Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of garments for men, women, and children and sold these garments in their millinery shop. Many milliners worked as both milliner and fashion designer, such as Rose Bertin, Jeanne Lanvin, and Coco Chanel.

The millinery industry benefited from industrialization during the nineteenth century. In 1889 in London and Paris, over 8,000 women were employed in millinery, and in 1900 in New York, some 83,000 people, mostly women, were employed in millinery. Though the improvements in technology provided benefits to milliners and the whole industry, essential skills, craftsmanship, and creativity are still required. Since the mass-manufacturing of hats began, the term milliner is usually used to describe a person who applies traditional hand-craftsmanship to design, make, sell or trim hats primarily for a mostly female clientele.

The term milliner, originally from "Milener", originally meant someone from Milan, in northern Italy, in the early 16th century. It referred to Milanese merchants who sold fancy bonnets, gloves, jewellery and cutlery. In the 16th to 18th centuries, the meaning of milliner gradually changed from a foreign merchant to a dealer in small articles relating to dress. Although the term originally applied to men, milliner came to mean a woman who makes and sells bonnets and other headgear for women since 1713.

Learning of millinery

Milliners work independently based on job order specifications or their designs, observing the regulations regarding work safety, health protection, environmental protection, and ensuring quality and efficiency. They combine their uniqueness, innovation, and technical skills and use different materials and auxiliary materials. In some cases, they plan and organize their schedules in cooperation with their customers' various needs. They also collaborate with the team or the apprentice to the presentation and sale of the products.

The millinery industry's apprenticeship culture is commonly seen since the 18th century, while milliner was more like a stylist and created hats or bonnets to go with costumes and chose the laces, trims, and accessories to complete an ensemble piece. Millinery apprentices learned hat-making and styling, running the business, and skills to communicate with customers. Nowadays, this apprenticeship is still a standard process for the students who freshly graduated from the millinery schools. Many well-known milliners experienced this stage. For example, Rose Bertin was an apprentice to a successful milliner Mademoiselle Pagelle before her success.

There are many renowned millinery schools located in Europe, especially in London, Paris, and Italy. During the shut down-19, many millinery courses were taught virtually.

Special tools and materials used by milliners

A wooden hat block is an intricately carved wood form shaped by skillful woodworkers. Hat blocks are the tools of the trade for milliners in creating a unique hat crown shape. Some of the hat blocks are ensembles with crown and brimmed, while some are only with crown or brim or designed for fascinators. Milliners always have an extensive collection of different hat blocks because there are specific hat sizes and custom shapes for every hat block. In the blocking process of a hat, milliners used push pins and a hammer to hold the adjustable string along the crown's collar and the brim's edge.

A floral-making iron is a unique iron used by milliners to create different floral petals or leaves as the ornament for hat decoration. In the past, candles were used to heat these irons with various shapes of metal in one set. Nowadays, these irons are electric. A ball-shaped metal heading is commonly used for the curve of floral pastels.

Milliners often use buckram, a stiff cotton (occasionally linen or horse hair) cloth with a loose weave. Millinery buckram is impregnated with a starch which allows it to be softened in water, pulled over a hat block, and left to dry into a hard shape. Millinery buckram comes in many weights, including lightweight or baby buckram (often used for children's and dolls' hats), single-ply buckram, and double buckram (also known as theatrical buckram or crown buckram).

Notable hatters and milliners

This is a partial list of people who have had a significant influence on hat-making and millinery.

Hatters

• International Hat Company, an American manufacturer credited with inventing one of America's most popular early 20th century harvest hats for field hands, farmers, and workmen.
• Hawley Products Company, an American manufacturer credited with inventing the tropical shaped, pressed fiber sun helmet used from World War II through the Persian Gulf War.
• John Cavanagh, an American hatter whose innovations included manufacturing regular, long and wide-oval fitting hats to enable customers to find better-fitting ready-to-wear hats.
• James Lock & Co. of London (founded 1676), is credited with the introduction of the bowler hat in 1849.
• Teofilo Garcia, recognized as a National Living Treasure in the Philippines for pioneering the tabungaw hat, a headwear made from gourd.
• John Batterson Stetson, credited with inventing the classic cowboy hat
• Giuseppe Borsalino, with the famous "Borsalino" Fedora hat.

Milliners

• Vanilla Beane was an American milliner in Washington, D.C. who served the African American community and notable civil rights activists, among others.
• Akio Hirata is the most influential milliner in Japan who collaborated with many Japanese famous fashion designers, including Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo. He also created and designed hats for Japanese Empress Michiko since 1966.
• Anna Ben-Yusuf wrote The Art of Millinery (1909), one of the first reference books on millinery technique.
• Rose Bertin, milliner and modiste to Marie Antoinette, is often described as the world's first celebrity fashion designer.
• Coco Chanel, creator of the fashion house Chanel, and of Chanel No.5.
• John Boyd was one of London's most respected milliners and is known for the famous pink tricorn hat worn by Diana, Princess of Wales.
• Lilly Daché was a famous American milliner of the mid-20th century.
• Frederick Fox was an Australian born milliner noted for his designs for the British Royal family.
• Mildred Blount is the first African American milliner to design hats for Hollywood films "Gone with the Wind' and 'The Easter Parade.' Her clientele included Joan Crawford, Louise Beavers, Marian Anderson, Gloria Vanderbilt, and other Hollywood stars.
• Mr. John was an American milliner considered by some to be the millinery equivalent of Dior in the 1940s and 1950s.
• Stephen Jones of London, is considered one of the world's most radical and important milliners of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
• Simone Mirman was known for her designs for Elizabeth II and other members of the British Royal Family.
• Barbara Pauli was the leading fashion milliner and modiste in Sweden during the Gustavian era.
• Caroline Reboux was a renowned milliner of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
• David Shilling is a renowned milliner, artist and designer based in Monaco.
• Justin Smith is a milliner creating bespoke and couture hats under the J Smith Esquire brand.
• Philip Treacy Irish-born milliner; first milliner for 80 years to be invited to exhibit at the Paris haute couture shows.

See also

• Draper
• Haberdasher
• Hat Works
• Mad hatter disease
• Mad as a hatter
• Marchandes de modes
• James Lock & Co.
• Walter Wright Hats

 It featured an even more snug fit than its predecessors, and worn so low over the eyebrows that women walked with their chins up and eyes cast down. Fortunately, walking with this kind of poise only added to the allure of the look, as women felt it created an air of confidence and independence in the wearer. During this decade, no woman ever left the house without a chic cloche to top off her look.

As cloche styles began to grow and change, embellishment began to feature more heavily in the design. Art deco was a heavy influence in all aspects of 1920’s fashion, and hats were no exception. The art style impacted the brim and seam styles of cloche hats, as well as what decorated it. Applique, beads, brooches or feathers were popular, and helped to dress up a hate for more formal occasions. Some versions were made from laces and silks to add glamour, and could be paired with a fancy evening ensemble.

Many women even wore embellished cloches as a part of their wedding finery. As embellishments gained popularity, they began to signal various meanings, similar to the symbolization of today’s Claddagh rings. For example, an arrow-like ribbon on a cloche meant the wearer was single but had already given her heart to someone, while an elaborate bow signaled that she was single and looking.

The cloche craze continued into the 1930’s. Couture houses such as Lanvin and Molyneau partnered with milliners in their ateliers to integrate the hats into their collections. The accessory could even be spotted on the big screen, being sported by film stars of the era. Swedish actress Greta Garbo helped boost cloche sales while wearing one in her first “talkie” film ‘Anna Christie.’

While the cloche fell out of fashion in the 1940’s and 50’s, it enjoyed a brief resurgence during the 1960’s. The simple cuts and lines of 60’s fashion were perfectly offset by the cloche, making it a frequently-worn accessory. These versions featured wider brims and a looser fit than their predecessors. Many famous style icons tried out the accessory, and Twiggy even sported a cloche while acting in “The Boyfriend.”

The cloche hat has had a few moments in more recent years. In 2008, Dior put out a lovely collection of cloche-inspired hats. In the same year, Angelina Jolie sported the cloche style in her film “The Changeling.” While it doesn’t enjoy the popularity it used to, the cloche hat is far from obscurity.

ILLUSTRATOR/ARTIST:

Alfred Cheney Johnston (known as "Cheney" to his friends and associates) (April 8, 1885 – April 17, 1971) was a New York City-based photographer known for his portraits of Ziegfeld Follies showgirls as well as of actors and actresses from the worlds of stage and film.

Biography

Johnston was born into an affluent New York banking family, which subsequently moved to Mount Vernon, New York. Initially he studied painting and illustration at the National Academy of Design in New York, but after graduating in 1908 (and marrying fellow student Doris Gernon the next year), his subsequent efforts to earn a living as a portrait painter did not meet with success. Instead, reportedly at the suggestion of longtime family friend and famed illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, he started to employ the camera previously used to record his painting subjects as his basic creative medium.

In approximately 1917, Johnston was hired by famed New York City live-theater showman and producer Florenz Ziegfeld as a contracted photographer, and was affiliated with the Ziegfeld Follies for the next fifteen years or so. He also maintained his own highly successful personal commercial photo studio at various locations around New York City as well, photographing everything from aspiring actresses and society matrons to a wide range of upscale retail commercial products—mostly men's and women's fashions—for magazine ads. He photographed several hundred actresses and showgirls (mainly in New York City, and whether they were part of the Follies or not) during that time period. Alfred Cheney Johnston died in a car crash near his home in Connecticut on April 17, 1971, three years after the death of his longtime wife, Doris. They had no children.

The photographer

For his indoor studio work, Johnston often employed a large "Century"-brand view camera that produced 11x14-inch glass-plate negatives, so a standard Johnston 11x14 photographic print was actually just a "contact print" from the negative and not enlarged at all. This size of negative afforded extremely fine image detail. (However, Johnston also is confirmed to have shot with a Graflex camera in 3-1/4 x 4-1/4-inch roll-film format; an unknown brand of 8x10 view camera; and a Zeiss Ikon camera in 120 [2-1/4 x 2-1/4-inch] film format.)

Johnston's "standard" work, of course, was used by Flo Ziegfeld for the normal advertising and promotional purposes for the Follies, and mainly consisted of individual or small-group shots of the Follies showgirls in their extravagant stage costumes. However, after Johnston's death in 1971, a huge treasure trove of extremely artistic full-nude and semi-nude full-figure studio photos (and their accompanying glass-plate negatives) was found stored at the farm near Oxford, Connecticut, where he'd lived since 1940. Most of these images (some named, mostly anonymous) were, in fact, showgirls from the Ziegfeld Follies, but such daring, unretouched full-frontal images would certainly have had no public-publication possibilities in the 1920s-1930s, so it is speculated that these were either simply his own personal artistic work, and/or done at the behest of Flo Ziegfeld for that showman's personal enjoyment.

The only book known to have been published by Alfred Cheney Johnston during his lifetime devoted to his nudes/glamour photography is the 1937 spiral-bound softcover "Enchanting Beauty", which contains 94 black-and-white photos (mostly about 7x9 inches, centered on a 9x12-inch page, although a number are cropped circular or in other designs). Unusually (compared to virtually all other examples of his work seen today on the Web or other sources, which were shot in an indoor studio in front of a flat-black or illustrated tapestry background cloth), 37 of these photos were taken outdoors along a stream or in flower-dappled fields, etc. All the shots in the book are "airbrushed" in the pubic area, to keep them legal with respect to the publishing standards of the day.

The stock-market crash of 1929 and ensuing Great Depression—combined with several unsuccessful seasons of stage productions and a variety of messy lawsuits—devastated Flo Ziegfeld's finances, and he died in July 1932. This heavily impacted Alfred Cheney Johnston's career, and likely led to his relocation to Connecticut at the end of the decade. Although he briefly operated two successive commercial photo studios there in the late 1940s/early 1950s, neither was apparently successful. It is believed that he did also continue his nude/glamour portrait work in a large converted barn/studio on his property, working with a new generation of "post-Ziegfeld" female models and stubbornly continuing to use his massive 11x14-inch view camera.

Legacy

In 1960, Johnston donated a set of 245 large prints of his work to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (largely nude and semi-nude Follies showgirls, performers from various Ziegfeld shows including Fanny Brice, Billie Burke, Ruby Keeler, the Dolly Sisters, Ina Claire, Helen Morgan, Marilyn Miller, Grace Moore, Ann Pennington, Belle Baker and Ruth Etting, some well-known actors and actresses of the 1920s/1930s including Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore, Pearl White, Barbara La Marr, Orson Welles, Clara Bow, Ethel Barrymore, Claudette Colbert, Corinne Griffith, Clara Kimball Young, Theda Bara, Mabel Normand, Helen Hayes, Norma Shearer, Anita Stewart, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Marie Prevost, Tallulah Bankhead, Mary Miles Minter, Hope Hampton, and a number of product-advertisement photos). Apparently five of them have "gone missing" over the years, although the Library still has 240 images in its Prints and Photographs division (Lot 8782).

Many years later, a considerable number of original Johnston-printed (and sometimes autographed) photographic prints and many original negatives were purchased at several auctions by at least four different American collectors/entrepreneurs. Nowadays, both original 11x14-inch ACJ prints and more recent reprints from Johnston's original negatives have commanded significant prices in both on-line auctions and at photo galleries.