The Secret Lives Of Hats. :-)

My passion for my art has no boundaries. It became absolutely clear to me after the conversation I had with one of my less passionate colleagues, who noted to me in almost disbelief that " you speak about hats as though they are live creatures! ". :-) Well, yes, I do.

Anya Caliendo.Couture Millinery Atelier.

I should also, probably, admit that I often think of women as hats. I can take one single look at any lady and immediately know how she would look if she would be a hat. If you could only see a parade of hats in my head when I go to the parties: elegant cloches, elaborate fascinator confections and even distasteful creatures full of crystals and ostrich feathers. Does it sound a little crazy to you? :-)

Hat Boxes Of My Atelier Designed by Me.

I have repeated once again: I believe that each hat possesses incredible, almost mystical power of transformation. This is the only type of accessory that can change not only your entire style, but persona too. This single powerful ability would not be possible without one very important ingredient - the soul. Each hat does have a soul, even more, each hat has it's own character!

For example, did you know that one hat can wait for its owner for years? It sits on the shelf along and forgotten for a very long time. Suddenly, one day, a lady walks into the Atelier without any particular purpose. She passes the "forgotten" hat without giving it a single look. Unexpectedly, the hat falls off the shelf and lands on the floor in a desperate attempt to attract attention of this lady. At the end, both lady and the "forgotten" hat know in some unexplainable manner that they have found each other. And they live happily ever after.:-)

Millinery Studio

Once in a great while, I come across what I call a "stubborn" hat. It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen and when it does it can be extremely frustrating. Everything goes wrong with this type of hat: it gets spots God knows from where, every little detail on this hat becomes a task: attaching simple ribbon or bow or even button takes hours, the thread keeps breaking, you loose needles and you loose patience.

It is as if the hat doesn't want to be created at all. I have learned the hard way to simply leave "stubborn" hat along for a while and then come back to it later. Very often, this little "time out" changes the mind of the hat entirely and it lets me finish my design without any problem at all. While working in Mr. Jones Atelier I discovered that he has the same problem too! It appears that one hat in every Collection becomes a "stubborn" hat and causes a lot of trouble.:-)

Sometimes I have a pleasure of working with "unexpected" hats. I love them the most, because to me they have a mind of their own. I can spend countless hours sketching one single design, choosing fabrics and materials, but once I sit down at my working table magic occurs. I realize that my original design and choice of materials are all wrong. I abandon them and improvise sometimes without having a slightest idea of what the final result would look like. It is as if the hat wants to be created the way it wants to be created. Does it make any sense to you? :-)))

Millinery Display

Hats are very fragile creatures, they love to be spoiled and taken out for a walk. They love to live in well protected hat boxes, but if left there for two long they loose their spirit. The color slowly fades, the fabric slightly deforms - the hat simply falls into depression! I always try to prevent it from happening by taking the hats out of the boxes and letting them breath. I wear all my hats with great pleasure and we both enjoy a company of each other. :-)

Mr. Stephen Jones in his Atelier.

Did you know that when storing any hat in the hat box you need to use aroma free fine colorless tissue paper? Long time ago it was very fashionable to store hats wrapped in perfumed tissue paper inside the hat boxes. I would not recommend it - fabrics have an extraordinary ability to absorb smells. Perfume smell gradually changes with time and often not in a good way.

P.S. Oh, and almost forgot! Did you know that hats can whisper? Where clothes hang simply on a rail, hats whisper to you: " Try me on...I am beautiful ! " ....

Making Hats For John Galliano, Spring-Summer 2010. London, Part 5

Considering that Stephen Jones and John Galliano had an ongoing spectacular creative collaboration for the past 10 years, the fact that I will be a part of creative team for John Galliano Spring-Summer 2010 Collection wasn't really a secret to me. I knew that the most exciting if not outrageous hats would be done for John and could not wait to see every single little detail: sketches, fabric samples, work on the design. The fact that I was a part of this amazing process magically erased exhaustion and inspired me once again. I, probably, mentioned before that to me, each hat is the most powerful way to transform any look, make it unforgettable and unique. It is like an exclamation point at the end of the sentence that gives it power of emotion. And, so, when the inspiration behind the Collection was reviled, it became apparent that until this day I really did not know what the word "challenge" really meant.

The inspiration behind Galliano's Collection came from his trip to L.A. "I went around the old houses of Hollywood and imagined how stars like Tallulah Bankhead, Lillian Gish, and Mary Pickford lived." said John. It gave him a flawless idea for playing to his brilliant strengths in poetically glamorous chiffon; bias-cut little nothings; fragile, delightful plissé puff-shouldered blouses and bed jackets; and coats symbolically decorated with clusters of flowers made out of film gel...and, of course, hats! Not surprisingly, design of every hat for John's Collection was intrusted to Stephen. While the rest of the team was put in front of their tasks, I was having almost a heart attack: I was requested to create three samples of pattern using a macrame technique. No direction, no idea of what exactly was expected in terms of design.

This is one of the hats made by me. It was made out of red straw and decorated with black bids along the brim line.

Macrame!? Really!!? The last time I attempted to do macrame I was 10. I created absolutely horrific flower pot and proudly gave it to my Mom for her Birthday. Needless, to say, I was absolutely panic stricken: it was impossible to say "I have no idea how". Not when you work with Stephen for Galliano. You sit down and you do it. Period. While I was saying "good by" to my career as a milliner and having all sorts of crazy things going on in my head (including voice of Miranda Pristley "a million girls would kill for this job" and so on), I had to remind myself that before I will declare my complete incompetency when it comes to macrame, I had to, at list, give it my best. And so I did.

This hat was also done by me out of hand colored raffia.

Don't ask me how, but samples of macrame techniques were ready with in 8 hours and then brought to Paris for John to consider. He made his choice and the next step for me was to create a "mock up" hat so that John could see how the entire hat will look in person. Have to say that doing macrame is difficult enough, but when you have to macrame entire hat (something you never done before!) for no other than Gilliano, the pressure is really on. The mock up hat took me approximately 14 hours of non-stop work to create. It was the most ugliest hat I have ever seen in my life, it was terrible, awful, disgusting ...and John absolutely loved it! :-) He said that he loved the idea of "brims disappearing into the thin air".

Once again, this another hat I worked on - made out of thin ropes.

By the time the mock-up hat was done, my back felt as if it was stuffed with bricks and I was anxious to learn how many macrame hats I would have to make for Galliano Collection. Sometime during this fever, I had to go to the hospital because the back pain became almost unbearable. God bless British doctors! :-) As the result of this hospital visit I came up with an idea of creating special boards for doing brims in macrame - it did help tremendously to relief tension in the back and shoulders during the work. John decided that he needs three macrame hats for his Collection. The materials chosen were raffia, rope and straw. Macrameing hat out of thin ropes was almost the easiest part. But when it came to raffia and straw - it was nearly impossible. Both raffia and straw did not want to cooperate, would not lock into secure knots and could not care less about Galliano, me or the hats...

In addition, one of the hats had to be decorated with black bids which slowed down the process. Miraculously, all three macrame hats were finished on time and to the highest satisfaction of Stephen and John. You see all three hats on the pictures above looking so effortlessly and so chic... :-) Despite all the pain, doubt and panic - it was an incredible experience.

 Not only the show by itself was beyond amazing, but this smoke filled bubbles on the runway simply took my breath away.:-) This bubbles were synonymous to the idea of creative process: hours and hours of intense work to create a single moment of glorious beauty...

Making Hats For Jason Wu Spring-Summer 2010 Collection. London Part 1.

The most amazing part of this Fall for me was the fact that I had a chance to make hats for many incredible designers who presented their Collections for Spring-Summer 2010 during Fashion Weeks in New York, London and Paris. The experience of being a part of the most talented production team in Mr. Jones Atelier in London was both exhilarating and scary. I simply could not believe that from the very first day of my apprenticeship I was trusted to work on the production of often very challenging hats. One of the first tasks, was to make hats for the new Spring Summer 2010 Collection for Jason Wu.

I thought it was interesting that I had to travel thousands of miles to London to find myself working on hats for one of the American Designers. I always thought that American Designers operating in New York had milliners they could turn to without having to place orders all the way across the Ocean. The fact that Jason Wu had to order his hats in London was very telling, but this is entirely different topic for a later discussion. From the day the order was placed the pressure was on. Mr. Jones, I thought, created fantastic sketches, but what surprised me was the choice of material. #1 discovery when it comes to Mr. Jones is his phenomenal capability to come up with mind blowing designs with in a blink of an eye. It felt as if God whisperes it in his ear. # 2 discovery - is the fact the Mr.Jones had no limits whatsoever when it came to the choice of materials. This fact would surprise me over and over again when we would later start working on the Collections for Kinder Aggugini, John Galliano and Comme Des Garcons.

I found out first hand how difficult is is to free yourself of boundaries of traditional education in design. On one hand, traditional techniques in millinery are extraordinarily important, they are safe and tested by centuries of evolution in hat design. By following them you guaranteed to make a hat to the highest standard of Couture. On the other hand - following traditional rules in millinery without pushing boundaries can set you for a life time of making perfectly made "boring" hats. The secret for being a true milliner lays in perfecting ballance between fantastic hat design and brilliant technical exectution. And so when it was announced that the choice of fabric is Crin, I admit, I had my doubts.

Crin happens to be one of my list favorite materials: difficult in handling, fragile and extremely prone to fraying. I would never think of using it and would, probably, go with stiffened silk tulle instead. We had a little bit over three days before hats to be completed and shipped and, of course, Crin could not care less about time concerns. For me it was a bit of a struggle: invisible stitching (I thought I perfected that skill, I was wrong) in combination with attaching Crin to the wire structures proved to be a difficult task. Despite all of it, I will never be able to fully express to you the feeling of pure joy and satisfaction I experienced when I saw final result on the runway. :-)

I thought all hats looked amazing, they really became a final touch to the beautiful designs by Jason Wu. Each hat seem to be so airy, so effortless and so chic. What a great talent Jason is! I absolutely fell in love with the light pink dress made out of feathers with apple green sash ribbon. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that there was not a single look I would not want to have in my wardrobe. :-)

Just as we shipped hats for Jason Wu, another order from New York, this time from Donna Karan, went into production. I hoped for a little break after such an intense production for Jason Wu and will never forget how amazing Deborah Miller ( the right hand of Mr' Jones and the head of the production) smiled at me and said "Well, darling, welcome to Stephen Jones Millinery!":-)

Jason Wu Spring Summer 2010

Jason Wu Spring Summer 2010

Backstage at Jason Wu Spring Summer 2010

Have You Ever Had Your Heart Broken? Unexpected Romance In Hats.

Just as her life seam to, finally, become pleasant and comfortable in its elegant routine and future promised nothing but delightful things...He walked into her life unexpectedly and very as a matter of fact while she was reading "Madame Bovary" over her morning coffee. He asked if she happened to see his car keys he thought he left on the table next to her. Dark olive skin, brown eyes, charming white smile and beautiful hands. French, apparently.

(Hat "Bonjour" created by me in my Atelier (Collection "Je Ne Regrette Rien"2008.) Photographed by Zorz Studios.)
Wasn't he what she would perceive just an hour ago as "huge red flag in beautifully tailored pants" or "the precise recipe for disaster"? It all did not matter, because for the next 7 days they were inseparable. They took carriage rides around Central park, had lunch at Bergdorf's and Giorgio's, they dined in the middle of the night in charming little restaurants...He bought her brilliant red lipstick (Dior) and she wore it every day. Her habbit of leaving lipstick marks on his neck made him smile...

(Hat "Au Revoir" designed by me (Collection "Je Ne Regrette Rien 2008), photographed by Zorz Studio")

He left early Monday, saying he will call as soon as his plane will land in Paris. He promised to come back in a week. The week passed by. Than another and another. He never called and he never came back. In a desperate attempt to get an answer she sent a letter to Paris.

Editorial hat "Love Story" designed by me in my Atelier(Collection "Je Ne Regrette Rien", 2008), photographed by Zorz Studios)

The letter came back stamped - "Address Unknown... "

Editorial Hat "Love Story" designed by me in my Atelier (Collection "Je Ne Regrette Rien" 2008), photographed by Zorz Studios.

The Story Behind The Hat: "Sweet Memories". Collection "Je Ne Regrette Rien" 2008.

(on the photo: Hat "Sweet Memories", part of the Collection "Je Ne Regrette Rien", 2008. Photographed by Zorz Studios.)

I immigrated to the US in 1999. This was single most drastic thing I have ever done in my life. Not only that I had to leave everything I loved and knew, I had to leave my parents, my baby sister, my friends... But the most difficult part of my immigration process was separation from my little daughter Anastasia. She was only 4 years old when I had to leave her. We were reunited in the US when she was 7. Three long years of being apart. There is no words to describe the pain of not being able to hold your child. What kept me going was memories of my Anastasia and hope. I have saved the memories of her smiling, every single funny moment with her, her every touch deep in my heart. One of my most favorite memories was the memory "with cherries''. Anastasia was 3 at the time. Once, we were walking through the local market when we noticed a Lady who was selling cherries out of the bucket. Cherries were so rare back in my country, it was such a treasure! Treasure we could not afford. Kind Lady took a paper bag, put few handfuls of cherries in it and gave it to my little Anastasia charge free. I will never forget Anastasia's happy face and her smile while she was tasting berries for the first time in her life...I turned this much cherished memory into the hat and I named it "Sweet Memories" (Collection "Je Ne Regrette Rien", 2008)

Debute Of My My New Collection "Russia Divine.Tribute."

On the photograph: "Tribute To Moscow" hat is a part of my new Collection. Photographed by Zorz Studios June 2009)

A while ago I came across a very interesting series of photographs entitled "Dior In Moscow, 1959" as published in "Life" magazine. The photographs documented the arrival of the House of Dior in Moscow for the presentation of the Dior Collection. They featured exquisitely dressed Dior models photographed throughout the streets of Moscow and set against the seemingly staged backdrop of drab, unsophisticated and plainly attired Russian women. The entire photo session left me feeling heartbroken, and nearly sick with anguish. At that time, fourteen years after our nation's Great Victory, in the most terrible War in history's memory, the country that lost over 26 million lives was still recovering from its loss and destruction. The presentation put forth a stilted, distorted perception, and world view of Russian women. It embodied a metaphor for the Cold War mentality pervading postwar relations between East and West. I immediately remembered my Grandmother, who, against all odds, was able to retain her style, beauty and dignity, like so many other Soviet women of that era. Inspired by the old pictures from my family archives, much cherished childhood memories and the aroma of vintage perfume "Krasnaya Moskva" , I designed Collection of spectacular hats and named it "Russia Divine. Tribute". In tribute to the remarkable generation of Russian women, who lived through the War, sacrifice, the pain of loss, tragedy and hardship. To those, who endured the unimaginable and still held their elegant grace forever...