As Featured in ' ERA ' Magazine - Celebrating 20 Years of Millinery
The House of Hats is truly honored to be featured in ERA Magazine celebrating 20 years of millinery!
We’re thrilled to share the full article, which dives into our journey, the heart of our business, and features beautiful shots of our hats from our “ LE CHAPEAUX “ collection.
A huge thanks to Eleanor for a stunning issue! we’re incredibly grateful for the recognition—head over to ERA magazine to order your copy and enjoy the full story!
Reviving The Boudoir Cap
Bringing the Boudoir Cap Back, the House of Hats Way
At The House Of Hats, Antique fashion has never been something to admire from a distance.
For over two decades, our work has been guided by a love of timeworn beauty — lace softened by age, hand-finished details, silhouettes shaped by another era. These are the pieces that whisper rather than shout. The ones that carry history in their threads. The ones that feel alive.
It was only natural that the boudoir cap would find its way home here.
Once an essential part of a woman’s private wardrobe, the boudoir cap belonged to the intimate rituals of everyday life. Worn in bedrooms and dressing rooms, it was crafted from lace, silk, crochet, and chiffon — practical in purpose, poetic in presence. It existed beyond trends, created not to be seen, but to be felt.
Our love of antique fashion is what drew us back to this forgotten piece and our inspiration began the moment we found an original 1920s boudoir cap—so delicate and full of feminine charm.
That’s how our reimagined boudoir caps were born.
Antique Spirit, Modern Wearability
At The House of Hats, we reimagine the boudoir cap with a modern sensibility — preserving its romance while making it effortlessly wearable for today. Each cap is handcrafted using antique and vintage laces, ribbons and flowers chosen for their softness, irregularity, and quiet character. No two are ever the same.
The silhouettes are light, draped, and unstructured. Designed to sit comfortably on the head, they feel natural rather than precious — something you reach for instinctively, not something you save.
These boudoir caps are made to be lived in.
Wear one in the morning while the house is still quiet. Slip it on with a floaty dress, a silk slip, or unexpectedly with jeans and a knit. Let antique lace become part of your everyday wardrobe — not as costume, but as comfort.
Romance, Reclaimed
As dreamy, antique-inspired fashion returns — lace, softness, and slow beauty finding their way back into modern wardrobes — the boudoir cap becomes a quiet symbol of this shift. A reminder that femininity does not need an occasion, and beauty does not need permission.
By bringing back the boudoir cap in our own wearable way, The House of Hats invites antique fashion out of the past and into the present — where it belongs.
Because the most enduring kind of elegance is the kind you carry with you — softly, daily, and entirely your own.
Lace headwear trends are making waves in 2026, making the Edwardian and antique lace fashion revival more relevant and on-trend than ever
We invite you to explore our boudoir cap collection, thoughtfully handcrafted from antique lace and designed for modern wear.
Shop our collection of Boudoir caps now..
Our ‘ ROSEBUD ‘ Lace Boudoir Cap
Our ‘ LACE SERENITY ‘ Lace Cp
Happy 20th Birthday The House Of Hats
This year marks 20 Years since The House of Hats began — and even writing that sentence feels surreal.
What started as a small creative dream has grown, changed, paused, reinvented itself, and somehow endured through every season of my life. Businesses don’t usually last this long, especially creative ones, and especially ones built slowly, by hand, with heart rather than hype.
Twenty years ago, I began making hats because I loved them — the romance, the history, the craftsmanship, the quiet confidence a beautiful hat gives to the person wearing it. I never imagined how deeply intertwined this business would become with my life, or how many chapters it would quietly witness.
Over the years, The House of Hats has lived in studios, spare rooms, shopfronts, arcades, market stalls, and now online. It has survived economic downturns, personal upheavals, moves between cities and states, changing trends, changing bodies, changing priorities — and it’s still here.
That alone feels worth celebrating.
This brand grew as I grew.
It evolved as my taste evolved.
It slowed down when I needed to slow down.
There were times when I chased momentum, and times when I learned that rest and refinement mattered more. There were collections, commissions, bridal pieces, couture moments — and now, a gentler return to wearable, everyday hats made slowly, one at a time, with intention.
I no longer believe a business has to be loud to be successful. Or constant. Or exhausting.
I believe in longevity.
I believe in craftsmanship.
I believe in making beautiful things that last.
Thank you for being here..
If you’ve ever worn one of my hats, supported my work, followed along quietly, or checked in over the years — thank you. Truly.
Small businesses don’t survive 20 years without real people on the other side. Your support has meant more than you probably realise, especially during the harder chapters.
As The House of Hats steps into its third decade, it does so with more clarity, more softness, and more trust than ever before. This is a quieter era. A slower one. But one rooted deeply in experience, skill, and love for the craft.
Here’s to 20 years of hats, stories, reinvention —
and to whatever the next chapter holds 🤍👒👒👒
Goodbye Sydney
🕰️ FAREWELL SYDNEY 👋
After a lifetime in Sydney… I’m moving
Born and raised here, this city has shaped every part of me. It’s where I fell in love with vintage fashion, taught myself to sculpt hats by hand, had two retail shops and where The House of Hats came to life.
But life is shifting, and like the song says… “The rest is still unwritten.”
I’m packing up my little showroom and heading to Queensland to begin a brand new chapter. It’s emotional and a little overwhelming, but also full of hope, growth, possibility and big dreams...
To all the beautiful clients who stepped through my Sydney doors — thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’ll be sharing the journey as it unfolds, and I hope you’ll keep walking with me.
Here’s to trusting the unknown, starting fresh, and letting the next chapter write itself 💫
See you on the other side
Behind The Scenes of our new Showroom
Behind the scenes of The House Of Hats new showroom in Sydney Australia
We have been super busy designing and renovating our new space and creating our beautiful new showroom.
Before our renovation
We started off with a blank canvas in this victorian room with stunning marble fireplace and ornate ceiling as our feature.
Black Feature Wall
We wanted to stick with my logo colours , so went with a black feature wall around the fireplace and light green walls.
The theme for the room was inspired by the old victorian millinery shops back in the 1900s , we already had this antique timber mirror but we jazzed it up by painted it gold and how spectacular does it look .
We managed to find an incredible antique 1920s copper & glass shop display counter which was the perfect fit in the middle of the room and we also found a antique velvet chaise lounge at an estate sale that fits in with the theme perfectly.
Willow modelling on our Antique Chaise
We painted our wooden hat stands gold to match our feature mirror.
Our Gold Wooden Hat Stands
We designed the shelf layout and found a local carpenter that custom made a cupboard and timber shelves built on both wall for hat display and hat box storage.
Design for Shelves
Finished Timber Shelves
We are now just in the final stages of finishing and are just waiting on curtains and another cabinet to be painted and we will be finished,
Stay tuned for the final reveal.
PETAL'S IN THE WIND The House Of Hats New Collection
Our New Collection ‘ Petal’s In The Wind features seventeen new beautiful Hats & headpieces designs just in time for the new season.
Inspired by the whimsical late 1970s with a twist of 1960's this collection is for the romantics and daydreamers.
Beautiful pastel colours with vintage floral prints , gingham and vintage sequins and Straw embroidered Hats all handmade in our Sydney Studio , this collection of hats and headpieces will bring happiness into your days.
WATCH OUR CAMPAIGN VIDEO BELOW.
As seen in CAMILLA'S New Collection ' PARTY LIKE'
We are so excited to have our ‘ PSYCHEDELIC ‘ Rainbow Velvet Turban featured in Camilla’s new Collection
PARTY LIKE…. Our PSYCHEDELIC Turban is the perfect turban for the party season.
CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF MILLINERY
It’s our Birthday and we are Celebrating 15 years of Millinery,
Wow how our business has evolved over the years when we first started in 2006 , Our hats & headpieces have graced many amazing clients here in Australia and all over the world.
We have been featured in numerous fashion magazines & fashion houses and also in film & tv.
Watch our video of our journey though the years as I was interview by Radio Presenter Kia Handley
Thank you to all our clients and everyone who has been apart of our journey over the years.
We are so proud to be an Australian Made small Business & to use Vintage materials when we can
to help our environment and to make every piece unique & one of a kind.
We are so excited to see what future holds for The House Of Hats.
Remember ‘ If you have a head, you can wear a hat’.
Ilana x
Why We Love TURBANS
Other than being one of the most glamorous hair accessories and the easiest cure for a bad hair day that makes you look instantly Glam.!! , bad hair day? (throw your hair in a turban and way you go).. The Turban has quite a history behind it and while the fashion for the turban was partly borne of necessity in Europe, it became chic and highly worn in the early late 1930s early 1940s when it appeared on the heads of Hollywood icons. such as Lana Turner who created an iconic image of femme fatale in turban in The Post man always rings twice..( I highly recommend to watch) ,the growing US popularity of South American stars such as Carmen Miranda also raised the profile of the draped turban as glamour wear – Miranda wore hers in a variety of extreme permutations in her films. The turban really never lost its glam as it was still a hot accessory straight through into the early 70s when Biba loved a shiny disco turban .
In current time the Turban has made a huge come back as seen on Prada's runway in back in 2007 and a huge turn around in the Pin Up scene , incorporating into vintage hairstyles.
You can really adapt your own style & character with a classic turban, add a vintage brooch, a feather, the turban can take you from day to night.
I fell in love with the turban many moons ago , and started experimenting with my own variation of the 1940s turban creating it into a classic modern day design and using high quality Dupion silk that I sculptured, I managed to recreate an easy lightweight style that can be worn everyday.
Shop our Turban collection made to order in any colour
https://www.thehouseofhats.com.au/shop
I hope you enjoy our Turbans and never have a bad hair day again
ilana Xx
The House Of Hats Gold Dust Turban
" My Gold Dust Turban is so beautifully made for me it gets worn almost daily, i love it so much'
Testimonial form one of our Clients Melissa Bant.
Photo shoot with Photographer Margaret Ellen Burns & Model Pearl Spring Featuring our Aqua silk Turban
Vintage 1940's Turban
Vintage Vogue 1940's Featuring a glam Turban
Carmen Miranda was the Queen of Turbans , Famous for topping them with Fruit
The House Of Hats Fortune teller Silk Turban as featured in Elegant Magazine .
Enchantment SS16-17
Enchantment Collection SS16-17
' Deep into the forest whimsical mystic nymphs flock amongst butterflies & fairies enchanted by their beauty.'
Our new collection coming soon is " Enchantment" inspired by all things mystical and whimsical. The magic of enchantment being under a spell, a spell of love
Introducing The House Of Hats ' Nymph ' headpiece and matching comb The first piece in our new ' Enchantment ' collection.
'
The Nymph headpiece featuring vintage velvet and pastel flowers and brass leaf accents creates a light ethereal headpiece.
The perfect headpiece
Throwback Thursday BTS 2015 Collection
The House Of Hats BTS 2015 Collection
Behind the Scenes stunning Melina Vidler wearing The House of Hats ' EVER AFTER' crystal crown.
Inspiration behind this shoot was a high school prom sweetheart , featuring this Swarovski sparkling crystal crown from the 2015 collection
Photography by Margaret Ellen Burns .
Photography by Margaret Ellen Burns
