HAT WORKS BRINGS HATTING HOME TO STOCKPORT

Hat Works Museum brought hatting home to Stockport with the Making Headway Catwalk Show on Saturday 17^th May.

A new collection of 30 couture fashion hats, created by 13 of the UK’s best emerging millinery talents, was showcased at a Paris style fashion show hosted at St. Mary’s Church in Stockport Market Place.

The recently restored parish church was transformed with a jaw-dropping architectural installation created by students from Manchester School of Architecture supported by the Office for Subversive Architecture. From 10,000 paper hats suspended from an enormous fishing net, the students fashioned a dramatic, unique and stunning backdrop for the show.

Left: ‘Liberacion’ by Francisco Rico being showcased on the Making Headway catwalk.

An audience of 500 people enjoyed a fabulous cutting edge fashion spectacle which could have rivalled the runways of London, Milan and Paris. People were blown away with the quality the designs and the innovative dressing of the church.  The project is ‘making headway’ in bringing hatting home and making Stockport a hub for creativity and innovative design.

Eamonn Boylan, Chief Executive of Stockport Council, said:

“Projects such as Making Headway really showcases the wealth of creative talent in the North West, and what is possible when the heritage of one of Stockport’s oldest industries is combined with an innovative vision for the future. We are fortunate to have been able to collaborate with high quality partners and the result is this stunning catwalk event and a forthcoming exhibition.”

Participating milliner Margaret Woodliff-Wright added:

“’Making Headway’ provided a unique opportunity to combine creative and professional experiences.  The programme has been instrumental in creating a melting pot of ideas and opportunities, developing, deepening and enhancing our millinery expertise”.

Laura Sanderson, Senior Lecturer and Head of Year 01 at Manchester School of Architecture, said:

 “Architecture is not something which should only be created in the studio; it is a live thing to be celebrated in the city. To have the opportunity to work with such an exciting client and within such a beautiful building is an opportunity for the students involved to create real projects for real people.”

Participating milliners were selected through open competition to take part in a professional development programme resulting in the creation of two new designer collections of hats.

For those not able to catch the catwalk shows, the hats will be shown in Making Headway – The Exhibition which opens at Stockport Council’s Hat Works on 24^th May. For the first time all the hats on show are for sale providing visitors with a unique opportunity to purchase a handcrafted hat by an emerging millinery talent.

Participating milliners are Beth Simpson of Lady Go Red, Francisco Rico, Jane Bailey, Marina Walger, Victoria Shearing, Marie Thornton, Sue Wood, Margaret Woodliff-Wright, Marie Halewood, Melanie Lewiston, Kate Jones, Sue Carter and Rhian Kempadoo.