Last minute checklist - what to bring

With only 17 days left until the 2012 International Millinery Forum, we thought it would be timely to remind you of some important things to include in your bag when packing - if you haven't already packed in all the excitement! Have a look through the list below and make sure you leave some space for the following items:

What to wear and where to go

It’s always hard to know what to pack when going away (and even harder when you are a lover of fashion!) so we will try and help you out by letting you know what type of weather to expect.

For our international visitors, December to February are the summer months in Australia and we often experience hot, dry heat. In Wagga, maximum summer temperatures average between 29 and 32 degrees celsius. This is not to say that it won’t get hotter or a little colder than this, but to play it safe we suggest you pack for hot weather!

3 Spots left for Gold Delegates so be quick!!!

Attention all Millinery Enthusiasts!!!

We still have 3 spots available for Gold delegates & a few places available for Silver delegates.

If you are interested and would like to book a spot, please contact us on millineryforum@bigpond.com or Nicole on 0422 767 667.

Registrations close on the 19th of December so get in quick or you will miss out!!!!

It's hats off to Susie Elelmen!

We're so excited to announce that best-selling author and broadcaster, Susie Elelman, is the official ambassador for the 2012 International Millinery Forum!

Susie will team up with our amazing tutors to share her 'fashionista' expertise at the Forum.

“I’m really excited & honoured to be chosen as the ambassador for the forthcoming International Millinery Forum. I adore wearing hats and find any excuse to do so and especially enjoy donning a hat when dressing up for the races."

"It will be wonderful to showcase the world’s best designs and designers in Wagga this January along with discovering & nurturing up and coming millinery design talent...plus it’s always fun to add more hats to my collection.“

We look forward to welcoming Susie to the Forum and introducing her to our highly talented, creative and skillful milliners and delegates in January.

Accommodation Options

Please note: Delegates are responsible for their own accommodation arrangements.

Wagga Wagga has a good range of accommodation options to cater for all needs and budgets.  For your convenience, we have partnered with a number of accommodation providers and will be running shuttles to and from these venues and the Forum each day.

How are you getting to Wagga Wagga?

Wagga Wagga is located midway between Sydney and Melbourne, and three hours from Australia’s Capital City, Canberra, in the Riverina Region of New South Wales.

There are plenty of options to get you here for the 2012 International Millinery Forum, whether you prefer planes, trains or automobiles as your means of travel!

Gala Dinner selling fast – have you got your ticket yet?

The Gala Dinner is the last hurrah of the International Millinery Forum and the perfect way to bid farewell to the Forum, Wagga Wagga and all your new (and old) ‘hatty’ friends!

Tickets are selling fast – have you booked yours yet?

All venues have now been secured!!

We are very excited to announce that all venues for the 2012 International Millinery Forum have now been secured. To view the updated program, Click here

Close but not Full!!

We are very excited with the tremendous response we have had for the 2012 event, and although we are close to full there are still positions available. A few people have called concerned that we are completely full so we just wanted to assure you that if you have not yet registered you still have the chance.

We still have positions in all sessions, including workshops with:

• Neil Grigg
• Eugenie Van Oirschot
• Waltraud Reiner
• Jasmin Zorlu
• Carole Maher
• Carol Wilkes
• Jan Wutkowski
• Rosie Boylan
• Serena Lindeman
• Jane Stoddart

Head to the website to register today at http://www.waggawaggaaustralia.com.au/international-millinery-forum-2012/

Calling all Trade Exhibitors!

The 2012 International Millinery Forum is now 95% full with milliners from around the world attending this key industry event.

For related businesses, the Forum Trade Expo is the perfect opportunity to showcase your wares to this huge contingent of enthusiastic and talented milliners.

Change to Shuttle Bus Timetable

Changes have been made to select flights with Regional Express. Due to this change we have had to make changes to the Shuttle bus timetable. Please look out for the changed timetable in your email inbox to come this afternoon.

Meet the Tutors #13, #14 and #15

Introducing…Rosie Boylan

Rosie Boylan is a Sydney based headwear designer working across the fashion, stage and screen industries. With 30 year of experience as a hat maker, Rosie is a committed educator of period headwear at NIDA and fashion headwear at Ultimo TAFE. 

Meet the Tutors #11 and #12

Introducing…Lina Stein

Australian/German by origin, Lina will travel from Westport, Ireland, where she has been based for many years, to attend the 2012 International Millinery Forum in Wagga Wagga.

Meet the Tutors - #9 and #10

Introducing…Louise Macdonald

Melbourne milliner, Louise Macdonald, has more than 20 years of millinery experience and 15 years of teaching under her hat! She trained and worked as a costume milliner in London before returning to Melbourne where she creates hats that are the ultimate in beauty and style. 

Meet the Tutors #7 and #8

Introducing…Jan Wutowski

Jan is a US milliner who studied at the Melbourne School of Millinery. She is the owner of women’s boutique, aMuse : artisanal finery, in Wilmington, North Carolina which specialises in one-off women’s hats, bridal headwear and hair accessories. 

Meet the Tutors #5 and #6

Introducing…Jane Stoddart

Jane is a milliner from Sydney, Australia who has been practising for over 20 years. She enjoys developing new design ideas and innovative approaches to materials and techniques. 

Registrations are now open

Good Morning!!

We are very excited as registrations for the 2012 forum have officially opened and we have already had a great response! Visit  http://www.visitwagga.com/ to register or for more information!!

Meet the Tutors #3 and #4

Introducing…Eugenie van Oirschot

Eugenie is travelling all the way from The Netherlands to participate in the 2012 International Millinery Forum! 

Change to Jane Stoddart Workshops

Changes have been made to Jane Stoddart's workshops for the forum for 2012. The changes are:

Stiffened Lace Hats

Skill Level: Intermediate/Advanced (6 hours)

Revisit the stiffened guipure or venise lace hats of the 50’s and 60’s in a contemporary mood! We’ll block and stiffen heavy guipure lace on hat blocks and improvised moulds. This technique lends itself to wonderful cocktails, trims, masks and full hats.


Vintage Inspired Feather Birds

Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced (3 hours)

Milliners and couturiers of the past have loved to use feather bird trims, created by carefully piecing together a variety of cut feathers, beads and wire. These vintage trims are increasingly rare and fragile, so we’ll make our own contemporary styles!

Meet the Tutors - #1 and #2

Now that our amazing tutor line-up has been revealed (if you’re wondering what we’re talking about, check out the line-up here…and subscribe to this blog!) we are going to start letting you know about each tutor in more detail.

Tutor and Workshop Line-up Announced!

Registrations for the 2012 International Millinery Forum open on 1 September (mark the date on your calendars now!) so we thought it might be a good time to reveal the much anticipated tutor line-up and workshop program.

Postcard has been distributed

Things are coming along nicely for the 2012 forum. The postcards have finally been sent out (so watch your inboxes/postboxes for their arrival).
The full brochure is currently in editing which will be released shortly.

Our website for registrations will go live on September 1 which will be a fantastic addition to the booking process.

We have locked in all tutors and their workshops are as brilliant and exciting as ever. Watch this space in the coming weeks for sneak peaks of the tutors and their workshops you will be attending!!!

Full steam ahead!

We are working very hard behind the scenes preparing for the 2012 forum. The postcard will be released in the next few days - we are very pleased with the design! The workshops and sesions are currently being finalised, social function venues are being sourced and tested, and the committee is working hard to make sure the whole community embraces the event.

We are still on track for opening of regiatsrtions on September 1, with the program to be posted on August 22. Not long now!

Wagga Wagga Travel & Accommodation

Wagga Wagga is a vibrant regional City nestled on the banks of the magnificent Murrumbidgee River. The original inhabitants, the Wiradjuri were the largest Aboriginal tribe in New South Wales. It is from their language the city is named. It is generally accepted that “Wagga” means crow and repeating it means the plural, hence “the place of many crows”. From these proud origins to the culturally rich community that exists today, Wagga Wagga takes its place as the capital of the Riverina region providing an exciting and yet relaxed lifestyle for residents and visitors. With over 60,000 people living in Wagga, we have the lifestyle and facilities to suit everyone.

For details on travel options and accommodation in Wagga Wagga visit the website at http://www.waggawaggaaustralia.com.au/area_intro.asp

Workshop Update

We are still waiting on a few workshop proposals to come through, but this should get the excitment buzzing....

Eia Radoslajevic (USA):
1. Block-less Blocking: French Couture Millinery
2. Hat Crown & Toque Design: Flat-Pattern Drafting for Milliners
3. Pattern Drafting for Milliners…Any Brim Your Heart Desires!

Eugenie van Oirschot (Netherlands) - Back by popular demand!:
1. The joy of repetition
2. Twisting and pleating

Jane Stoddart (Sydney):
1. Stiffened Lace Hats
2. Blocking Leather and Skins
3. Feather Birds

Jan Wutkowski (USA):
1. DYEING TO MAKE HATS: STRAWS
2. ROCK THE BLOCK: FASCINATOR FORMS

Kerrie Stanley (Melbourne):
1. Through the looking glass – creating with “non-traditional” materials
2. Sculpting with style

Louise McDonald (Melbourne):
1. Ribbon Origami, 1920 Cockade Trims

Lina Stein (Ireland):
1. SATIN, SILKS AND SINAMAY SHAPES - Use Sinamay as a “FOUNDATION MATERIAL” to create stunning hand moulded hats/head pieces
2. “FROM RIBBON-TRIMS TO SINAMAY TRIMS”-Millinery Trimmings using Sinamay

Neil Grigg (Sydney):
1. Esparterie, The Prince of Millinery materials
2. Blocks, reinventing the ordinary.

Rosie Boylan (Sydney):
1. Are you wearing a hat or is it wearing you!
2. wire shape top hat

Serena Lindeman (Melbourne):
1. Contemporary hand forming techniques for parisisal in millinery
2. Millinery alchemy, from visual diary to catwalk piece

Carol Wilkes (Qld):
1. Cords, Edges, Dangles and More!
2. Machine Sculptured Crinoline
3. Coiled sculptured headwear

Not a bad line up hey!

Stay tuned for more.

Facebook

For those of you who are not yet a fan of our facebook page, you need to be. We have over 215 fans at this stage and there are some great converstaions happening! This is where you will receive the first notices regarding the event.

Registrations

The IMF committee has committed to opening registrations on September 1, 2011. We will be posting regular information to this blog over the coming months to inform you of the program, workshops and other necessary information.

The Cream of Millinery Fashion to Hold

Millinery designers to the world’s celebrities are coming together for a special event to share their design secrets and intricate skills with budding milliners across the country.

For only the third time ever in Australia, the International Millinery Forum will be held on 14-21 January 2012 in Wagga Wagga. Forum co-ordinator Linda Tillman said the event will showcase the exceptional work of these highly sought after fashion designers.

“By public demand we have extended the forum program to six days with longer workshops to allow participants to see and learn as much as possible from the masters who design for global celebrities, royalty and designer labels.

“Nowhere else in Australia will these celebrated fashion leaders join together to pass on their experience and creative knowledge,” Ms Tillman said.

Included in the international line up are London’s Misa Harada, Irelands Lina Stein, The Netherlands’ Eugenie van Oirschot; and Jan Wutkowski from the United States.

The overseas guests will be joining the home grown global designers including Neil Grigg, Jean Carroll, Rosie Boylan and Richard Nylon.

The diverse program features a wide range of workshops, slideshows and a cocktail party with the week culminating in a Gala De Haute Couture and hat parade.

“Unlike presentations and seminars, the International Millinery Forum allows participants to actually hone their skills and develop new techniques in small working groups under the guidance of world class professionals.

“There’s everything from creating felt, a variety of silk flowers and blocks for hat making, through to specific techniques in wire, leather, crinoline, sinamay, feathers and lace and much more as part of the individual workshop sessions.”

To ensure that the millinery participants receive plenty of one on one tutoring, the forum numbers are limited to just 150 registrants.

The International Millinery Forum will be held in Wagga Wagga city from 14-21 January 2012. Registration fees start at $700(AUS), with option for individual session registrations also available.

The program, session times and descriptions, tutor biography details and registration information will be available in August. To receive up to date notifications and news join the mailing list by contacting millineryforum@bigpond.com



The 2012 Millinery Tutors:

Misa Harada – London (Guest Tutor)
Lina Stein – Ireland (Guest Tutor)

Jan Wutkowski – USA
Eugenie van Oirschot – The Netherlands
Kerrie Stanley – Melbourne
Neil Grigg – Sydney
Waltraud Reiner – Melbourne
Richard Nylon – Melbourne
Serena Lindeman – Melbourne
Rosie Boylan – Sydney
Carol Wilkes – Queensland
Jane Stoddard – Sydney
Pam Martin – Wagga Wagga
Jean Carroll – Sydney


The 2012 Workshops:

Retro Hats from Flat felt skirting
Rock the block: Fascinator forms the hat in the hood
From ribbon trims to sinamay trims
Fabulous flowers
Felt
From visual diary to catwalk piece
Using dyeing techniques on natural materials
Coiled, sculptured headwear...Art for the head
Milliners and designers collaborate!
Straw sculptures
Feather birds
Flower making
The art of wire techniques
Plus many more....

* Some tutors and workshops are yet to be confirmed



For further information or to join the mailing list for a program contact:
Linda Tillman
Forum Event Coordinator
millineryforum@bigpond.com
+64 1 439 192 193

Follow us on facebook www.facebook.com/millineryforum