There’s nothing better then seeing the face of a client when you show them their commisioned headpiece for the first time!
Stunning commision for a lovely mother of the groom. A slanted sinnamay base in shades of pale and dusky pink with intricate eyelash lace, sinamay twists. Feather flower and sparkling black swaroski crystals.
New Designs
N.Joy has been working on some new designs. Not yet available on her website. What do you think!
For the sophisticated Lady:
A large black sinamay disc, decorated with a stunning, over sized, double headed silk rose, hand dyed in a black to white ombre effect. With curled ostrich spine and stripped feathers. Finished with a spray of ivory netting. And attached on a lightweight couture headband.
For the temptress:
A sinamay base covered in flocked velvet leopard print. With a large satin bow and decorative buckle finished with chocolate coloured netting. All on an easy to wear handmade headband. The purrfect cocktail hat.
For the style icon:
A royal blue velvet cocktail hat. With large silk and velvet rose sprinkled with grey and blue Swarovski crystals. Surrounded by large pink sinamay loops and navy and baby pink veiling. Attached on a lightweight headband.
For the demure lady:
A dusky pink and ivory teardrop fascinator, with sinamay roses and sinamay loops. And light pink veiling .All attached on a handmade headband.
For the fabulous:
An Elegant new 1920’s cloche hat in navy blue felt. With a light blue band. Embellished with two large roses and surrounded by a spray of pearls.
Which one are you?
Newbies
Heres a few new pieces from N.Joy.Millinery that are not on the site yet enjoy!
An oval saucer shaped hat in ivory sinamay . Embelished with two large dusky pink silk flowers, entwined around a curled ostrich spine, with diamond shaped stripped feathers, in shades of pink and cream! An enchanting piece perfect for the races or a summer wedding
A beautiful new bridal piece. Delicate ivory floral lace embroidered with flecks of silver and gold threads. Embelished with glass beads and imatation pearls. Attached on a golden/ivory satin ribbon, edged in a cluster of beads with combs for easy attachment. For an alternative to the traditional tiara.
Another lovely new bridal piece. White, floral corded lace embelished with tiny silver glass beads and sparkerling diamante, attached on a graduated sized chain with diamante pendant. It can be worn across the forehead or at headband height.
An ivory ripple sinamay base, with a pair of hand sculped, pale blue roses and sinnamay loops gathered on a large bow decorated with goose biot feathers and floral lace.
Dark chocolate feathers, embroidered with coffee colured lace with silver cord, embroidered with stunning gold and bronze glass beads. A glittering piece of headwear for that sophisticated lady.
Hats off to the ladies of Ascot!
The once strict regulations of the ascot ladies day seems to have relaxed a little this year giving way to some outlandish fashion! Some funky fascinators some happening hats and some err interesting works of art!
Some ladies thought it was all about size! with large ornate headdresses with brightly dyed ostrich and pheasant feathers. (not sure how much of the races the lady on the left actually saw!) Others opted for quirky little numbers.
Some ladies attracted attention for all the wrong reason though hats off to the milliners who made those concoctions stay upright!
For me these ladies wore the best hats by far! Pure class! Large hats in pastle colours work because their striking without being an eyesaw. Red suits everyone teamed with white and black equals pure elegence.
And it wasn’t just the men who went all out for Ascot this year, I’m loving the peacock top hat it takes a real man to wear that many sequins!
And who better to finish with then her majesty who looked beautifully demur in her colour coded pieces.
Collaboration with Russell Robin Hair Studio.
At a recent charity event Natalie-Joy (N.Joy) met the lovely owners of the Russell Robin hair studio. Wearing one of her own creations N.Joy and Robin (one of the dynamic brothers who own and run the studio) got into a conversation about fashion hats and hair. N.Joy was invited to a collaboration shoot mixing Robin Neal’s creative hair colouring and styling with N.Joy’s distinctive headwear.
N.Joy was thrilled to work with someone who had worked with celebrities like Amy Winehouse, Rodger Moore and Depeche Mode. As well as working with well know singers and actors. Both brothers have travelled widely with their work and exhibited their artistic hairstyling at such events like Malan fashion week and the Brit awards. To a budding young business women like N.Joy this was an opportunity not to be missed. The brothers originally from Essex trained and worked in Regents Street London but moved to the beautiful location of Cornwall to bring up their families though this has not but a dampener on their career.
N.Joy has been lucky enough to do a lot of amateur modelling in her youth so she was delighted to not only have her hats used in this shoot but to be the model as well.
A few days before the Shoot Robin took N.Joy’s dark auburn somewhat straggly locks with its grown out fringe and split ends and transformed her to a radiant redhead with dramatic blunt fringe.
On the day of the shoot, Robin put N.Joy’s hair up in a high French pleat styled updo and put her in front of the camera with a collection of hats and outfits the quirky shoot had a distinctly 60’s feel to it, directed and shot by Robin (who is also a talented photographer). The shoot was a brilliant success. The full shots have not been released yet but here’s a sneak preview. Keep watching for the final shots and Advertising campaign .
Baker Boy Commission-
One of my recurring customers asked me to make her an everyday hat something to fit her personality, and something that would suit her style.
Initially I get to know the client, what colours they wear, what’s a typical outfit for them, What kind of decoration they like. Then I come up with initial sketches and show them to the customer . If they like the sketches I go ahead with the making process.
The hat I designed was inspired by the 1960’s baker boy style. I wanted to use purples and creams with a floral print. I didn’t want the floral fabric to look too fussy so I decided to only make too panels in the floral fabric and then add a little floral feature on the side of the hat.
Colours decided, I then had to work out a paper pattern for the hat. I looked at different vintage baker boy patterns and adjusted them to fit my hat. This hat was more like dress making then millinery. Luckily I’ve had plenty of practice in dress making! I then made a mock up hat so I could work out the exact sizing and how much fabric I needed. For most hats I make in sinamay and felt, I don’t make a mock up or pattern as the hat is sculpted on a block and is a hard hat as oppose to a soft hat witch this commission was.
After sourcing the fabric I beguine on the final hat itself. It was definitely a tricky commission but I really enjoyed the challenge. The hat turned out fabulous and suited my customer perfectly. I even worked in some decorative lining just to add to the cuteness of this piece.
A commissioned hat, is made by N.Joy.Millinery to the specific criteria of a client a one off tailored to the individual customer. For A commission please email N.Joy.Millinery.