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Latrobe City millinery business races ahead

A hectic pace during the Spring Racing Carnival for horses, jockeys and trainers is to be expected

By Latrobe City Council - 20th November 2003 - Back to News

A hectic pace during the Spring Racing Carnival for horses, jockeys and trainers is to be expected; but the advent of Spring Racing also creates frenzied demand in the fashion industry, as dressmakers and milliners harness their creative talents to meet the needs of their clients, all of whom naturally, want to look their best.

For local milliner, Carolyn Schoo, who has designed and made hundreds of hats since starting her business six years ago, the past seven weeks has been an extremely intense period, keeping up with the demand for hats from her clientele across Gippsland.

According to Latrobe City Investment Manager, Leo Billington, Carolyn has been creating between three and four hats every day, and some workdays are 20 hours long. "Much of this time is taken to actually design and then trim each hat," Mr Billington said.

Ms Schoo explained that creating hand-made hats involved design, blocking, stiffening, wiring, attaching the crown and brim together and finally the trimming.

"Creating headwear also means utilising a wide range of materials including feathers – emu, pheasant, peacock, ostrich, turkey and coque, as well as fine wire, flowers, sisal straw and the popular sinamay, a woven tropical plant fibre from Taiwan and the Philippines," she said.

Ms Schoo’s creations have recently become headline news in Melbourne.

"In early October, my fantasy hat design, one of more than 120 hats shown as part of the Millinery Association of Australia’s professional hat parades at Flemington, was pictured on the front page of the Herald Sun and shown on the Channels 7, 9 and 10 evening news," Ms Schoo recalled.

"The hat was a real show-stopper, prompting many people to ask about me and where my business was located. As a result, I have made dozens of hats for clients who contacted me," Ms Schoo said.

"While Latrobe City is my main market, the Spring Racing season has widened my client base. I have made hats to be worn at Caulfield, Bairnsdale, Cranbourne, Pakenham, Mornington, The Derby and Oaks Day, Melbourne Cup and, more locally the Moe and Sale Cups and the recent Traralgon Ladies’ Day," Ms Schoo explained.

When ordering a hat, Ms Schoo needs to know all about the occasion, time of day, chosen outfit style and especially, the colour, skin-tone, face shape and budget.

"The latest trend among the younger set is to wear ‘fascinators’, an easy to wear combination of flowers, feathers and veiling in a headpiece. These individual creations describe attitude and style and are seen as a hat you are wearing when you don’t want to wear a hat," Ms Schoo said.

"I am proud to be able to offer city-quality headwear fashion right here in Latrobe City and to be able to say that each hat is different. I make one-of-a-kinds, thus guarding against the ultimate social embarrassment of seeing your hat design in duplicate at a special occasion," Ms Schoo added.

According to Mr Billington, Ms Schoo is one of the original members of the Latrobe City – Wellington Shire Women in Business Network which now has over 195 members.

"Ms Schoo has studied dressmaking, fashion, art and design and was also a music teacher at one stage. Now she is considered one of Victoria’s top milliners which is itself a unique talent to have acquired," Mr Billington explained.

"Ms Schoo is now completing advanced level studies in millinery design at GippsTAFE, which is one of very few TAFE colleges in Australia that offers this high level course," Mr Billington added.

Ms Schoo said that the greatest acknowledgement of her work is seeing the faces of her clients light up at the final fitting.

"After all, it’s about the process of making someone feel confident about themselves and with each hat or headpiece made, I am able to confirm my own fashion signature," Ms Schoo concluded.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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