Milliner

By LIANE VOISEY

Name: Diane Dudley

Age: 29

Job title: Milliner and owner of Urban Turbans

Working hours: 40 hours a week minimum, up to 60 hours at peak time - such as immediately before a major race

Employer(s): Individual clients

Pay: $35,000 approx

Qualifications needed: Textiles qualification is useful.

Career prospects: Once established you can run a viable business. Selling your wares abroad is lucrative.


Q. Job description?

A. My customer will come in with fabric samples or their garment and we spend an hour or so going through different materials and colourways.

I get a feel of what's going to suit them and also find out a bit of history - where they're wearing it, what time of the day ... And we design it.

Q. Why did you choose this career?

A. In sixth form I had a bit of a fascination with Victorian clothing and hats. I found it really satisfying doing artistic things that look good on your head, and I pursued it from there.

Q. What sort of clients do you have

A. Most of my clients are for weddings. I also get clients going to the races. The racing clubs organise fashions-in-the-field events and ladies get all dressed up for those ... At some of the famous ones, such as the Wellington Cup, they can win significant prizes.

Q. What formal skills/qualifications do you need?

A. A short course in textiles is useful, learning how different fabrics work and what you can do with different materials.

I trained as a florist after high school - that was excellent in learning about line, composition and colour. I learned on the job - at 19, I worked for The Hat Factory for about five years, and learned all I could there.

Q. What qualities do you need?

A. You need to be able to look at someone and know what they're going to suit, so that when they walk out the door they're comfortable in what they're wearing.

Q. What is the best part of the job?

A. Starting with nothing and finishing up with something that is quite delicious and really pleasing to the eye. And, also, when your customer comes in and tries the hat on.

Q. What are the worst parts of the job?

A. My hands are an absolute wreck! You're sewing through a lot of very rough materials, and working with stiffeners and a lot of steam and heat, so it's rough on your knuckles and your fingers. Sourcing materials is difficult, too.

Q. What's the funniest experience you've had?

A. I made a hat for a lady to wear to the Wellington Cup. Her sister wore it to the Christchurch Cup just after I made it, but the hat was too tight and her head swelled - she came out with black eyes and a swollen forehead.

Q. What's your advice for budding milliners?

A. Get your confidence up - I started off making hats for my mum and my family. See how it goes as a hobby first. The short course I run at Urban Turbans is for people who want to know how to construct a hat and make hats for themselves or close family.

A lot of this business is word-of-mouth. So, if people like what you do, do a range and take them round to some local shops - that's how I started.

There's not a lot of money to be made in making handmade one-on-one hats. You're never going to be a millionaire unless you travel to the Northern Hemisphere and work in Dubai or England for their racing seasons.

Q. Future aspirations?

A. I guess I'd like to maybe move out of the New Zealand market and have some of my hats sold in Harrods or Selfridges in England. I've got a buyer coming to visit me soon, to look at my range to sell to over there. As a small business you've got to be viable, but I do it because I enjoy it.


Urban Turbans