The Millinery Event – Chapeaux & Champagne
It takes so much time and effort to pull an event together, especially as we decided to have it in our home! With four talented milliners working in collaboration, we knew we’d be able to make it something great. The event finally came around and it was worth all the stress and tiredness of creating this special day. The millinery looked amazing, all beautifully arranged on tables and hanging on the wall. It was such a burst of colour and creativity which delighted our guests as they entered the room. The only thing which would have made it better would have been some of that beautiful weather we had earlier on in the week! Melbourne weather has its own mind and unfortunately, it decided that our beautiful event needed some rain.
The Melbourne Milliners
Anita Marshall Millinery, Hatricks By Michelle and Lisa Hughes Millinery all brought their unique styles to the showing. With Spring in the air, we were all inspired to make pretty, colourful pieces. There were also the far from boring black, white and neutral pieces as well. Between all our designs, there was something to suit all fashion tastes. There was a lovely array of sinamay, vintage straws, Jinsin, crinoline and tulle headwear. Traditional shapes continue to make a presence but the headband and smaller pieces are looking to be rather popular this year.
Best Dressed Guest
Our guests were encouraged to dress to impress as there was a ‘best-dressed’ prize. This was taken out by Elyan Shotbolt who looked very classy in her black lace outfit, topped off with a cream and red vintage hat. Elyan had the best accessory – her gorgeous little six-month-old baby boy! We had lots of beautifully dressed guests including the lovely Catherine (Essential Hat Shop), Lynette Pater and Sonia Barratt, all looking incredible in their ensembles making it hard for us to pick a winner. Elyan walked away with a double pass to the Caulfield Cup ( generously donated by Melbourne Racing Club) a $75 voucher from The online Bag Lady and a beautiful bouquet from Amazing Graze Flowers.
The Sponsors and Helpers
Amazing Graze Flowers also kindly decorated our room with beautiful bouquets and a stunning flower arrangement for our rustic photo arbour. There was a delicious smorgasbord of sweets and nibbles on offer. Check out the fabulous cupcakes which one of our milliner’s mum made us! Each had a hat on top! The amazing Steffen, from Serious Pizzas, kept his woodfired gourmet pizzas rolling in all afternoon (you can hire him for your event!). My wonderful husband (Freshphotography) was there to capture the event beautifully. He also doubled up as serving staff! We also had two wonderful friends, Jo and Doris, who went above and beyond to assist on the day. We’re so thankful to all our generous sponsors who helped to make this event so special!
The biggest prizes were the four hats which were lovingly created by the four milliners, especially for the raffle prizes. The lucky winners of these hats were Doris Jovic, Em Scodellaro, Dee Beat and Janine Langley. Three more double passes to the Caulfield Cup Racing Carnival were also given away. We’re sure that these hats went to lovers of millinery and will put them all to good use!
Collaborative Success
The event was a very successful one. We all had such an amazing time. We raised $700 for our charity, Fitted For Work, with all our raffle ticket sales. The room was full of great energy and it was lots of fun. Watching our guests gushing over our millinery and trying on our millinery pieces was the best outcome we could have hoped for. We’ve had such wonderful praises of our event and our work. This is what makes us continue to spend countless hours crafting away to bring our designs to life.
velvet&tonic loved collaborating with the other three milliners on this event. It’s been an inspiring experience and a great friendship-building one as well! There’s no doubt that these talented Melbourne milliners are going to go places with their designs. They are so passionate and focused when it comes to designing and making their unique and so well-made pieces of millinery. We hope to see many of our designs out there at the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne and at other major racing events here in Australia and internationally.
