You can often see me perched on a bench on the Common, or meandering through the beautiful grounds of Cannizaro Park, skinny cappuccino in hand from one of the village’s numerous cafes. What am I doing you may well ask? I am being inspired by my beautiful surroundings.
As a Wimbledon hat designer these are my favourite places to sketch my designs. Because my pieces are bespoke, it is essential that I get to know my clients and their personalities before we discuss their requirements. I have built some wonderful relationships and now consider many of my clients as friends. One such client is none other than the uber glamorous Lady Wimbledon, whom I recently designed a chestnut feather and Swarovski trilby.
Lady Wimbledon at Shanna Melville in Wimbledon Village
No sooner than my Royal Ascot commissions were beautifully packaged and delivered to my clients, my focus immediately turned to the Wimbledon Village tennis window competition and a collaboration with Shanna Melville Bridal Couture on the high street.
My contribution to Shanna’s window display is a crisp, white tennis cap, embellished with fabulous crystal and pearl work and secured at the back with a white silk ribbon. OK, so this piece is not really suitable for playing a tennis match in, nor watching the play at the Championships, but it was commissioned for the project and fits the brief beautifully. However, I do think a hat is essential at Wimbledon.
Not only will a chic hat protect you from all of those sun-rays (I am an optimist) but it will also complete your look. But be warned – over-sized hats are prohibited and visitors in possession of aforementioned articles will be refused entry, or ejected from the grounds faster that you can say punnet of strawberries!
Well, no time to sit around waiting for the tennis window judge’s decision. I have my next commissions to think about, so I grab my trilby, sketch pad and pencil and head to the village.
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