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!
HAT SALE - Enjoy up to 20%
Hi Hat Lovers,
As you already know we’ve moved to Queensland and we are overflowing with hats in our new studio so we though it would be a great time to have a hat sale on selected current ready made hats, accessories & vintage hats..
Enjoy up to 20% off, head over to our online shop to shop now….
Thank you all for supporting our small business
Happy Winter with love,
Your Milliner
Ilana Xx
ONCE BITTEN...The House Of Hats New Halloween Collection 2022
ilana wears our ‘ LA BELLE ‘ Red Felt veiled Tilt Hat
October is finally here and you know what that means, yes you guessed it...HALLOWEEN.
If your anything like me, you count down the month's till Halloween and prepare a costume just to get your spook on.
Well i've been super prepared this year and have made an entire collection dedicated to the dark side.
I'm so excited to introduce to you our latest collection for halloween
' ONCE BITTEN ' inspired by all things Victorian gothic.
This collection is going to knock your socks off, I'm very proud of it and i hope you love it as much as I do.
Ever since I was a child i've always been fascinated with the Victorian era, the fashion , the Victorian houses ,the jewellery and everything else.
I always dreamed of owning an victorian bustle dress and hat of course hoping I could wear it and somehow time travel back to that time, so i've conjured up some of that time in this collection along with my love of all things vampires , witches , New Orleans & all the old haunted Mansions.
So here it is and you all get the honour of previewing it first.
We have seven new designs in this collection.
Introducing , our ' LA BELLE ' Hat which screams the Victorian Bustle era with her striped sash bow and face veiling.
Our ' GRACE ' hood hats made of the most luxurious velvet and detailed with vintage rare clasps .
Our ' SPELLBOUND ' Velvet turbans with Rhinestone Spider brooches and our ' ROSES OF RED silk flower headpieces.
Our ' ONCE BITTEN ' Collection is perfect to bring out the dark goddess in you just in time for Halloween.
I hope you all enjoy this collection as much as I did creating it.
Head over to our online boutique to view the full collection.
Wishing you a very spooky season & happy Shopping
Love Ilana
Your Milliner x
ilana wears our ‘ GRACE VELVET HOOD ‘ In Raven
ilana wears our ‘ROSES ARE RED ; Silk flower Headpiece
ilana wears our ‘ROSES ARE BLACK ‘ Silk Flower Headpiece
ilana wear our ‘GRACE ‘ Velvet Hood in Crimson
ilana wears our ‘SPELLBOUND ‘ Velvet Turban in Raven
ilana wears our ‘ SPELLBOUND ‘ Velvet Turban in Crimson
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.
Now Introducing AFTERPAY
We are so excited to now be offering you 'AFTERPAY' as a payment option in our Online Store.
You can now make a purchase and Pay Later...Afterpay lets you buy something and pay for it in instalments
Just select the 'AFTERPAY ' Option in our checkout.
AFTERPAY ... HOW DOES IT WORK?
AfterPay is the online payment method that allows you to pay for your online purchases after receiving them. You only pay for what you want to keep, and you will never have to pay in advance again.
you'll need to commit to making four fortnightly payments over eight weeks.
These payments are of equal value for each order and are interest-free. Convenient and secure!
Head over to our online store to purchase using Afterpay now !!
Head over to our Online Store to make a purchase using AFTERPAY now..
AUTUMN HAT SALE
AUTUMN is finally here , time to layer up and get all cosy.
Autumn is our favourite time of the year when the sun is shining but the air is crisp and we get to wear our favourite winter coats and hats.
We are now having our Annual HAT SALE of vintage hats , some from our own personal collection.
Dating from the 1930's - 1970's.
Vintage hats starting from $15 grab a bargain , there are hats for everyone.
Don't miss out they are selling out fast.
Head over to our online boutique to view our hat sale.
We also have some wonderful new products from our new collection CHRYSALIS.
Our new collection has over 30 new styles of hat & accessories that are fun and colourful for everyday wear.
So much colour to brighten up any outfit with a late 60's early 70's vibe.
We will be featuring some of our new products in this newsletter.
Head over to our shop to view our ' CHRYSALIS' Collection.
Thank you for all your ongoing love & support for our small business.
We are so happy you love our hats and we love seeing them on you.
Please feel free to follow our Instagram account @thehouseofhats_ and tag us wearing your hats from us , we would love to see them on you.
MY VINTAGE VALENTINE The House Of Hats A/W 19 Collection
‘ My Vintage Valentine’ is The House Of Hats A/W 19 Collection.
Sydney Milliner ilana Meilak designed and created this beautiful collection of Hats inspired by Valentine’s Day in Paris 1940’s. Each Hat is named in French as a refection to the passion and love of Valentine’s Day. GIGI Our stunning black fur felt heart shaped halo bonnet with big red satin chin tie.
JE T’AIME ( pictured on the right ) Our pinup red velvet heart with cascading smaller hearts , so fun and flirty.
MON CHERI our small percher hat with bow front Swarovski Red Crystal detail and long red veiling that can be draped around the neck for a dramatic film noir feel.
AMOUR Our side heart shaped black cocktail hat with red velvet heart front detail and b lack veiling across the face.
And last of our collection is COEURS meaning ( Hearts) red veiled headpiece with sparkling heart shaped Swarovski Crystals scattered over the veiling.
The Colour pallet is all black and red reflecting love and decadence. Luxurious Fur Felts and Velvets , and rich red ribbon creates these stunning one off hats.
The wonderful hat styles are all designed off original 1940’s style hats that women worn in this time.
Indulge in the decadence of our vintage inspired Valentine’s designs. Hypnotise with Old Hollywood style, glamour and allure or lose yourself in the fantasy of classic film noir 1940s France. ‘My Vintage Valentine’is the epitome of elegance and romance brought to life through the unique, quality craftsmanship The House of Hats is known and loved for. Le coup de foudre! (love at first sight).
Our GIGI Hat
'JE T'AIME'
Meet ‘ Je T’ Aime The first hat in our ‘ Vintage Valentine ‘ Collection…
Je T’ Aime is purely inspired my the 1940’s pinups , The Je T’aime Hat is one of a kind and made from the softest rich red velvet and is meticulously hand sewn into the perfect Valentine’s day Heart. Je T’aime is trimmed with a soft red pom pom trim and three falling hearts the fall in perfect order on the side of the head. The Heart is attached to a black velvet headband to sit comfortably on the head at the perfect front tilt
Shop our Hat Shop to view our whole collection of women’s hats.
Our MON CHERIE Hat
BIBA Fever back to 1969 London
Biba Fever
Biba was a London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. Biba was started and primarily run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki with help of her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon.
Biba's early years were rather humble, with many of the outfits being cheap and available to the public by mail order. Biba’s postal boutique had its first significant success in May 1964 when it offered a pink gingham dress with a hole cut out of the back of the neck with a matching triangular kerchief to readers of the Daily Mirror. The dress had celebrity appeal, as a similar dress had been worn by Brigitte Bardot. By the morning after the dress was advertised in the Daily Mirror, over 4,000 orders had been received. Ultimately, some 17,000 outfits were sold.
Hulanicki worked as a fashion illustrator after studying at Brighton Art College inthe late 1950s. She married advertising executive Stephen Fitz-Simon and they soon opened a mail order clothing company that she named Biba's Postal Boutique. Biba was the nickname of her younger sister Biruta.
The first store, in Abingdon Road in Kensington was opened in September 1964.
Hulanicki’s first encounter with her new customers was at 10 o’clock on theSaturday morning it opened; "...the curtains were drawn across the window…the shop was packed with girls trying on the same brown pinstripe dress in concentrated silence. Not one asked if there were any other styles or sizes," Hulanicki remarked.
The brown pinstripe dresses were being stored in the shop because Hulanicki’s apartment was overflowing with boxes of clothes for their mail order service. Fitz-Simon dropped Hulanicki at the shop and went to pick up more dresses, Hulanicki went to the bathroom and when she came back the shop was packed. "The louder the music played the faster the girls moved and more people appeared in the shop. I had sold every dress by 11. After the last dress had been sold, people were still lining up inside waiting for the next delivery.
The shops' main appeal was what was seen on TV on Friday night could now be bought on Saturday and worn that night. As the Biba style (tight cut skinny sleeves, earthy colours) and logo became more and more recognisable, themore and more people wanted to be seen in it.
The second store at 19-21 Kensington Church Street opened in 1965 and a series of mail-order catalogues followed in 1968, which allowed customers to buy Biba style without having to come to London.
n 1973 with the backing of Dorothy Perkins and British Land , the store moved to the seven-storey Derry & Toms department store, which immediately attracted up to a million customers weekly, making it one of the most visited tourist attractions in London.
There were different departments, and each floor had its own theme, such as a children's floor, a floor for men, a book store, a food market, and a "home" floor which sold items such as wallpaper, paint, cutlery, soft furnishings and even statues. The overall design was produced by Whitmore-Thomas Partnership, run by artist/designers Steve Thomas and Tim Whitmore.[Each department had its own logo or sign, which was based on the Biba logo and had a picture describing the department. These were commissioned by Thomas and Whitmore and designed by Kasia Charko.
The store had an Art Deco-interior reminiscent of the Golden Age of Hollywood. and non-traditional displays, Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Simon Fitzsimon have spent £1m refurbishing the Art Deco department store - known as Big Biba - to house her idiosyncratic collection of clothes and accessories.
The Biba Food Hall was also designed ingeniously, each part being aimed at one particular kind of product; a unit made to look like a dog (based on Hulanicki's own dog, a Great Dane named Othello) consisted of dog food; a huge baked beans tin can consisted of only tins of Baked beans; a can of "Warhol's Condensed Soup" etc., all foods having individual innovative units. Also at the new "Big Biba" was "The Rainbow Restaurant", which was located on the fifth floor of the department store and was destined to become a major hang-out for rock stars, but which was not solely the reserve of the elite. With all of these renovations and additions, Biba became known as a "theatre for fashion."Also at the site was the Kensignton Roof Gardens which are still there today.
The move to Derry and Toms in 1973 gave a much needed boost to other more conventional department stores in a lacklustre Kensington High Street suffering from recession.
Dorothy Perkins bought 75% of Biba taking it from a loss of £40,000 to a profit of £300,000.Biba was a victim of the same recession and only survived for two years before closing in 1975.
It seemed people wee happy to come and see the impressive decor and designer goods but were more reluctant to buy.
Barbara Hulanicki moved to Beazil in 1975 and in 1983 she published a book about the Biba enterprise called A to Biba in which she blamed British land forthe demise of the store by running it down to save other parts of its empire.
Twiggy Modelling for Biba 1971
Twiggy Modelling for Biba 1971
