TO THE BRIM

South Africa's Marvellous Milliners

Iam a woman who wears many hats - literally and figuratively. I have a healthy collection of headwear piling up in my closet including a furry green beret I picked up in a secondhand store (not raspberry, I’m afraid, and certainly not stolen), a handmade bonnet, and a fire-engine red bucket hat gifted to me by the owner of my favourite local coffee shop.

As an admirer of hats, I am also an admirer of the milliners behind the functional and fantastical designs that adorn peoples’ heads. If you know what a milliner is without having to Google it… well, hats off to you, my friend. Enviable vocabulary aside, did you know that South Africa has produced some of the most creatively-minded and stylishly-headed milliners on the market? Here’s a look at some local milliners worth tipping your hat to.

Crystal Birch

As a Cape Town resident, I have had the pleasure of seeing Crystal Birch in the flesh. I am pleased to report that her personal style is as fabulously eccentric as her unique hats are.

Birch owns and operates The Hat Factory (formerly known as Parisian Milliners), a Cape Town millinery which is over 85 years old. Here, her elegantly quirky designs come to life as berets, boleros, and boaters in a startling array of bold colours, feathered fringes, and captivating textures. Birch is far from a mad hatter, though.

Her hats embody classic shapes with a delightful twist. Where else in the world might you stumble upon a docker beanie - the micro-beanie favoured by indie kids with cold ears - fashioned from luxurious felt? If haute-couture had a healthy sense of humour, you’d find its expression in Birch’s designs.