We don't know about you but we really love Youtube and Vimeo - not least of all because of the insights and behind the scenes snippets you get from some of the big names who inspire and influence us on a daily basis.  

Well now our very own milliner Holly Young can inspire and excite the next generation of milliners with this great little vid she's put together with the lovely folk at  Electric Weddings...

I defy you not to want to leap straight over here and channel your inner Kate Middleton with the confection of gorgeous headwear you see in it!

Jane Taylor is a luxury milliner based in Fulham. She has dressed the heads of the Duchess of Cambridge, the Countess of Wessex And other European Royals. Her work can regularly be seen on the pages of Hello magazine and Tatler. 

Her creations are whimsical and elegantly beautiful with a touch of vintage styling. Taking  inspiration  from taxidermy,  antique prints and couture designs. Jane Taylor’s hats are individually hand crafted to create three stunning collections- Couture, Ready-to-Wear (Taylor by Jane Taylor and Limited Edition by Jane Taylor) and Bridal. 

I am a milliner myself and was asked to assist in making the ready-to-wear range for the department stores. We had a tight deadline so I packed up my bags from Cornwall and off I went!

When I arrived I was thrilled to meet Lupin her adorable whippet (who was sporting a very jazzy jumper!)  Her studio is divided into two spaces, a ground floor show room housing her stunning collections and upstairs her working millinery studio where all the magic happens! 

In the studio was Jane, Raina who I met working at Philip Treacy’s, Katie -  Jane’s P.A, and Natalie and Kelly, both doing work experience. We set to, working on some feathered head pieces for House of Frazer, and we had twenty five of each style to make so we had to get cracking

There was lots to do over the course of the two weeks. Our daily tasks consisted of sewing sequined fabric onto fascinator bases, curling feathers, twisting crin into pretty shapes, sticking  Swarovski crystals and pearls onto veiling, wiring silk flowers onto headbands, blocking (molding) hat shapes and usually pricking our fingers with needles multiple times a day!

Jane started her business after completing a course in millinery at Kensington & Chelsea 7 years ago, starting her business from a rented room in Mortlake. Since then her business has gone from strength to strength and she is now known for her considered use of tonal colouring and dramatic shapes. So much so that this year saw orders from Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Fenwicks, Fortnum & Mason and House of Fraser.

My two weeks working at Jane’s was filled with laughter and fun, we made over two hundred hats which will be on the shelves in selected stores of House of Frazer within the month.

I’ll be back again to make more beautiful hats when there is another big order on ... who says you can’t mix business with pleasure!  

I was lucky enough to have an appointment with Dan Jaffe of Jaffe et Fils Ltd at his factory situated in Aximinster. The buildings are affectionately known as ‘the feather factory’ by the locals. The company is the last surviving feather works in the UK.

It was started by his parents, Lois and Eric Jaffe after the war and is now run by two of his sons, Ben and Felix. They import all kinds of feathers from all around the world (where the different birds are farmed) as raw material. They then dye, cut and treat the feathers ready for the fashion industry to use in all kinds of creative ways.

As you can imagine, I was very excited to be there and it was a pleasure to be shown round the whole factory. There were boxes upon boxes of different feathers all labeled up. There were orange ostrich feathers, black peacock feathers, turquoise spines you name it, they had it. They also do all sorts of feather mounts to be used in military regalia and feather Scots Pipers Bonnets for the marching bands. Dan was happily showing me The Hat magazine in which various well known milliners use their feathers. He then took me around the rest of the factory to show me how everything was made.

First he took me to the courtyard where on a series of washing lines were bunches of ostrich and peacock feathers hung upside down to dry in the sun. They had been treated and dyed ready to be turned into something magical.

In the warehouse there were bags of Turkey Marabout feathers (soft and fluffy) in every colour of the rainbow. These are used for trims and boas. They were like giant multicolored pillows you wanted to jump into (I had to stop myself). There was a room with some ladies sewing strips of feathers into fringing to decorate costumes with, edge headdresses, trim cushions….whatever you can think of! And there were other ladies upstairs trimming and cutting feathers into arrowheads. It’s fantastic that everything is done by hand on the premises and for the consumer buying from this company supports British industries and saves on air miles.

We went upstairs and there was a warehouse full of all the raw materials, with huge bags full of natural plumage from guinea fowl, partridge, turkey, goose, duck, cockerel, Ring Neck, Lady Amherst and Reeves pheasant. On this floor was a lady stripping and cleaning ostrich feathers. She looked very content surrounded by all the fluffy waste from feathers. Dan explained to me that shortly after the war his father had found a bag of feathers that had been thrown out and that his mother who was very artistic turned them into brooches and sold them at a market. It all started from there. Dan explained how the business went from strength to strength. However the increased use of cars with a closed top the car saw the decline of people wearing elaborate hats. He said that the buses and trams gave more space for a lady to wear large hats with feathers on and when people started traveling in cars they began to wear hats that were more practical for the smaller spaces. However business is still going strong for the family who have recently expanded to a brand new building.

I ended up staying for over two and a half hours just chatting and learning about the history of feathers and the millinery industry in Briton.

You can find out more about Holly's work here and the feather factory here