About Vintage Designs

Designer, Jo-Anne Rolfe makes beautiful, unique, elegant hats, using old style, traditional techinques. Her hand sewn millinery shapes are designed and made on the premises, using New-Old Stock that has never been used. These vintage materials and fabrics have been found in millinery warehouses and private collections across the country.

All hats are hand blocked and hand finished by Jo-Anne using traditional millinery techniques and are made with some of the finest quality materials available. All trims are hand sewn, many handmade. You are purchasing a fine quality product made in Narrandera, part of the Riverina district of NSW.

Jo has buckram and capenet based fabric hat styles to match your special racewear outfit, unique, distinctive and custom made for the Racing season. No two hats are ever alike.

Hand blocked wool and fur felts, straws, old style fabrics and felt trims, beautiful and mysterious silk veiling, wedding tulle, satin and velvet ribbons and feathers. Funky, custom hand felted merino and silk headpieces. Ready to wear or custom design just for you. Special occasion chapeaus, bridal headpieces, elegant racewear and funky everyday retro hats.

Jo continues to attend millinery courses and workshops around Australia and is currently studying with Rose Organ of Wagga Wagga.

Awards:

Actew AGL Royal Canberra Show "The Canberra Times Crafts Expo" 2010:

Overall Champion Textiles
Champion Special Challenge Open Textiles
Champion Special Challenge Open Felting
First Prize Australiana Felting
First Prize Australiana Headpiece Textiles
Second Prize Creative Headpiece Textiles
Second prize Cultural Diversity Felting
Third Prize Cultural Diversity Felting

Why buy from Vintage Designs:

  • Vintage fabrics – beautiful silk satins, organdies and velvets, 100% cotton organdies and voiles, linens, rayons, crinoline braids, silk birdcage veiling.
  • Finest quality vintage chenille trims and braids combine with crinoline, baku and sisal straws and contempory sinamay and jinsin. Vintage woollen and melusine fur felts.
  • 1920's skullcaps, 1930's cloches, 1940's cartwheels and discs, 1950's eggshells and cocktails, 1960's pillbox hats.
  • Elegant headpieces, both stylish and attractive for the discerning woman, where you are guaranteed to be noticed for all the right reasons.
  • Be a green fashionista... No factory emissions, no mass production, no sweat shops. Buy ethically, buy locally and reduce carbon emissions.... Affordable, hand crafted, summer and winter, every season cocktail hats, fascinators, headbands and retro caps.

Measure your head

To determine your head (hat) size in inches, measure your head using a flexible tape measure. Measure circumference of head just above top of ears. Wrap tape gently around head making certain tape lies midway on your occipital bone (that little bump in the middle of the back of your head) Don't pull the tape too tightly. You now have your head (hat) size.

Choosing a hat style is similar to choosing a hairstyle. The hat should complement your face shape stature and lifestyle. Look at the drawing below. Choose your shape from one of the six face shapes.
face shapes
OVAL:
Streamline shapes, worn forward, square or round crowns, brims swept up on the side(s) or back. You can wear almost any kind of brim, large or small.

ROUND:
Medium or small brims, neat styles, worn forward or on a sassy slant. Asymmetrical brims will lessen the roundness. Try an asymmetrical brim to give your face a little variance. Wear profile brims in varied sizes. The Profile Brim is the most flattering of ALL HAT STYLES on all face shapes.

LONG:
Medium to wide brims, worn straight or forward. Sharp, straight styles. These straight brim styles "cut" the length appearance of your face. :Avoid tall, narrow shapes. Instead, wear a hat that has a horizontal silhouette. For example: One that has wide brims and crowns.

SQUARE:
Large brims with soft lines, upturned brims, round crowns or
curved edge square crowns. Wear a hat with an asymmetrical brim and prominent crown to soften the edges.

WIDE:
Off the face styles, bretons, (upturned brims) pillboxes worn back These will add "lift." Profile brims. The crown must never be narrower than the face at its widest point. Wide, soft crowns are most becoming to wide faces.

HEART:
Asymmetrical designs, Square or round crowns tilted to one side, Profile hats and brims with soft curves. wear hats that emphasize your eyes, not your jawline. Avoid heavy, overpowering shapes. 

  • If you have a broad face, a slender crown may not look best on you.
  • Full-figured women may want to stick with larger hats that will suit their proportions.
  • Petite women may want to wear smaller hats with smaller crowns and brims that will not overwhelm them.
  • Tall women can wear all types of hats, including those with very tall crowns or wide brims.
  • If you have mature skin or shadows under your eyes, wear hats that open up your face like up-swept and profile brims. Droopy brims will emphasize shadows.

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