I AM A MILLINER. I AM. NO, REALLY.
It all began, as it often does, with My Mother. She decided a couple of years ago, suddenly and without warning, that she should start wearing a hat every day. In part because it was more flattering, and partly because it doubled as a tool to disguise yourself in plain sight. Unfortunately now, as one of the only regular hat wearers in Hong Kong, that second point has probably been rendered null and void. At first I thought she was just asserting her right to be a little bit odd, and I chuckled and went along with it. Now, of course, I realise she was ahead of the curve. As per usual. Or, depending on how you look at it, waaayyy behind the curve. People gave up wearing hats on a daily basis in the 1960's, when the fashions at the time began to focus on hair and the shapes created by stylists like Vidal Sassoon. Indeed, the millinery industry has mostly survived on the back of traditional events that require wearing hats; weddings, races and the like. As a being that puts little to no effort into taming her hair/mane, or care when applying make-up, hats are the simplest and most fabulous solution, darling.
After a short while, it dawned on Mother Dear that it was nigh on impossible to find quality hats in Hong Kong, and she needed to take matters into her own hands if she was going to be Odd But Cool. She dreamed of a magical place, a place where fashion pilgrims could come and stand in awe at the heretofore unheard-of collection of beautiful, sculptural, functional, bizarre, but all hand crafted, completely individual pieces of millinery. April 2010: the dream becomes a reality. If you believe this to be an exaggeration, go check it out for yourself - HATWOMAN, SHOP 209, MAN YEE ARCADE, 68 DES VOEUX ROAD CENTRAL, HONG KONG. And if you're not lucky enough to live in Hong Kong, take a gander at the website: http://www.hatwoman.hk/eng/index.html
This astonishing and sudden move by Mother Darling simultaneously seemed idiosyncratic and made perfect sense. Ever since retiring from soliciting - hee hee - I mean lawyerdom, and during the years she was a foreign office spouse to My Father, she had visualised several business ideas that she would occasionally vaguely pursue. Until Hatwoman, none of these venture seedlings ever developed further than the germination stages and when she finally followed through, I was delighted. Proud. Inspired.
I've always been more creative than academic; I think it was obvious from the get-go that Big Bro had acquired all the brains in that department... The memory of Mama trying to teach me to read springs to mind. I believe she worried that if I was having trouble reading Ant and Bee at the age of two, I would be destined for a life working behind the counter at a fast food chain. So, when Hatwoman opened at the long-awaited close of my academic career, I knew instantly that millinery would be something I would enjoy, and something that I suspected I might be good at. This statement, even now, when I have been making hats for a year, still feels uncomfortably cocky.
However, whether I myself am good or not, the subtle power of hats is undeniable. Wearing them continues to be edgy and unusual - people today seem to believe that it requires a certain amount of confidence. This is not so - while wearing a hat attracts more attention, it can also be used to either create a flattering light on your face, or as a shield to hide completely, if you're in that kind of mood. Hats can be used to make you confident. Mysterious. Coy. Invisible. Alarming. Anything you want.
After a year, and for the foreseeable future, I remain in love with the fashion, the art, the design and the creation that makes up the millinery world. And My Mother remains my inspiration.
