Avant Garde

Natacha Arranz

Spain

• HATalk Issue 174: Millinery Masters: William J – Bill Cunningham the Hat Maker

Bill Cunningham the Hat Maker

My inspiration to make this hat comes from this amazing milliner and photographer from New York, because he was hugely creative, with a surrealist soul, that you can see in all his work. I admire this incredible artist that I first knew from the magazine HATalk: “William J hats were daring and imaginative. They were surreal and strange and certainly not for the wearer who wanted to look like everyone else.”

• Felt wool 100%
• Grosgrain ribbon
• Ribbon red and white
• Feathers (ostrich)
• Feathers (duck)

• Hat made with traditional millinery techniques, first I used the stiffener, with a round wooden block, with steam, and finished with the iron.
• Then I stitched the grosgrain.
• Finally I worked with the feathers (cutting and moulding) and the details, such as the ribbons.