The winning Yellowglen Vintage Hat by Bonnie Evelyn Millinery with the lovely Bonnie Evelyn herself. Photo from: http://www.facebook.com/yellowglen

What an exciting event Hatstravagance was for Bonnie Evelyn Millinery! The glamour of two catwalk parades, being photographed for Melbourne newspaper The Age, and winning the Yellowglen Vintage Hat competition! That’s right, Bonnie Evelyn Millinery walked away with the prize – all that research has certainly paid off!!

The hat (entitled ‘Lady Yellowglen’) wowed the judges with its scrumptious display of two-toned yellow stripe abaca, natural coloured sinimay, hand-made cream silk satin flowers and a frothing array of Swarovski crystals, fire polished beads and fresh water pearls. The hat embodied the five sparkling wines in the Yellowglen Vintage Range and conjured thoughts of bubbles that never stop flowing, the taste of fresh Spring flavours and encompassed a new take on vintage glamour.

Lucy, Bonnie Evelyn and Kelly

Held at The Atrium at Flemmington Racecourse and sponsored by Yellowglen, Hatstravagance showcased the Spring collections from members of the Millinery Association of Australia through a morning and evening catwalk parade and a table for each milliner to sell their creations. We met many stylish women with a passion for millinery (the best fashion passion to have) and had lots of fun trying on hats at our spectacular stall. The venue looked beautiful, the bubbles were bubbly, the goodie bags were great (‘greatie’ bags?), the models looked divine, the staff were lovely, and all the hats were knock-your-socks-off FANTASTIC!

Thank you to Hoss from Boxwars for helping with our fantastic cardboard display, Kelly Bannister for again, snapping up some great shots for us, and of course, Meg Farmer, our darling mother whos unwavering support gets us through everything. Well done team!

Bonnie Evelyn and Lucy with the fantastic cardboard display ladies

Working hard at the Bonnie Evelyn stall

Hats make you happy - another pic from the lovely Kelly Bannister.

Chaos has descended and Bonnie has been neglecting her blog writing duties, so I’ve stepped in, the good sister that I am. As you are well aware, the Melbourne Spring Racing season has begun and there’s half-finished hats galore at Bonnie Evelyn HQ. Look to the left: there’s a mountain of orders. Look to the right: there’s half-made hats waiting to be completed and sold to a loving home. Look up: there’s fabric hanging off the light. Look down: um, actually, don’t look down, the floor’s a mess at the moment. (Be sure to always wear shoes around here – stray pins are not friends of your feet.)

Amongst all this bedlam, Bonnie is also preparing for Hatstravagance at Flemmington Racecourse – a millinery extravaganza where members of the Millinery Association of Australia parade a hat for each of the major Flemmington races. Team Bonnie Evelyn will be there in full force presenting you with exquisite hats and head-pieces of divine beauty and ethereal elegance, which will be displayed in a catwalk parade then available for sale at our stall.

Yellowglen, the official sparkling wine of the Melbourne Cup Carnival is holding a millinery prize inspired by the Yellowglen Vintage Range for the milliners involved in Hatstravagance. The hat Bonnie has made for the competition is superb (so says proud big sis) but you’ll just have to see it to believe it! Book your ticket now – it’s a millinery event not to be missed! Thursday 29^th September 2011 – details for the event can be found here.

To see the photos of our beautiful Miss September 2011 Alex Foxcroft – please click here

Alex Foxcroft looking foxy in red

Just when you thought the North Melbourne Market couldn’t get any better with all it’s stalls, fashion displays and live performances, Bonnie Evelyn Millinery jumped on board! So now, on the 11th September, at the Lithuanian Club in North Melbourne there will be a vast range of Bonnie Evelyn headwear for sale HOORAY!! Pieces will range from large, high-impact, serious headwear, to tasty little teasers and everything in between!  Along with the ready-to-wear range, we will be taking orders for custom made headwear, made specially to match your look. There is something to complete everyones Spring Racing Carnival outfit!

For any inquiries please contact:
info@northmelbournemarket.com
www.northmelbournemarket.com

Check out our first Model of the Month!! Emma van Leest is our lovely Miss August. Click here to see the photos and read about Emma….

The beautiful Emma van Leest

Caussade and Septfonds XIXth Festival of Millinery, 14th-17th July 2011
Blog post by Catherine Ellen

Catherine at her stall

Caussade seemed such a fantasy, so far away. I had about two and a half weeks to construct two fabulous headpieces and get them couriered to Caussade for the Caussade and Septfonds XIXth Festival of Millinery hat competition held in the South of France.

I arrived with Guillaume (my Parisian friend who acted as my French interpreter) in Caussade. We went to see a couple of hat exhibitions: one exhibited previous winners of the Caussade festival and another exhibited Boisalino which is a manufacturer of men’s felt and straw hats – as famous in France as Akubra in Australia. Our favorite exhibition of course was of the entrants for the current hat competition, there were some absolute beauties! In fact, there were very few that I thought were below par and seeing the competition was quite humbling.

We had our own stand at the special hat market and we set up a good little system for demonstrating and sharing our knowledge. People went away with samples of materials, raw and completed. The dupion silk I found in Paris in various colours and black and white was beautiful and added to the various pieces I had brought over from Melbourne. In the end, I only had time to make a couple of flowers to take with me as examples. Ours was a very popular stand. I made flowers and Guillaume did demonstrations and talked to the punters. We worked through the afternoon till about 7.30 then would stop for dinner and reopen for the evening market.

On the final night of the festival there was a catwalk parade for the hat competition of finalists hats. The models came out in groups as per the hat categories. Winners were announced at the end of each category’s parade. First category was the open section. We saw Sharon Dale’s (good friend and Melbourne Milliner) leather hat. Then came Feathers and flowers. It was lovely to see Sue Drerup’s, Bonnie Evelyn’s and both of my hats in the finals. Then the winner was announced: Catherine Ellen, hooray! Then it was Straw, Felt, Amateurs, the St Catherine and Show/spectacle. There was a special prize for the Hat Magazine’s choice, and Sharon won that one.

So all in all a very good evening, a very good festival.

www.catherineellen.com

Steaming Machine

Guillaume's demonstration

Legislation, news coverage on the legal profession, reviews on recent case law and now one foxy little lawyer dressed to kill at the race track! That’s right, the Law Institute Journal is colouring the pages of their August edition with a photo shoot of the lovely Alexandra Foxcroft – last years winner of the Melbourne Cup Fashions on the Field Competition (who’s hat was designed and made by moi while working at The Essential Hat). The fox has been shot (along with some horses) at Flemington wearing her pick of stunning outfits including some special Bonnie Evelyn Millinery pieces.

Many thanks to Alex for giving us some sneaky behind-the-scenes pics of her race wear for the four days of Flemington races – Derby, Cup, Oaks and Stakes. Can’t wait to see the final product…. coming soon to a Law Institute Journal near you!

Alex Foxcroft and Friend

Foxy finishes FIRST!!

Catherine Ellen in the winning hat!

It is with enormous pride that I share with you, my ardent readers this wonderful news! Three lovely milliners of the Essential Hat – Susan Drerup, Catherine Ellen and myself, Bonnie Evelyn – had our headwear masterpieces make their way across the seas and into the finals of the ‘flower and feather section’ of the XIXth Summer Hat Festival at Caussade. Not only that, but first prize was taken by Catherine Ellen for her most divine feathered hat of heavenly bliss!

The Summer Hat Festival is an international millinery event held in the town of Caussade in the South of France during the Bastille celebrations. Hat makers from around the world congregate to share, discuss, demonstrate and sell all things related to the age old tradition of wearing things upon ones head.

The festival runs over four days with the hat competition held at the very end. Hats travel from near and far to fight it out for the honour and glory of being worn upon the catwalk amongst the best hats in the world. Not all will make it – the competition is fierce – but for these three masterful milliners of Melbourne, that dream came true!

Congratulations ladies! Can’t wait to see the brilliant hats and fascinators you come up with for this years Spring Racing Carnival!

The Bonnie Evelyn Entry

Lace Cloche by Sue Drerup

Bonnie 'deep in thought'

It was a dreary Melbourne winters day at the Kings Artist Run Initiative – an artistic hub, home to several studio artists, myself included. There, I was busy making art, minding my own business, when I heard a knock at the door and Bonnie’s voice: ‘Lucy! Let me in! I’ve got a fabulous idea!’ Confused as to why she was not in her own hat-making and fabric-friendly studio, I opened the door. Then, with a whole heap of blabbering and arm-waving, she burst in and took over.

Bonnie couldn’t just make hats out of normal materials like straw and stuff, no! She had an ‘excellent idea’: an all-singing, all-dancing 3D painted canvas hat-a-ful masterpiece!! I tried to take a sneaky photo of her making it but of course, she heard me and had to pose. This is Bonnie ‘deep in thought’ thinking up more excellent ‘things-to-put-on-your-head’ (um, hopefully hats).

So what is it you may ask? I honestly don’t know but I think it’s a hat. Whatever it is, it’s growing, smells of paint and brilliance and it’s in my studio taking up space. This photo really doesn’t do the hat justice, it actually looks spectacular on, even unfinished as it is. I can’t wait to see the hat completed and knowing Bonnie, it will be amazing. So hop to it Bonnie, love ya guts, but I want my studio back!

Guess what?!….I just received a parcel from Paris! HURRAH! Truly there is nothing more exciting then arriving home to find a big box full of hat making goodies!  A massive thanks to Sue Drerup and Catherine Ellen (fellow amazing milliners), for shopping on my behalf – I can’t wait until you both come back to sunny Melbourne!

The excitement caused by the arrival of these foreign treasures has spurted a major hat making frenzy, wherein I’ve been madly pinning together numerous inspired headpieces, then coming up with more brilliance and moving on to even more inspired headpieces. I have now run out of pins. Guess it’s time to exercise a bit of self-discipline and just finish one at a time….

One thing is for certain, come spring time Bonnie Evelyn Millinery will be stocked up with a range of dynamic hats and fascinators of sublime design!