Albertus Swanepoel

(Image via Style.com)

South African-born Albertus Swanepoel is being hailed as the U.S version of Stephen Jones. He's now a regular on the catwalks, creating hats to top off designs by Proenza Schouler, Carolina Herrera, and Alexander Wang, to name but a few.

In 2008 he was a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award which meant that he was asked to design a limited edition for GAP this year based on the classic Gap khaki. He's in good company - Alexander Wang and Vena Cava (one of my favourite designers) also produced khaki collections. (More on that at Nitrolicious)


(Image courtesy of GAP)

More about Albertus:

- a great Fashion Spot thread featuring photos of Albertus, his studio and creations
- Style.com asks Albertus 5 questions

Oh, Karl!

Chanel's Pre-Fall Paris Moscou collection features the most divinely over-the-top headdresses that have started my mind wandering on pearls, fur and fringes.

I'm intrigued by the creative process behind these collections and am delighted to have stumbled across these two gorgeous videos that help explain the creative process.

Karl encapsulated his inspiration in this 10-minute silent movie that dramatises how Madame Chanel herself may have come up with a Paris Moscou theme for the collection. The movie stars Edita Vilkeviciute as Coco Chanel and features so many gorgeous hats! Coco was a milliner before she was a fashion designer.



And then there's the present day - a behind-the-scenes of the fitting for the headdresses. The glamour! It's a beautiful day dream of pearls, feathers, jewels, fur, sequins - even wool.



The mood, the music, the lighting - it's all on brand for the collection. Chanel's doing a really nice job of using new media to complement and even extend their collections themes.

Perfect Embodiment of Refined Society

I just bought this ace print on Etsy - because it is sums up Refined Society so perfectly.

So refined, with an undercurrent of sarcasm.

See more of Nosideup's witty work in her shop, or check out her blog.

The Jet Set

Glamour is making a comeback in the skies. Fabulous!

British Airways is launching an all-premium-seat airline, OpenSkies which provides loads of legroom for only 64 passengers per flight. And no doubt they'll all have their Chanel travel kit which features moisturiser, lip balm, concealer, mascara, lip gloss and an eye mask in exclusive, yet airport-security friendly, packaging.

Marc Jacobs sent 60s style air hostess hats down the runway last Spring, ahead of his time as per usual.

I'm working a little bit of the airline theme into my latest collection, using an airforce hat I picked up in a vintage store in Berlin as the pattern.

Spring 2009 Heads

New York Magazine's "The Cut" blog has two rather nice round ups of the headbands and fascinators from the Spring 2009 shows in New York and London.

Head's Are Wrapped for Spring 2009

Jazzy Hairpieces Saturate London Runways

J Smith Esquire

In the latest issue of Interview magazine (the one with Kate Moss looking ravishing on the cover wearing a Manish Arora mask), milliner to the stars Stephen Jones nominates Justin Smith as a rising star of the next generation of millinery.

That's quite an accolade! Jones is the preferred milliner for many international designers, including Marc Jacobs, with whom he collaborated for the Spring Summer 09 collection that walked down the runway last week (every look sporting a hat).

Smith's work is quirky and interesting. His hats push boundaries and make you think about what you put on your head in a new and different way.



(Photo via Urban Junkies, as well as a great article on Justin Smith)

See more J Smith Esquire.

The Hat Factory

This week I had the pleasure of picking up some hats from 'the factory'. When I was told that I was going to 'the factory' I had a very different image in my head to what I discovered when I got there.

It's not so much a factory as an office on the fourth floor of an old building in the Fashion District. In the back corner of the office lies the 'factory' - an ancient furnace that powers the steam irons that are used to shape the hats. The walls are lined from floor to ceiling with hat blocks in a myriad of different shapes and sizes.

The furnace

I was allowed to wander through the blocks and admire the machinery that has not changed since the 1900s. I was shown the sewing machines, that have also never been modernised, and how they are used to stitch the straw together.

The production of the hats are all by hand, there are no giant hydraulic machines stamping out fedoras in industrial quantities. This is an artisan production house that prepares the shapes for some of the top designers around the world. I was open mouthed with wonder at the array of blocks and the possibilities that they conjure up!

Row after row of hat blocks