labricoleuse | millinery finals, part one: 1930s/40s inspired felt trim techniques

It's going to take me several posts to get through the final projects of this semester's millinery students. Today I'm just going to feature images from that of Kim Fraser, a local milliner and continuing education student who will be an artist in residence at Penland School of Craft in January where she will be working on a collection of hat designs.

For most students who are learning theatrical millinery, the final project is intended to be a capstone of the semester, in which they might further explore a technique or medium, or tackle something more challenging than prior projects. A particular period shape might be the inspiration, or something fantastical they've seen in a research archive or on Pinterest.

As a comtemporary fashion milliner, Kim pitched me the idea that she would use the final project to focus on the concept of wool and fur felt scrap as a high-end trim medium. She conducted a lot of visual research in both print and digital archives, and also spent a couple days going through our historical hat collection on-site at the department of dramatic art.

Below, please enjoy a whole host of photos of Kim's decor experiments!

All of these are pinned in place on a beautiful black velour vintage Adolfo hat from our collection.

Which is your favorite?
I love the possibilities of the felt loops of "coiffure" trim hanging down from the headsize opening on the bottom left!

I switched to a grey melousine felt Breton style for these darker ornaments.

Those top two are a huge two-layer felt "feather" with a wire shaft.
The bottom right is a felt "ribbon candy" strip skewered on a dyed and stripped shaft of an ostrich plume