Revolution in the Head: Hot Press speaks to Irish hat designer Margaret O'Connor

Milliner Margaret O’Connor was trained by some of the leading lights of the millinery industry, such as Philip Tracey, Noel Stewart, Yvette Jelfs, Kristen Scott and Sarah Cant. O’Connor grew up in the heart of the Burren in Co. Clare, with a notable TV landmark nearby. “I’m actually not too far up the road from the Fr. Ted house!” she laughs.

Thankfully, O’Connor was able to use her surroundings to inspire more than images of Bishop Brennan’s hat, and she interprets Irish tradition through her own personal awakening. Her unique and show-stopping designs – from eclectic haute couture to commercial pieces, through to event and occasionwear – have attracted a diverse range of fans, from Lady Gaga to Finbar Furey.

It was O’Connor’s love of art and alternative music that led her to fashion. “As a youth David Bowie was the coolest man in a skirt,” she reminisces. “And Bjork excited me. I always remember seeing one of her videos when I was about 8. I felt she was empowering; she had no fear.” O’Connor’s interest in music has resulted in her collaborating with some notable artists.

“I made an avant-garde piece for Lady Gaga,” she says. “I also made a Pink Floyd piece for a MediCinema auction at the private launch for the Behind The Wall retrospective. The head dress was made with melted down, unplayable Pink Floyd records.”

While studying fashion in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology Ireland and Kensington and Chelsea College in London, O’Connor kept her love for the unique and awe-inspiring. However, it was her love for 3D shape, form and textiles that led her to specialise in millinery. She still looks to art and music to inspire her designs.

“I feel I’m a conceptual artist who happens to be currently working in the medium of millinery,” O’Connor muses. “I tend to do some research into new music before I start a new project, so I’ve fresh unheard tunes to listen to when I’m working on a new collection. I’ve been working that way for the past eight years. I’ve always needed my brain to be stimulated with new things to create new work. I don’t like to sit still for too long.”

Suitably, given her aversion to being static, O’Connor’s upcoming collection is based on movement – though not necessarily a comfortable experience of it.

“Mind In Motion is the new collection I’m working on,” she reveals. “It’s all about my 25 day experience of landing sickness. I went to China last April and while I was there for work, I suffered from severe landing sickness. I was unbalanced with vertigo, and I had to try function and do work with the feeling of being not completely in control.”

These ideas of height, vertigo and feeling off-balance actually work well with O’Connor’s love of textiles and silhouette, which often play with movement and shape. She also enjoys seeing her pieces in motion on-camera.

“I like working with other people to create something interesting on film,” says O’Connor. “Wire excites me. I like just getting stuck into my work and seeing what happens. The end image of video-film is the more rewarding than the hat itself!”

For more information on hat hire, commissions and to see O’Connor’s latest creations, see margaretoconnormillinery.com, or email [email protected].