Combining her background in luxury fashion and a passion for the races, milliner Lisa Tan launched her eponymous label in 2010. Her unique talent and extravagant details adorning her pieces did not go unnoticed; Lisa has won a number of prestigious best dressed competitions at European and Australian racecourses, including the Epsom Derby Festival (winner, 2009 and 2012), the Sandown Park’s Eclipse Stakes meeting (winner, 2011) and Myer Fashions on the Field at the Melbourne Cup (runner-up, 2007). Read on for our full interview with Lisa, who is today in her tenth collection, in which she discusses her niche craft, involving her client into her creative process, and being a milliner in 2016.
What drew you to millinery, and particularly fancy headwear?
I’ve always loved going to the races, and in Australia, best dressed competitions are a big event there. I used to make my own outfits as I’d studied fashion design, but didn’t have any experience in millinery. It was something I always wanted to learn, but Perth had no courses or teachers, so I had to make do with experimental processes and materials. It wasn’t until I had been in London for a year or so that I decided I didn’t like my job, and I should do a course in millinery.
Tell us about your decision to establish your own label. Did you have any experience in the field before launching your line?
I had a lot of experience in fashion, and had been the production manager of an accessories label before. So part of me knew what to do, but the production side of millinery is so different to most kinds of production – it’s very involved, and is essentially couture. My first large order came quickly and I wasn’t really prepared for the hours it would take to make 50 hats, but it was a steep learning curve, and I did it.
Describe for us your training as a milliner.
Because I already had a fashion design background, I just did a short course in millinery blocking at Central Saint Martins, then interned with Siggi Hesbacher for quite a while before putting together my first collection. I still learn tips and tricks from my fellow milliner friends.
How difficult was it generating sales and finding retailers to stock your collections at the beginning?
Hugely difficult, and it still is. Every year there’s a new crop of milliners graduating from colleges around London, and they’re all competing for only a handful of places on the shelves of the top major retailers that you’ve already been competing for. Millinery is such a niche area of fashion, and there’s not a great demand for it, so it’s always going to be difficult to lock down a stockist.
Are you looking to expand throughout the world or are you targeting regions where headwear has a strong appeal?
I’ve always targeted the UK and Australia, given that’s where I’m from, and I know the market really, really well there. I may look to the UAE, but I think other places where headwear is prominent (Dublin, Kentucky, New Zealand) already have a strong concentration of milliners, so it would be far more difficult to break into the industry there.
Why did you choose custom, made-to-order designs? Is a ready-to-wear line in your future plans?
I actually do ready-to-wear collections for my stockists, which I then offer to customize for my clients.
When it comes to custom work, to what extent do you try to match the final piece to the client and their sense of style?
The main focus of custom design is definitely to find something to fit the client, and not the other way around. They have to be comfortable in whatever they decide upon, so if they want to remove the giant feather and go for something more demure, that’s absolutely fine by me. The only time I will put my foot down is if the client comes in with a preconceived idea that’s already been made by another milliner – we can always use that idea as a base, but I’ll change it to fit with my millinery style, and my client’s overall sense of style.
What trends are you seeing right now in headwear? How do you feel about following trends in your industry?
It’s quite rare to see trends appearing in millinery because it is such a bespoke industry, but we have seen boater hats coming through strongly for this summer. In Australia, they’re all about headpieces and veils, which disappointed me a little as I prefer seeing proper, structured millinery at the races. However, I did do a range of veils and they sold really well, so I guess if you can’t beat them, join them.
How does it feel to be a milliner in 2016? I think it has shifted from being a niche craft, and it’s becoming all the more popular.
I think it’s still difficult to make a living! It’s becoming more popular in the sense that more people are exploring how to make hats, which is great for the craft, but not so good for the industry as a whole. You see it especially in Australia – lots of people do a course or two and learn how to make their own headpieces because good quality millinery is expensive, but then they decide they’re good enough to start a little label and sell to their friends, and the quality and skills just aren’t there. Then millinery becomes somewhat of a disposable craft – wear it once, then throw it away – when a really well-made hat should be treated as a work of art and last a lifetime.
Images © Lisa Tan
www.lisatanmillinery.com
