to hear from people who have these skills.

Have a great day & hope you all get to wear some millinery to a track soon!

Emma Scodellaro October 2021