Special Blooms

Sir Paul McCartney got married this week to the lovely Nancy Shevell and she wore a beautiful hair flower to match her wedding suit. 

Nancy Shevell

Hair flowers are a great way to dress up your hair for a civil wedding, I wore one myself for my own wedding in April this year, and they look so lovely. They are usually worn without a veil, and at the side of the head. I add feathers and Swarovski crystals to mine to dress them up a bit and either attach them to a crocodile clip or a hair comb so they stay in your hair all day. I added a tiny blue crystal to my centre sprig of crystals to cover my 'something blue', which was great!

Our wedding

It's really worth considering one of these blooms if you want something less formal for your wedding. I can make these in any colour and any size you want to match your outfit and they also look great for race meets and summer  outfits. If you have an off cut of your dress or suit, perhaps from the hem if you've had to have it taken up, then more than likely I can make a flower out of it for you to match, which makes it really special.

  

Wedding Hair Flower with Feathers and Swarovski crystals and pearls

I also make smaller flowers on hairpins which are great for everyday wear, or to dress up your outfit. This one was made from an off cut of my customer's dress material, so it matched perfectly. It is attached to a bobby pin/grip and has a sparkly Swarovski crystal in the middle.

Hand cut flower made from off cut of dress material on a bobby pin/grip

Of course, you could always go HUGE and order one of our Viktoria fascinators which are so popular!

Viktoria Fascinator £29

So, blooms can be in season all year around! If you'd like a quote for a bespoke flower, please don't hesitate to get in touch at sales@tiarasandfascinators.com and I'll be happy to help!

Have a great day!

Yooohoo! I'm Back!

Hello!... Yes, after 8 weeks maternity leave with my wonderful family, T&F is back in production and I've started off the week with two beautiful fascinators, one of which is winging its way to Virginia, USA as I type via express courier as our client wanted it quick sharp!

Constructed in navy sinamay with navy and silver biot feathers, this gorgeous little Jane Fascinator is always so popular. It's small enough not to be a statement piece, but just the right size to complete your look if you want something pretty but not too large. It's flat, so suits all types of hair and is so light it sits comfortably in your hair all day without moving.

Jane Fascinator in navy 

Our April Fascinator was for a lovely client in Essex in the UK. It's always fun making this piece as it's definitely a statement! It needs 2 discs of sinamay which are hand blocked to the correct shape and left overnight to dry, then edged with sinamay. The hand rolled sinamay leaves give even more height and definition to the piece, and the feathers soften it all. This client wanted her piece on hat elastic, so that's what we did for her. We made it in ivory and emperor colours as she loved the look of the ivory and black one on the website, but chose to substitute the black sinamay for the purple to match her outfit.

Our April fascinator has been our most popular design this year and has gone all over the world for weddings, race meets, bridal showers, and birthday celebration parties!

April fascinator in ivory and emperor

Remember, all of my fascinators are completely hand made and produced with love and care in the UK by myself for TiarasAndFascinators.com. I take great pride in what I do and aim to provide the best customer service to you so that you receive exactly what you want. I can send out samples of sinamay if you need to see the fabric up close to match to your outfit, and I love taking on bespoke pieces for clients, many of which you can see if you click 'Gallery' at the top of the website. 

If you would like a quote for a fascinator, tiara or hair accessory, and you don't see something similar on the website, please don't hesitate to get in touch at sales@tiarasandfascinators.com and I'll do my very best to accommodate you.

I hope to work with you soon. It's great to be back! (even if I'm rocking my newbie to sleep as I type! Multitasking at its best!)  :)

Have a great day!

Look What We Made!

Wow, my newborn is a month old already! Where has the time gone? We had a beautiful baby boy on 12th August and it was the most amazing experience. He's doing really well and just in 4 weeks has developed so much. I'm great, but forgot how exhausting the broken nights sleep make you, but it's all definitely worth it when I look into his big blue eyes.

I'm missing my creating, so I'll be trying to make some new designs within the next few weeks in between the little one sleeping and me keeping my eyes open, so look out for those!

California Dreaming...

My lovely friends Connie and Stew got married in June in Orange County, California and Connie asked me to create hairpieces for her and her 6 bridesmaids. I jumped at the chance and after lots of 'Trans-Atlantic' ideas, samples sent and chatting via Facebook, we came up with a gorgeous ivory hair flower on a comb for her with Swarovski crystals and pearls on twisted wires in the centre, and a sprinkling of fluffy ivory ostrich feathers to add texture and movement. I loved it and she did too!

For the 6 bridesmaids we went for 1 inch hair comb with a spray of wired Swarovski crystals, pearls and black rhinestones to match their black dresses for a delicate but sparkly look.

I loved making all of these and even though because of my advanced pregnancy we couldn't get to Cali, it was so lovely to know that something I'd made for Connie was with her on her wedding day. It was such a pleasure to be involved in her special day and to know that a little bit of me was there with her and Stew.

Here's to a happy and healthy married life together! xx

Maternity Leave

I've decided that it's time to start my maternity leave from T&F this week. I have 3 1/2 weeks left to go until our baby is due and I think I need to make sure I don't take on any more orders or I'll be working during my labour to finish pieces off!

I'll be returning to work at the beginning of October, all being well, but hopefully I'll still be posting on the blog from time to time to keep updated with what's going on in the fascinator world!

Princess Charlene of Monaco got married last week and her absolutely stunning diamond hairpiece was a perfect accompaniment to her most beautiful dress.

Yum for the hairpiece, yak for the kiss though!

The guests included a Who's Who of celebrities and the UK ladies wore some beautiful creations.

Naomi Campbell's piece showed height and structure and looked amazing with her gorgeous silk maxi dress.

And the Countess of Wessex's piece was a large head turner worn perfectly on the side of her head and in the right position!

I'm sure there will be a lot more beautiful fascinators on show over the summer for us to swoon over, and I'll be creating a new line of smaller pieces which could be worn every day or may be perfect for those of you who want a little hair fancy but don't want a full on fascinator so please come back later in the year to see what's in the shop.

I hope you have a great summer.

Back soon!

Nicola :)

Eeep!

Oh my goodness. Could this woman GET any more stylish? Again, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge wows with the most gorgeous red straw fascinator topped with maple leaves to celebrate her first Royal visit to Canada.

I am totally in love with this piece... swooooon!!

:D

Vintage Chic

Annie Lennox received her OBE from the Queen today for her charity work and wore a vintage felt hat for the occasion. I love the way that she looks so happy and her headpiece really suits her short platinum blonde hair. Vintage is a great way to make sure that you have something really different for your special occasion and if you're lucky enough to find something that's been constructed by a famous milliner of the past, then all the better!

The Duchess of Cambridge wowed us again with her beautiful choice of headwear this week when she joined Prince William to honour the Irish Guards. Wearing a beautiful rouched navy blue silk fascinator which incorporated loops and feathers, she looked so elegant.

Also in great headgear this week was Paloma Faith in an amazing feather fascinator at Beyoncé's new album launch. Not known for her shrinking personality, Paloma's feather fancy was enormous but totally in fitting with her quirky dress sense. I think that's the key to wearing a headpiece. You just have to wear something that's you and that you feel comfortable in. It's great to push the boundaries and go for something a little larger than you would usually wear, but you have to feel like it's a part of you and wear it loud and proud if it's required!

Bye for now :)

Chic or Geek?

Claudia Schiffer is starring in the new Chanel advert for their designer glasses and the photos, although beautifully lit and post produced really did nothing for me style wise.

The beautiful Claudia is sporting a single hair flower in the pictures, of which there are 5 and it's the placement of these flowers in her hair which got me thinking that depending on where you wear your hairpiece the effect it can have can be very dramatic.

I supply all of my customers with cards that detail how to wear their fascinators but obviously this is only my interpretation of what looks good and how I think my pieces should be worn. I think that these photos show how a product which is placed in an unusual position can either look great, or a bit wrong. What do you think?

Chic?

Geek?

Chic?

Geek?

Chic or Geek?

:D

(all photos courtesy of Chanel)

Royal Ascot

Well, apart from being a weather washout with the awful rain, Royal Ascot once again wowed us with some amazing headwear. I love pouring over the news the next day to see what fabulous creations were worn, and this year had some memorable pieces.

HRH The Queen wore some gorgeous hats on each of the 4 days she attended, and looked incredible as ever, although I thought her Grandaughters, Beatrice and Eugenie wore some very understated pieces compared to their choices for the Royal Wedding in April.

I think one of my favourites was this fascinator, just for the beautiful structure and the way the colours work so well together. I have some really pretty butterflies which I'm hoping to work into a piece soon so this immediately caught my eye.

Here are my pick of the best from Ascot this year, including the beautiful, and the downright weird... see those birds at the bottom left? !

Here are some of our creations that have gone out in the last couple of weeks.

Jane Fascinator in Chestnut with Chocolate Feathers and Topaz Crystals

Bespoke Chocolate Fascinator with Guinea Fowl Feathers and Grossgrain wide Ribbon Bow finished with Silver Centre

Black Joanna Fascinator with Black Feathers

White Sarah Fascinator with Guinea Fowl and White Feathers

And as Wimbledon started today in the blazing sunshine, here's our contribution to it! Pick Your Own British Strawberries... yummy!! These really are the biggest strawberries I've ever seen and they were delicious as well as being fun to pick!

The Big Smoke

We made a trip to London last week to celebrate the other part of our 'mini-moon' after our wedding last month, and caught a couple of shows and managed to see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London. I've seen them before but they never cease to captivate me with their history and their amazing craftsmanship. I could literally look at them for hours... except you're on a moving walkway so it'd be pretty tiring having to keep getting off and running back to the start!

My absolute favourite piece is the Royal Sceptre. It encases the hugest diamond you've ever seen and the sparkle is just out of this world. It really is absolutely spectacular and an ideal bit of eye candy for someone like myself who is drawn to anything sparkly!

'The Royal Sceptre, part of Great Britain’s Crown Jewels, includes the 530.4 carat Cullinan I diamond, also known as 'Great Star of Africa', which was cut by the Asscher Diamond Company. The Scepter dates back to 1661 and was especially redesigned after the discovery of the Cullinan diamond. The Great Star of Africa can be removed from the Sceptre to be worn as a brooch. On the right: Queen Elizabeth II, wearing her Imperial State Crown, holds the Orb and Sceptre used at her Coronation on June 2, 1953.'
(antwerpfacets)

If you're ever in London, be sure to go and see these wonderful pieces!


We stayed right next to Big Ben and the London Eye and my camera-mad husband took some great shots when we were there. Love these colours!

We've been making fascinators too this month of course, and in keeping with the Crown Jewel experience, we made a beautiful Pearl Tiara for a client's wedding in August. The Swarovski pearls have a really lovely shimmer to them and are very high quality, making a great choice for special wedding headwear. 

Pearl Tiara

Catherine Fascinator in English Rose with Old Rose feathers on a matching pink ribbon wrapped hairband 

Bespoke Connie Fascinator with lilac flower, ivory veiling and a natural straw base

Reverse of Connie with gold butterfly

We were asked to create a bespoke order for a lovely client's Mom who is attending a wedding this month. This was a challenge as the colour feathers had to be very specific and goose feathers to create the right look. We searched high and low for the right shade and shape and eventually came up with the goods! This really was a pleasure to make and we're thrilled with the results, as was the client. It's always great to work with clients to create something really special and specific to their needs.

Bespoke Shrinking Violet fascinator with sinamay base and loops, Emerald and Straw feather flower and Amethyst, Violet and Crystal Swarovski crystal centre spray on a silver hairband

The other news of the week is the lovely Duchess of Cambridge wowed the public by wearing her hair up for a change with a quirky little teardrop shaped straw fascinator with curled and twisted straw strips at the Epsom Derby which she attended with Princes William and Harry and HRH The Queen. She looks as gorgeous as ever!

Looking forward to looking at all the headwear on show at Ladies' Day at Ascot next week! I love this rule:

'A hat or substantial fascinator must be worn to gain entry to the Royal Enclosure.'  

Hurrah!!

:)

Loops and Poles

It's been a busy month again for T&F! We have been creating some great fascinators for clients all over the World, and shipped our first order to Poland last week! Our US customers have been busy ordering headpieces for the Derby and for weddings and it's been really lovely working with such great people for their special events.

Here are some of the gorgeous pieces we created. I really need to update the blog more frequently so there's not such a long list!

This first one was a bespoke piece which came from a design that a client showed me that was on her skirt that she was wearing for a wedding. The first picture is the skirt pattern, and the second what we created from that design. We picked out the mother of pearl buttons, and the looped pattern, and included the sheer ribbon and curled biot feathers to give texture and height.  This was a really lovely piece to make and our client was really happy with the result.

Skirt pattern

Bespoke Navy looped fascinator with Royal blue ribbon and navy biot feathers with mother of pearl button centrepiece

White Lola fascinator with Jet black Swarovski crystals

Heather purple Jessica fascinator with white feathers

Black Helen fascinator with black feathers

Poppy red Claire fascinator with white and guinea fowl feathers

3 Flora hairpins in ivory Swarovski pearl

Ivory Tamara fascinator with Tea Rose flowers and copper pearl centres with ivory feathers

Bliss tiara in Crystal and Capri Blue Swarovski crystals

April fascinator in Silverlake and Black with Wine and black feathers

Helen fascinator in Poppy red with White feathers

Viktoria fascinator in Poppy red

Jessica fascinator in Black with Black and White feathers

Claire fascinator in White with Dune feathers, Bonsai green, Lipstick pink and Lagoon blue feathers - this was our Polish piece!

Ivory Tamara fascinator with Ivory feathers

Jane fascinator in Heather with white feathers

Our April fascinator is still really popular at the moment with lots of hearts on Etsy and has been included in a lot of Etsy Treasuries again this month, so thank you to all those mentions!

Have a great weekend!

:)