By Ilsa Cunningham Posted June 2, 2015 In FASHION, PUBLICATIONS, RACING FASHION

MILLINER FROM AUSTRALIA, WHO HAS CREATED TOO MANYHATS TO REMEMBER…

THE MANY, MANY “TOP HATS” OF CHRISTINE THOMPSON,MILLINER FROM AUSTRALIA.In a tiny studio choc-a-bloc full of rolls of material and various patterned fabric, feathers andhead stands, Christine Thompson is busily creating her next masterpiece.Her latest passion is eco dying, using a variety of naturally occurring dyes found in eucalyptusleaves, onion skin and rusty nuts and bolts, instead of chemicals, to dye fabrics and createinteresting patterns and colours for the assortment of hats she creates.

BLUE MOUNTAINS PUBLICATIONS & TOP HAT FROM MOULINE ROUGE.

The story about Christine Thompson as it appeared in the Blue Mountains Gazette’s review

publication, by Ilsa Cunningham. Magazine image by Ilsa Cunningham. The Blue MountainsGazette’s Website: www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au Facebook: www.facebook.com/bluemountainsgazette

PHOTOS FROM CHRISTINE'S FUN PAGE.

In a career spanning more than two decades, the Woodford milliner has created too many hatsto remember, but there’s one that always stands out.

She had been working on Baz Luhrmann’s colourful 2001 movie Moulin Rouge and had beenasked to make a brightly coloured windmill hat, bursting with beads and feathers. She spentsix weeks on that particular hat, the longest she’s ever spent on a hat – most take a day – andit didn’t make the cut. Disappointed, she never did find out where the hat went after that.

However, the black velvet top hat she made for Nicole Kidman did make it into the film. Whocan forget Kidman’s grand entrance perched on a trapeze complete with top hat, to dazzle thecabaret audience singing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”.

Thompson met a nervous Kidman whose dressing room had been “flooded with flowers” as awarm welcome from director Baz Luhrmann. She interpreted Kidman’s nervousness as anuncertainty about her appearance.

Top hat for the movie Moulin Rouge, created by Christine.

“If you’re at an opening and you want to be known or noticed, wear a hat.”!

After Moulin Rouge Thompson was asked to work on one of the Star Wars movies. She hadtaken a six-month break from her primary job as a milliner at Opera Australia to work onMoulin Rouge, and hoped to continue with Star Wars while remaining in a part-time capacity atOpera Australia. But then the head milliner Connie Kerr retired, age 80, and Thompson took onthe role.

She spent 15 years with Opera Australia in Sydney, learning valuable traditional millineryskills, and working with some of the best designers and milliners in the business.

One of her favourite productions was My Fair Lady. “It’s all about the hats,” she says with asmile. Thompson and three others made about 30 hats of varying size, the widest being onemetre. “After we made all those hats they told us they had to be under 1kg,” she recalls.

That proved to be quite a challenge undoing all their good work and cutting back each hat,weighing and reweighing until each was light enough. The 1m wide hat may have been a touchover 1kg, Thompson says with a chuckle.

A designer would provide drawings of the hats he or she wanted members of the cast to wearand Thompson would make them.

Sometimes a dancer or singer would hate a hat the designer loved, often because hats tend tomuffle sound, so there would be modifications made to the hat. “You would have to develop atough skin,” Thompson said, but she enjoyed the work. “There were always complex designsthat would challenge and stretch you.”

Five years ago, at age 50, Thompson decided to leave Opera Australia and start her ownbusiness, Christine’s Millinery, attending markets and festivals, and running workshops aroundthe country.

She’s come a long way from the days of working as an office worker, who decided to learn tosew at age 30 when she couldn’t hem a pair of trousers. She enrolled in a millinery course nolonger offered at Katoomba TAFE, and has never looked back. “I did it ‘cause I loved it but hadno idea what to do with it,” Thompson said. While she was studying at TAFE she did workexperience at Opera Australia, and the rest is history.

Thompson is one of a declining number of milliners who can pattern draft, meaning she canmake hats by designing a hat pattern herself.

In April she became an artist in residence at the Woodford Academy, where she has ashowroom displaying a selection of her hats, everything from steampunk-inspired numbers towoollen caps for winter, to special occasion hats for weddings and races. She’s at theacademy’s open day the third Saturday of every month and at other times by appointment.

Her most popular are race or special occasion hats and she’s now considering providing hatsfor hire.

Along the way she’s discovered people often don’t know how to wear a hat. Instead ofplunking it straight on top of the head, it’s best tilted to the side, Thompson explains. Andshe’s not afraid to tactfully tell a person if a hat doesn’t suit them. “I would much rather tellsomeone it doesn’t suit them than they go somewhere and people say ‘what are youwearing!’”

She says people’s eyes will naturally be drawn to whoever is wearing a hat in a crowd.“If youwant to get ahead, you wear a hat,” Thompson says.“If you’re at an opening and you want tobe known or noticed, wear a hat.”

For more information visit her website www.christinesmillinery.com.au

ACTRESS TAMMY BARTAIA & FASHION BLOGGER IRINA KALONATCHI,PHOTOGRAPHY BY UNITED IMAGES, SYDNEY.

FASHIONBLOGGER IRINA KALONATCHI/FASHIONBLOGGER AND RANDWICKRACEGOEWER-FASHIONISTA WEARING CHRISTINE'S HATS.

Actress Tammy Bartaia modelling hats by Christines Millinery, read about Tammy here:http://www.fashionblog.fr/2015/04/26/interview-with-tammy-bartaia-fashion-model-tv-presenter-and-actress/

Photographer George Gittany, read more about George here:http://www.fashionblog.fr/2015/05/09/george-gittany/

Photos from 2015-04-08 CREATIVES UNCOVERED Event, organized by Sharron Garrard.

NEW ECO INSPIRED RANGE OF SOFT HATS.

CHRISTINES MILLINERY SIGNATURE TOP HATS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY SIMONGOULD.

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