Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings by Jasmin Zorlu

I'm in the Other Hemisphere Now at the International Millinery Forum!

2012-01-14T03:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my first real day in Australia and it feels good. I’m here to teach cocktail hatmakingwith fishskin and also with horsehair at the International Millinery Forum. I keep wondering when thejet lag will hit. Maybe it won’t! The people are friendly here in Wagga Wagga, a country town halfway betweenSydney and Melbourne.

When Ihad my ultra strong double shot espresso Americano style coffee at a nearbycoffee place named ‘Red Jaffa’, I saw a woman pull out a bright pink walletwith what looked like glazed fishskin. I immediately jumped out of my table andasked if it indeed was fishskin. She said, “Would you like to hold it?” I then immediately thought...Umm...aren't you afraid I might run off with it, Lady? Wow, people sure are trustinghere! I had to ask where she got it and her husband said, in the state of Queensland on the northern coast of Australia. It’s madeof Parrot Fish. I never saw such large scales on fishskin before! I had heardof it, though, because I’m continually looking for other people on the internetmaking hats out of fishskin and had seen someone in Australia manufacturingb-ball caps out of it.

Owner of the wallet admiring her Parrot Fish wallet.

Not sure if this is the exact species of Parrot Fish.....

Then I started chatting with a woman who was dressed veryinterestingly, with silver shoes (bought in Paris!) You can see her ordering atthe counter in the background in the second photo above with the pink wallet. I have a weak spot for silver shoes, as I’vebeen wearing my handmade silver boots a little too hard back from when I madethem for my graduation show at FIT years ago. They’re inspired by firefighter boots with a Tibetan builtup bump toe.

At Wonderland SF Gallery in San Francisco in my spiffy silver boots!

They’re sort of falling apart and I get strange looks sometimes for wearingthem, but I keep on repairing them and I know they love me back for it. When I asked her where I couldget my legs waxed (TMI, I know!), she actually offered to drive me to thelocation! Wow. I think the lasttime I got into a car with a stranger (not counting blind dates, yikes, I hopeyou’re not reading this, my dear parents) was the summer of 1988 when I waslost in Chartres, France and couldn’t find my way back to where I was staying while Iwas doing an archeological dig.

And then….the local paper came by to take a photo of me withmy hats. The paper braid with upcycled feather pads 'Raven Hat' makes me look even more like a bird.

That's cute that they think I'm an Internationally Recognized Milliner!

Then I went for a swim in the lovely pool, and had a greatconversation with a young milliner and former costume designer named Jenny (from Chicago) who used to make costumes for Cirque de Soliel, movies, and commercials. She's here to take the workshops. She said that when she took a walk today onFitzmaurice street, she found so many women’s clothing boutiques havingfascinators. I didn’t notice this, since I didn’t visit the shops! I noticedthat even the pharmacy has casual hats for the sun protection (Australia hashad a hole in the ozone layer which can make for a sunburn during a cloudyday...though the hole has been shrinking in the past decade).

It’s always a delight to explore the food markets of othercountries when you travel. I am ahardcore dark chocolate fanatic (I even brought raw cocoa beans with me in mysuitcase:-), but I’ve been eating Cadbury's ‘Dairy Milk’ milk chocolate bars here. Thedairy part of the candy bar is so very rich! I'm going to have to bring back some of the larger bars in my suitcase, because the Cadbury Dairy Milk bars we get in the States are inedible. Well....they do have great dairy here, as evidenced in some full fatplain Greek style yogurt I’ve been eating from the brand ‘Vaalia’, it tastes like pure cream! Even the iced coffee Ihad at the Melbourne airport had the most amazing fresh whipped cream….sothick….dense….and creamy…..all at the same time! I had to wait an extra 5 to 7 minutes for it, for them to whip it up fresh, but it was worth it!

The bars aren't this big, but they do have big ones!

I’m very happy that Australians are so gluten aware. Eventhe Woolworth’s food supermarket has a whole section! A lot of other packaged food productsprint on the front that they’re gluten free and other things too, like 'No GEingredients used’. I would take an educated guess that’s GeneticallyEngineered’.

Happy to be Gluten Free in Australie!

Today I had to swim in the pool twice! Once at 10 minutes to 9am (though I lasted only 7 minutes, it was so cold!) The other time was before the tutor and staff 'meet and greet' where I got to meet all the amazing tutors (teachers) and the organizers at the International Millinery Forum. I'm rooming with Serena Lindeman from Melbourne and Eia Radosavljevic from Chicago, Chicago dah duh duh duh...la duh duh duh dah! I'm so envious I won't be able to take any workshops myself, I'll be teaching non-stop! I did spend some time with Lina Stein based in Ireland and Jane Stoddart from Sydney tonight, though, at dinner. I'm excited to spend more time with other milliners tomorrow. It's amazing to be able to talk hats hats hats non-stop and share!

Wearing my striped dress, I was one of the few wearing hats!

Earlier, I had gone to this fruit market to pick up some fruit. As you may know, it's hot here, as it's summer. Today it was 86 degrees! Yikes. At least it's dry. I think it's a bit strange that they were selling these helmets and swords there.

Read the sign: Please do not handle swords, please ask for assistance

This one's made of leather and is $650 AUS

Tomorrow I will have to exercise great restraint and not spend all my travel money on millinery supplies at the expo. And I promise to take many photos! I am typing while listening to strange sounds outside which sound electronic, but are actually frogs and other critters. At least the birds sleep at night here. I never in my life have heard such crazy sounding squawking birds, they sound like they're laughing all the time. There are magpies here too. My mother warned me of kangaroos, saying that they might run up to me to kick me in the head and then I'd have to go to the hospital (this actually happened to someone recently), but I don't plan on getting close to one.
Till next time!

xoxo
Jasmin Zorlu
Jasmin Zorlu Millinery
Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings
www.jasminzorlu.com

Holiday Sale this Sunday 12/18/11 in Brooklyn!

2011-12-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to announce that this Sunday, December 18th I will be participating in a wonderful holiday sale hosted at my friend Jane D'Arensbourg's studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Come and try on new cashmere hats, headbands (and wool scarves!) that I've been making in New York City. I return to San Francisco, my home, on December 29th. If you can't make this sale, please feel free to call me on my cell phone at 415.730.4666 to set up an appointment to view the hats. Remember, I can come to you, thanks to the NYC Subway system!
xoxo
Jasmin

Come support local artists and artisans and buy gifts for your friends, family, and yourself!

Cashmere and Silk Hats and Wool Scarves by Jasmin Zorlu

Glass Jewelry, and Ornaments by Jane D'Arensbourg

Hand Painted Silk Scarves by Emily Noelle Lambert

'Brooklyn Rehab' for the Home by Alyssa Zygmunt
'MCMC Fragrances' by Anne McClain

Norwood Building

Greenpoint, Brooklyn

960 Manhattan Avenue

between India and Java St.

G train to Greenpoint Ave.

Brooklyn, NY 11222

Woodsman Fedora Cap in Tie-dyed Eco Cashmere by Jasmin Zorlu

Glass Jewelry and Ornaments by Jane D'Arensbourg

Hand Painted Silk Scarves by Emily Noelle Lambert


Brooklyn Rehab for the Home by Alyssa Zygmunt

MCMC Fragrances by Anne McClain

Hot cider and treats will be served!

Serendipity Strikes again, this time with Zero Boy!

2011-12-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

The Dapper 'Zero Boy' in his Homburg hat and my shadow

I first met Zero Boy, a performer, on Thanksgiving Day through my friend Harlan. Harlan told me to meet him in Thompkins Square Park so we could ride our bikes together to Brooklyn to a Thanksgiving dinner. When I arrived, he was sitting next to Zero Boy. Immediately, I had to remark on his wonderful Homburg felt hat, and then we got to talking "HAT TALK". He told me that he had a favorite hat by Goorin Brothers that he had lost in New York and had tried to buy online but it was no longer available. While he was performing in Berlin and had been living there for 1 1/2 months, one day he walked into a thrift store and saw the hat! When he showed me a fuzzy photo of it on his iphone, I screamed out loud and started jumping up and down: "That's my hat! I designed that hat, I made the pattern, chose the fabric, that's my hat!". I gathered the attention of the jaded New Yorkers nearby at that moment.

That's only the second favorite hat I've designed for Goorin Brothers in my entire freelance life there. I made the pattern modeled after a duckbill cap and hybridized it with a soft biker cap. The fabric we used was taken from a vintage tie. I called it 'Biker Duckbill'. You can see it by itself here on my website.

I spent some time hanging out with Zero Boy yesterday, photographing my favorite hats from his extensive collection. He sort of reminds me of Stephen Jones in this first photo, what do you think?

Zero Boy wearing the Hat I designed for Goorin Brothers, Spring 2009

Side view of the Goorin Hat

He likes to wear the Goorin Hat cocked at an angle

Sweet Captain's Cap: I must make my own version in Fish Skin!

Plastic Fisherman's Fedora: coveted by so many friends!

Leather inside the plastic Fisherman's Fedora Rainhat for comfort and fit

WWII German Firefighter Helmet

'W' is for War?

His uncle's Garrison Cap

Vintage Levi's ski jacket with added patch and rucker's hat

Close up of Levi's ski jacket

After the photo session, we went to an art opening at the hip 'Gershwin Hotel' of photos by Nicole Rivelli from the new movie, 'We need to talk about Kevin'. A Japanese musician gave a concert on a toy piano which was resting on a stool. Listening to the music, I was reminded of a softer, gentler time, maybe 20 or even 30 years ago, when humans weren't so stressed out.

Metal hat moulds in the window of an interiors store

The exterior of the Gershwin Hotel

Toy Piano concert

Stylish pretty young ones listening to the Toy Piano concert

It is moments like these that I wish I still designed shoes, these are fantastic!

I had to ask this gentleman if he intentionally planned to match the wall.....

Nicole Rivelli Photography Exhibition

Then we went deep into Brooklyn to eat oysters at his friend's social club, 'The Egg and Dart Club', which was right near where my old storage space was in the Navy Yard. I couldn't believe the amount of new high rise condos over there! In only 5 years?? Wow.

Walking to 'The Egg and the Dart'

This Clinton Hill house looks haunted and about 150 years old!

A house in Clinton Hill with a lot of memories on that porch

Delicious Oysters!

Me eating Oysters in Brooklyn with the Fish skin hat on

Cool installation at 'The Egg and the Dart'

Do you see the hat on the cat?

Amazing Saks velvet ribbon hat worn by the sweet Alita, who is an owner of 'The Egg and the Dart'

Nice lock

Riding in a car service over the Manhattan Bridge

xoxo,

Jasmin

Jasmin Zorlu Millinery

www.jasminzorlu.com

Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings

New York Aspiring Milliners, I'm here to teach you!

2011-11-15T23:15:00.000-08:00

So I've been in New York City for 2 weeks now, and finally getting acclimated to it. Large coffees here are small ones in San Francisco, but then you don't even need much caffeine to get excited and motivated. Just walking on the street is enough. People walk fast, talk fast, and know what they're doing and where they're going. I don't even need to eat chocolate everyday. I sleep very well because I have the urge to pack as many things into my day as possible.

I'm excited to announce that I'm teaching Freeform Hat Blocking workshops while I'm visiting on the fair Eastern coast of the United States.

Here I am in the delightful East Village Millinery studio where I'll be teaching!

The last 'Freeform Hat Blocking' Workshop in San Francisco on the weekend of October 22nd produced some pretty astounding hats! I was honored to have 2 of my students come from a Hat Company named 'Head n' Home' which has been in business for 30 years now. One was the daughter of the founder Gary Watrous, and the other, Cass, was a long-time employee. My students made a safari pith helmet, pillbox with a integrated bow, asymmetrical fedora, and cloches (of course).

First, I steam the fur felt hood on the Jiffy hat steamer

Anchor the felt with 4 pins, then start pinching and folding the felt

Oftentimes, I find that it's easier to work on the side furthest away from my body

Here are the employees from Head n' Home blocking their felts. One is the founder's daughter!

Cass blocking her amazing pith helmet

Miko checking the proportion of the folds before it dries overnight

What a delightful collection of student work!

Nataly integrated a sweet bow for her pillbox hat, not an easy feat!

Heather and Nataly sewing up the folds the next day

Ruth sewing up her awesome asymmetrical fedora

Miko sewing up her sweet cloche!

Here I spray the millinery grosgrain with water to pre-shrink it, then 'swirl' it

No matter how many times I sew in a headsize, I always have to pin it in first

Close up of the 'invisible stitch' technique which keep the folds in place

Heather loves this color, and the cloche loves her! Worn backwards here.

Heather wore her hat out the same day in North Beach to see a friend's band. Worn forwards here.

Miko in her lovely cloche!

Miko, pictured above, was so inspired that she purchased a standard balsa hat block off of Ebay right away! Here's what she had to say about the workshop:

"Take Jasmin's Freeform Hatblocking Workshop! She's an incredibly creative, perceptive and nurturing teacher and her class is fun, accessible and inspiring! Craft classes can be long and boring but hers flies by and before you know it you've made something you love and want to wear! I've actually really gotten into hat making! Not to be missed!!!"

** Special thanks to Miko for taking many of the photos here!

'Freeform Hat Blocking' in New York City and Providence

Watch a video introducing you to the technique. I can't believe it's been viewed over over 18,000 times since February! Time to make new tutorials....What would you like to see?

Learn how to make an Art Deco style cloche, fedora, or cocktail hat that perfectly fits your style. Using steam and your fingers, manipulate a pre-formed fur felt cone on a standard wooden hat form and then hand-stitch it.This class is perfect for beginners who have no experience sewing.

Fee: $250 includes all materials (one fur felt, grosgrain ribbon, pins, sewing needle, thread).

Please Register Now to reserve a spot. If you'd like to pay by credit card instead of PayPal, please call me at 415.730.4666 and we can arrange it. Thank you and see you soon!

Click HERE to see more photos from a previous workshop last May 2011

1. Monday, November 28th AND Tuesday November 29th, 2011 from 6pm-10pm in a conveniently located private millinery studio in the East Village of Manhattan, New York, New York 10009. Address given at registration. You must attend both days. 6 students maximum to allow for individual attention.

2. Saturday, December 3rd AND Sunday, December 4th, 2011 from 11am-3pm in North Providence, Rhode Island. Address given at registration. You must attend both days.

5 students maximum to allow for individual attention.

See you soon!
xoxo
Jasmin Zorlu
www.jasminzorlu.com
Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings

The best exhibit ever! Stephen Jones at Bard College, NYC

2011-11-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

So I haven't posted in a month. I had a dream two nights ago where I met a young woman who was selling vintage paperbacks from the 1960's who had 5 blogs going! She told me the secret to posting regularly was to not write a lot, and keep the posts short. This is the second time I've dreamt about 'how-to-blog', but I persist in making in detailed, long postings. What can I say? I like to write! If you like to read, then I'm for you! If not, well, there are always the pretty pictures to look at that I take with my beloved Lumix camera....

I'm not going to apologize this time, because I have a decent excuse. In October, I taught 3 hatmaking workshops, all different from each other:

1) Cut and Sewn Patternmaking for Caps

2) Cocktail HatMaking with Crinoline (Horsehair)

3) Freeform Hat Blocking

And I prepared to come to New York City for 2 months, where I will be teaching as well!

So on the fourth day of being in New York City, I decided to go to Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones at Bard Graduate Center. It opened on September 15th, 2011 and will close on April 15th next year. It traveled from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. You can look at their website here to see some of the hats. I loved how vintage hats were put next to recent ones, not only by Stephen, but by other milliners. Several New York milliners were represented: Ellen Christine, Rod Keenan (I worked for him in 1993 for a year), Eugenia Kim, Lola (read her words of wisdom from when she generously hosted a freeform hat blocking workshop that I did last May), Jennifer Ouellette, Albertus Swanepoel, and Patricia Underwood (she gave me stellar advice once).

I think this is absolutely, hands down, the best exhibit I've seen in my life. The only other exhibit which has come close to stellar was at the Philadephia Museum of Art in 1993, Ahead of Fashion: Hats of the 20th Century. I hopped on a Peter Pan bus from NYC to go to that one.

I sketched aplenty, but I'm going to keep that for myself. What I really love about Stephen Jones is that he really pushes the potential of millinery. Stephen utilizes alternative, non-traditional materials like plastic, wood, and acetate strips. It inspires me to come up with new materials to use. Why should I be just satisfied with Fishskin and fruit bags? What about using Thai paper and coating it with silicone? What about the swimming caps I want to put out into the world which I spoke about in a previous blog posting? I will share with you some quotes I found especially inspiring:

"The client carries the milliner's creation into the world"
--Stephen Jones

Stephen Jones' clients

"The cardinal rule of hat buying, is to take the one you fall in love with, which mysteriously 'does something' for you, which magically makes you feel more beautiful"
--Genevieve Dariaux, a French fashion editor

When I mentioned to my friend Itsuki who assisted the famous makeup artist Pat McGrath in doing the makeup for Christian Dior's fashion shows that I once bought a crinoline cocktail hat by a fellow milliner (for $275) so that I could study it and start making ones of my own style, she said,

"The hat is your teacher"
--Itsuki H.

It was fun to be with her. When we were watching the videos on the wall of the Christian Dior fashion shows, she would blurt out loudly, "I was there!", "I did that makeup!"

My dear friends Tom and Itsuki accompanied me to the Stephen Jones exhibit!

Love the top hat in the center. It's vintage, I believe! I forgot to write down who made it.

Leather Tudor hat, 1500-1600 with replaceable feather. What a great idea!

Balsa hat by Stephen Jones. How ingenious!

This delightful English couple met at work, at C&A corporate while designing. They always dress up!

A mockup of Stephen Jones' workshop. Here you see a conformateur

Stephen Jones listens to Chinese talk radio in his workshop!

Blue feathered hat by Misa Harada

Seagull Hat by Stephen Jones

Firefighter Helmet: In my next lifetime, I hope to be a Firefighter!

Leather case on the right was the protection to carry the pilgrim beaver felt hat on the left!

Stephen Jones for British Airways flight attendant hat

Love the super special hatbox for the hat!

On August 3rd, Stephen Jones responded to my August 1st blog posting on current flight attendant headwear via facebook. I was so honored that he actually read it! I didn't realize it at the moment, but he had designed the British Airways hat!

Stephen Jones Millinery : love!!! esp BA (of course)

Just as we were getting ready to leave the gallery, I heard a woman say in a strong voice from the entrance, "Jasmin Zorlu!" It was my friend from San Francisco! Kirsten Hove, who is one of the 'Pauls' of Paul's Hat Works. Here is the story of how they took over the classic men's custom hat store in the Richmond district of San Francisco. I was even lucky enough to spend several hours with her the following day, visiting the hat stores of JJ Hat Center and Victor Osborne. And we went to the top of the Empire State building, something I never had done in the 7 years I lived in New York City.

Kirsten of Paul's HatWorks in San Francisco
Me and Kirsten with Stephen Jones

Jasmin Zorlu Sculpts Headwear for Celebrities and Beyond

2011-10-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

A nice bit of press from Hauteliving.com yesterday. Read the full article here.Thanks Angella! You are the best!

A Suit from Astor and Black Gets a Custom Made Gatsby Cap!

2011-10-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

It all started with a simple phone call from a musician who had a vision. He asked me if I could make a 'Gatsby style' cap to go with his custom made tuxedo from Astor and Black, which he could take on a worldwide cruise where he was to perform. Astor and Black are famous for making bespoke suits for sports stars, billionaires, and entrepreneurs.

Christopher Kilday in his Astor and Black suit

"Sure, I can do that", I said. "Why don't we make an appointment for you to come over with your suit?" Christopher Kilday came over a few days later and we discussed the 'Gatsby Cap' in question. At first, I thought he wanted a 'Driver's Cap', but after we looked at the hat online together, I knew exactly what he wanted. Baron hats had made the hat for the Gatsby movie. Instead of just working off of a photo, I decided to give myself homework by watching the actual movie based on the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. The hat appeared towards the end of the movie only for a few seconds, but it was enough. I was able to see the movement of the hat and how it lay on the head. I noticed it had a rounded-off squarish visor, so I drafted the visor pattern that way.

A scene from The Great Gatsby with Robert Redford wearing the famous Gatsby Cap

The Great Gatsby dvd I rented as homework

Luckily, I already had the pattern in my pattern library, so all I had to do was take all his measurements and then make the mock-up out of muslin. I actually used hemp twill, because of the nice body it has.


My original pattern proved to make the hat too bulbous, so I redrafted the pattern and sewed it up again

Whoh! I made the visor too long. I had wanted to protect Christopher from the sun, but the proportions were all off.

I texted Christopher the proto on my head, courtesy of Blackberry (bad camera!)

So we tried it on him and I trimmed the visor (flexible plastic was inside). I then sealed the outside edge ghetto-style with scotch tape and gave it to him, telling him to wear it around the garden to try it out, to see how he liked the proportion. "How did you know I garden?", he replied. "I didn't, I just took a wild guess!", I replied. I didn't want to suggest that he go out with this marked-up proto while shopping for groceries or to the beach. What if someone thought it was a real hat, when it was just a proto? I would be so embarrassed!

We had to have the fabric (along with the lining) sent to us from Astor and Black. It took one whole week to receive it, so I didn't have much time to make it before he left for the cruise (48 hours?!).

The handsome bard in his Zorlu proto cap

Many people don't realize all the work which goes into fabric, or 'cut and sewn' hats. And guess what? That's why they're made in China! They are super labor intensive. In fact, as I am an avid record keeper (I used to keep track as a young child of how much I got in chore money for washing my mother's hair), I logged 13 hours total in making the final (and that doesn't include the time I put into making the proto, kids!). First you need to cut out the outside fabric, the interfacing and the lining. I had to be super careful when cutting it out, since I cut it out on the bias and wanted the white on white pinstripes to match up. Then I had to make sure that when I pinned the pie-shaped pattern pieces together, the stripes were all lining up. Then I cut out plastic for the visor, carefully slipping it inside the fabric, and hand-stitch it into the hat so that I wouldn't accidentally stitch through the plastic on my sewing machine. Oh wait, I didn't tell you that I hand-stitched grosgrain ribbon onto the outside edge of the visor to make it match the suit better. Then I covered a button and placed the grosgrain ribbon in the headsize to serve as a sweatband. All fine caps use real grosgrain, is my belief! Finally the label. It turned out beautifully and Christopher loved it.

I wish you could see how the pinstripes all line up!

You can see a hint of how the pinstripes match up.

Headsize is hand-stitched!

I can't wait to see photos of him in it with his tuxedo. I'm emailing him right now, as he's in Montenegro.

Enjoy a few photos from Christopher Kilday's cruise

Christopher Kilday shooting from the MS Ryndam in Valletta, Malta.

Christopher Kilday in Kotor, Montenegro

xoxo till next time, I promise it won't be a month!

Jasmin

Jasmin Zorlu Millinery

Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings

www.jasminzorlu.com

Fall into a Hat Making Workshop!

2011-08-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings! I sincerely regret that I was away for a week, things got pretty hectic for me after I returned from a 3 day break in South Lake Tahoe. It was so good to breath so much extra oxygen and get some warmth! Is our Indian summer ever coming? I wish I could have stayed for the entire week! I rode a jet ski for the first time in my life--so thrilling!

Hmm...I also taught a Freeform Hat Blocking workshop on August 20th and 21st. Plus++++I found a new space to teach workshops in my favorite neighborhood in San Francisco: North Beach! It's called 'The Emerald Tablet'. They have workshops in drawing, painting, and even sewing! By popular demand, I have arranged a 'Cut and Sewn Patternmaking for Caps' workshop and one on 'Cocktail Hat Making with Crinoline'. They will both be in October. Read below for details. All of the workshops are also listed on my website.

1. 'Cut and Sewn Patternmaking for Caps'

Have you ever wanted to make the 'Fabric Cap' of your dreams? In this 9 hour workshop, you'll learn the traditional method of 'slash and spread' to create a basic cap pattern and then sew it up in muslin. Please have beginning skills in using the sewing machine. This workshop is perfect for intermediate to advanced fashion designers as well.

Saturday, October 8th and Sunday, October 9th, 2011 from 10am-2:30pm, both days.

at The Emerald Tablet in North Beach at 80 Fresno Street, San Francisco, CA 94133

Fee: $200 includes all materials (pattern paper, muslin, pins and thread).

'Parisian Pompier': Jasmin Zorlu for Cassel Goorin, Fall 2007

'Mod Fishergirl': Jasmin Zorlu for Cassel Goorin, Fall 2007

2. 'Cocktail Hat Making with Crinoline'
Are you ready for all the parties, art openings and exciting events this upcoming holiday season? Create a 'Cocktail Hat or 'Fascinator' in a short and sweet 3 hours which will make all eyes drawn to you when you walk into the room! Great for beginners with no experience in hand-sewing.

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011 from 6:30-9:30pm.
at The Emerald Tablet in North Beach at 80 Fresno Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
See more photos from a past workshop here.

Working on the cocktail hats

Modeling the flower-like cocktail hat/ fascinator

This cocktail hat has 4 different elements to it

3. 'Freeform Hat Blocking'
Learn how to make an Art Deco style cloche, fedora, or cocktail hat that perfectly fits your style. Using steam and your fingers, manipulate a pre-formed fur felt cone on a standard wooden hat form and then hand-stitch it.This class is perfect for beginners who have no experience sewing.

Saturday, October 22nd and Sunday, October 23rd, 2011 from 10am-2pm both days.
at The Emerald Tablet in North Beach at 80 Fresno Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
See photos from the past few workshops here and here.

The next blog post will feature the process I went through to arrive at the handsome cap below. The handsome guitarist Christopher Kilday commissioned a custom made 'Gatsby style Cap' to match a bespoke tux made by Astor and Black. Here is my spacey dummy wearing the completed cap. Astor and Black was kind enough to send me the exact fabric to match the tux, right down to the lining!

Custom made Gatsby-style cap for Christopher

On the way home to San Francisco

My adorable customer wore my Goorin Hat!

2011-08-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Last week, I sold a fur felt cocktail hat on my online Etsy shop. In the notes connected to the invoice, the buyer from Portland, Oregon wrote, I heart you. I wear one of your hats nearly every day. So I asked her right away, which hat? I didn't recall selling a hat to her, after looking through my records. It turns out that it was one of the hats I designed for Goorin Brothers, for their upper end line called 'Cassel Goorin' in Fall 2008. This hat was a best seller, outselling all the other styles in that collection of 3 hats. You can take the band with the bow off and wear another, contrasting green band instead, or you can wear it 'naked', with just the male parts of the snaps showing. Check it out here!

I had great fun designing and making the pattern for it, and then sourcing the 100% hemp herringbone twill fabric from a friend of mine who owns an sustainable fabric manufacturing company called 'EnviroTextiles'. To save time and money, I had their factory ship the fabric to the Goorin Brother's factory directly in China. In the industry, we call it 'drop ship'.

Leanne in her Convertible Cadet from 'Jasmin Zorlu for Cassel Goorin, Fall 2008'

Here is the sweet letter she wrote to me:

Jasmin,
The hat I wear nearly every day was from the series you did with Goorin Brothers Hats. It is the one that was made out of black hemp with the switchable embellishment above the brim. A very utilitarian/military looking cloche/cap with a cute bow on the side. I fell in love with it when I saw it at a local hat shop that has since closed its doors. It was my first everyday hat, its faded to a lighter grey since I've worn it for about 2 years but still gets compliments often and has seen me through blue, purple, lavender, grey, white, maroon, magenta, and blonde hair. I've attached an image of me in the hat, taken by my husband, shortly after it was purchased. We were hiking for photo shoot and I was teaching him how to use my camera. I love this hat and I've been keeping an eye on your etsy site for something to show up that suited my style and I found it! I'll send you another image of me in the new hat after it arrives.

Here's the image of the hat she bought from the Etsy shop. Isn't she adorable?

Leanne in her new 'Jasmin Zorlu' Fey Military Cocktail Hat

xoxo

till next time!

Jasmin Zorlu
Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings

www.jasminzorlu.com

Stephen Jones exhibit contest entry

2011-08-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

I love Stephen Jones. He's one of my favorite milliners in the world. I was so sad to have missed his retrospective last year at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. I'm really happy that the exhibit is coming to New York City, to the Bard Graduate Center from September 15th, 2011 to April 15th, 2012. The exhibit has a contest tied to it to. Submit a hat to be exhibited next to his.

I recently messaged him on Facebook with the blog posting about flight attendant hats (scroll down), and he replied! I was so surprised that he took the time out to read my blog post that I spent the whole morning walking around my studio talking to myself out loud: "Stephen Jones wrote to me, Stephen Jones wrote to me!"

It was a hard decision to make on which hat to submit, but I ended up choosing this one. ‎'Madame Butterfly' is a hybrid of a hat and a mask inspired by the fragility of our ecosystem. The completely hand sewn pleated black and white crinoline swirls and whirls like our tempestuous Mother Nature over a calming base of white lace.

Go ahead and show your support by clicking here and leaving a comment. Voting opens in two days, on the 12th, Friday.

'Madame Butterfly' by Jasmin Zorlu, photo by Rudi Amedeus

FasHioNaTion: Local Hat Maker Show 8.13.11

2011-08-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday afternoon, August 13th, a local hat maker design show will take place at Warehouse 416 in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood. Some of the Bay Area’s best hat designers will present their colorful lines of men’s and women’s headwear exhibiting a wide array of hat making techniques and styles from classic to outrageous. This show this will be the place for hat lovers to find an original design to express their inner zest, and for those who consider hat making a dying art, here they can reassess their assumptions.

Warehouse 416 and O'Lover Hats will present a local hat maker design show featuring the work of Jasmin Zorlu, Paul's Hat Works, House of Nines Design, Kitty Andrews Millinery, Hey Sailor!, T.S. I Love You and Dollymop, among others. Here is a selection of our work! Come out and support your local millinery world!

Saturday, August 13th from 1pm to 5pm

Warehouse 416

416 26th Street

between Telegraph and Broadway

Oakland, CA 94612

Jasmin Zorlu Millinery, that's me!

O'Lover Hats

Paul's Hat Works

Dollymop

House of Nines

Kitty Andrews Millinery

Hey Sailor!

xoxo,

Jasmin Zorlu

www.jasminzorlu.com

Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings

Lustables: Press in EcoSalon

2011-08-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Rowena Ritchie for featuring the Fish Skin cloche! Read the article here. This hat is especially special because it's made from the skin of Nile Perch fish that's been converted into leather in a tannery run by geothermal energy! I just received new swatches from them, they are so delightful.

Call me and let's schedule an appointment for a fitting. Installment plans are available and it has a lifetime guarantee!

World's Best Flight Attendant Headwear!

2011-08-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

My dapper parents and I, as a baby boarding a plane in the good ol' days

I had the great fortune to fly quite a bit in my formative years, living in Germany, Turkey, Italy, Japan and Iceland. We were the Travelers! We never stayed home if we had the chance to travel. I even remember going into Tokyo on the train almost every single weekend from the age of 6 to 9. Perhaps that's why I have such a wanderlust now.

Someone recently told me that only one or two airlines still have female flight attendants wearing hats. I was sort of incredulous, so I decided to do some research and a blog posting. I actually remember in 2008, breathlessly running with my suitcase in London Heathrow to catch up with a flight attendant of Qatar Airlines to compliment her on her headgear. She remarked that they enjoyed wearing them.

According to CNN, Qatar was named the world's best airline during the Paris Air show this year, with Singapore and Asiana Airlines coming in 2nd and 3rd. About half of the airlines voted in the top ten have their attendants sport sexy hats! I wonder if the headwear that they wear gives them a certain confidence and pride in their career?

This is the hat I loved so much from Qatar Airlines

My second favorite hat, from Gulf Air

Flight Attendants in training in the Middle East

Etihad Airlines Uniform

Asiana Airlines from South Korea uniform: very militaristic!

Volaris Airlines from Mexico: Love the color!

Photo courtesy of the Examiner.com, they don't name the airline. The dress is sexy!

I wonder which airline this is? Can you name?

China Southern Airline: Love how the hat mimics the cut of the vest!

I love British Airways because they store my hats with care when I fly with them!

Air New Zealand's new uniform

Here's a quirky video made by Air New Zealand, not related to hats, but a little bird compelled me to post it for your amusement.

In searching the internet for inspiring flight attendant's headwear, I came upon this delightful video of the Icelandair Stewardess choir. I didn't even know that existed! The headwear is similar to Qatar's. I don't remember seeing them wearing headwear when I flew Icelandair as a kid!

The green hat below spawned a myriad of blocked fur felt cocktail hats. They'd be at home in the air, too!

Vintage 1940s? fur felt hat with casein stamped on it, no label

'Robin Hood Cocktail hat' by Jasmin Zorlu, photo by Jar Concego

'Stewardess Cocktail hat' by Jasmin Zorlu, photo by Yifei Gu

'Fairy Military Cocktail hat' by Jasmin Zorlu, photo by Todd Siegel

My friend Jubal and I in the hats I made. Men can wear this style too!


'Deep Mod Cocktail hat' by Jasmin Zorlu, photo by Shelly Moon

You can see I'm just slightly obsessed with the flight attendant hat shape. After my dreams of being an astronaut were dashed at the age of 11 since I needed glasses and was kind of bad at science, I actually wavered between wanting to be a pilot and fashion designer. First I wanted to be a fighter pilot for the Air Force. I grew up on a Naval base in Iceland during the Cold War, so we had plenty of opportunities for our teachers to stop talking because the 6 NATO fighter planes took off at once to chase off the Russians from spying on us. It broke the sound barrier and rattled the windows of our school. After I found out that fighter pilots actually kill people, I gave up that idea and resorted to telling everyone in school that I wanted to be a 'pilot'. Somehow it sounded better than 'fashion designer' in a school filled with military kids.

Check out this book I own from Chronicle Books on Stewardess Uniforms and buy it if you'd love to see vintage stewardess uniforms and the accompanying headwear.

Stewardess, come fly with me! by Elissa Stein

I must watch this movie pronto! Coffee, tea, or me?

Can this really be a stewardess uniform from the late 60s? Olympic Airlines from Greece

Check out some other blog postings I found on Stewardess uniforms:

1. Glamoursplash: 1960's Fashion Rules in the Sky:

"Starting in the 1960's fashion ruled the sky. Airlines raced to stay ahead of the competition by hiring artists and fashion designers to create a distinctive image for their flight attendants. The modest suits of earlier years gave way to colorful outfits with hot pants, mini-skirts, and go-go boots".

2. Cliff Muskiet from the Netherlands and his extensive flight attendant uniform collection, I am dying here!

3. The Glamour of Flight, Part 1-Sexy Flight Attendants

Even Facebook has their own 'Flight Attendants' page that has more than 38,000 likes!

Please comment with your favorite links! I hope you enjoyed this blog, follow me!

xoxo till next time!

Jasmin Zorlu

'Sculptural headwear for Earthlings'

www.jasminzorlu.com


In my very own lilac Nile Perchskin 'Aquatic Aviator Helmet'

Swimming Headwear

2011-07-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

In 2001, my dear (ex) boyfriend taught me how to swim with my head underwater. Up until then, I just wasn't into swimming because it was too difficult to breaststroke with my head above water and my butt pulling my body down. It was too hard on the back. Ok, well, there was another reason I couldn't put my head underwater. I had a fear of drowning based in my first memory of my aunt rinsing my hair after shampooing with my head tilted back. The water went right up my nose and I felt like I was dying! So I am forever grateful to Eyal for helping me get over this fear.

You may ask why do I love swimming so much? I even call myself the swimming missionary. I'm constantly working at converting people to become avid swimmers.
When I lived in Paris for 6 months from 2003 to '04, I went swimming 3 or 4 times a week. I even made friends at the pool, one of whom I'm still in touch with! Can you believe there are 28 municipal swimming pools in Paris? Here's a photo of my favorite one, in the 13th called 'Les Buttes aux Cailles'. It was fed with spring water! Note the art deco architecture and uplifting color scheme.

Les Buttes aux Cailles Swimming pool, Paris

Swimming's the perfect sport. Anyone can do it, from babies to elders to people who are differently abled. For me, it's a whole mind-body cleanse which includes the soul. I don't swim to keep my body fit, but to keep my mind clear and my soul more calm. A side benefit is that helps counteract the effects of hunching over hand-sewing (hello, backstroke!) and helps me sleep more deeply. I've had some of my best creative ideas in the water! (and so has my photographer/ sock designer friend Sven, who swims almost daily). I noticed that my eyes get shinier when I swim!

Me in a Rose Carpskin helmet, circa 2007

I even wrote a funny poem about it:

When you're feeling kinda grim

and your eyes are getting dim

It's time for a swim!

When your brain is foggy and gray

and you can't even think straight

It's time for a swim!

Go...go! Give in and go for a swim!

When I saw this vintage swimming cap in the window of a frame shop in my neighborhood in San Francisco, I was compelled to make a posting about swimming caps. See how closely it resembles the one I made of Carpskin in the photo above? Incredible.

I really really really wish there were interesting swimming caps out there. Maybe I should make it one of my missions in life to bring back the interesting swimming cap! Check out the other vintage styles which Frame-o-Rama so beautifully displayed in recessed box frames.

Vintage lime green spiky pixie swimming cap

Vintage orange leaf swimming cap

Vintage black and white flower swimming cap

I recently saw an amazing movie called 'Footlight Parade' from 1933 with the most stunning swimming caps. Here's a link to a YouTube video that I can't embed. It looks like the swimming caps are connected to the bikini itself, made of some type of rubber whose texture imitates real hair! Wow. At 2:46, there's a really beautiful cap with rhinestones! Now I want to try making my own version.

Swimming caps with rhinestones on 'Footlight Parade', oh my!

Swimming caps imitating hair on 'Footlight Parade'

I wonder when it went out of vogue to have fascinating, beautiful swim caps? I need to do some more research. I seems like the only interesting ones I've seen in the past 10 years have been those that look like this one:

Photo courtesy of hatsca.com

I'm not really big on flowers (as you can see from the hats I make), so this one's not for me. Besides, the flowers draw so much attention that you can't see the beautiful face beneath the cap.

What do you think if I were able to convert this style I made in 2003 into a swimming cap? It could come in monotone or multi-colored! Erykah Badu commissioned three of them in 2003, because after she wore the one I made for her in colors of water (greens and blues), two of her friends wanted ones too!

'Molecular Mermaid Helmet' in cream fur felt by Jasmin Zorlu

Erykah Badu in her Jasmin Zorlu

Underwater Creature Cocktail Hats

2011-07-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ever since the royal wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince Andrew, people have been asking me if I've had more business selling my cocktail hats. I even received a call from a reporter from 'The Daily', an online newspaper built for ipad owners, asking me the very same question. I can most certainly say that I can't make them fast enough! Much of the inspiration is derived from underwater beauties. The other day, I went to the Academy of Sciences and photographed some of my favorite beings on Earth with my new Panasonic Lumix DMC LX-5, which I'm totally in love with, btw!

The Sea Urchin is my favorite food on this planet.

'Sea Urchin Cocktail Hat' in brown frayed crin with biot feathers

Yours truly modeling the 'Sea Urchin Cocktail Hat' for you

Maybe brown isn't your thing and you prefer black?

'Sea Urchin Cocktail Hat' in black frayed crin and coq feathers

'Priscilla Cocktail hat' in black pleated crin with net and feathers

'Super Deluxe Butterfly Cocktail Hat' in black pleated crin with feather butterflies

Looking for something not quite so dramatic? Afraid to wear it to a wedding and upshow the bride? The attendees at the Royal Wedding didn't seem to have that worry. What about this one? It sold as soon as I put it in a hat shop in Union Square, San Francisco to a woman attending a wedding. But I can make another easily!


'Peacock Princess Cocktail Hat' in brown and green; green frayed crin with peacock feathers

Enjoy the photos I took!

Sea Anemones!

I think this may be a Sea Urchin, but I'm not sure

Jellyfish!

Obscene view of a jellyfish

More jellyfish

Sea Anemones

'Anemone Princess Cocktail Hat' in pink pleated crin with feathers

Dreamy Anemones

'BirdFish Cocktail Hat' in navy pleated crin with fake flower and feathers

'Wave Cocktail Hat' in brown pleated crin with shell and feathers

'Frothy Sea Cocktail Hat' in aqua and turquoise crin with upcycled plant bag and feathers

Or maybe you want to start out with a tiny little thing, commonly called a 'Fascinator'.

'Urchin vs. Anenome Cocktail Hat' in navy and black crin with feathers

Here's a real dried starfish I picked up from Paxton Gate which I want to make a bridal hat from.

Raw materials for an underwater inspired bridal hat

Stay tuned for the fantastic resulting hat of these raw materials! xoxo, Jasmin Zorlu www.jasminzorlu.com Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings

A chance meeting in Zurich

2011-07-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

There was a time in my life when I fulfilled my life long dream to live in France. I had been living in New York City during September 11th, and really needed a break. It broke my heart to hear New Yorkers talking about the tragedy every single day for 2 years.

When Barney's bought my collection of freeform fur felt cloches in 2003, I suddenly received an onslaught of orders from other boutiques. With the money I made, I went to Paris for 6 months for inspiration and rejuvenation. And boy did I have fun! I took mini breaks to other places like Antwerp and Zurich. During Christmas break of 2003, I went to Zurich to check things out. I stayed with a friend for a week. I found that the street fashion there was infinitely more interesting than what I had been seeing in Paris. I found people in Zurich to be super friendly, warm-hearted, and fun.

Have you ever heard that you know you're on the right path in life when chance coincidences happen unexpectedly? You may call it synchronicity or serendipity, but when it happens, it can blow your mind! So one day during my one week stay in Zurich, I went searching for a hat shop which I had heard about online. I spotted a stylishly dressed attractive woman and went up to her to ask directions, in English. Although I speak elementary German, the only word I found that I could understand in Zurich was 'Ja' (yes). Swiss German sounds totally different from High German. It turned out that she was American, from California! I proceeded to tell her that I was interested in finding the hat shop because I was a hat designer as well. It was closed, unfortunately. I whipped out my mini-portfolio to show her my hats, and she said, "I think I have one of your hats!" I screamed right there in the square, "No way! Really?". She then told me where her friend had purchased it and what it looked like. "Oh yes! That is indeed my creation!". Can you imagine my surprise? My heart started beating wildly and I think I even started sweating with excitement.

Zurich hat shop photo courtesy of LeChatBleu on Flickr

So fast forward to June 2011....Wendy and I had lost touch all these years and recently she befriended me on Facebook. On June 25th, she came to a trunk show I had in Berkeley, at Rue Atelier. And guess what? She brought the hat in question! She also bought a pink silk organza silk brimmed hat, as seen below. Isn't she simply delightful in it?

Sweet reunion with Wendy wearing the hat in question which I made.

Wendy fascinates us with a fascinator I made. She looked amazing in everything!

Wendy looking lovely in my Love Turban

The beautiful Wendy in her new Zorlu hat

Me and Wendy in my hats!

Wendy is now a jewelry designer. She was a stylist for movies in LA for 10 years. Oh, and she used to live in Zurich!

Till we meet again,

Jasmin

San Francisco based milliner

www.jasminzorlu.com

Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings

Nail that hat!

2011-07-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

Jeannie in her customized sun hat

Check out how Jeannie asymmetrically sewed the crown into a lip!

Oh...I've been a bad girl. I haven't done a blog posting in one month! I was very busy, you see....Well, I'm going to try making several shorter postings this month as an experiment. Today I went to the Ferry Building Farmer's market in San Francisco. It's so much fun! I always end up giving several business cards out. I wore my lilac metallic fish skin helmet.

In my lilac fishskin helmet. I can make one for you, too!

The first fascinating person I met was upstairs in the ferry building, in the bathroom, of all places! She was most stylishly dressed with the most amazing haircut. It was edgy and avant garde. She said she had a weakness for hats...it looked like she would look amazing in all of my hats! She's the Vice President of the SF American Cetacean Society. Check her out on the far right. The Cetacean Society is dedicated to protecting whales, dolphins, and porpoises through education, research, and conservation.

The next fascinating person I met was while waiting for the #1 California bus. I usually take my bike to the farmer's market, but I wanted to change things up today. I praised this lovely woman named 'Jeannie' on her polka dot sewn ribbon hat to break the ice. I told her that it looked like she had bought it in Paris. "Oh god no!", she said, and then proceeded to tell me how she had revised her 'San Diego Hat Company' hat. She turned it inside-out, since it caused her to have a grey cast on her face. She then hand-sewed the top edge of the crown into a sort of lip to make it more interesting. For ribbon, she used black binding normally used in trimming the edge of blankets (she didn't want to spend $10 on ribbon at Britex). Jeannie tied a pretty bow under her chin and at one end of the binding, sewing a small metal model of the Eiffel Tower. Why did she have to use the ribbon, I inquired? The hat was sold without the ribbon, though I don't know why, because the grommets were just begging for one! She said that in San Francisco, you need to nail down your hat to your head because it's so windy! It would've been interesting to video interview her! Her ex-husband was recently visiting her and bought a few hats from the Goorin Brothers. When they went out to dinner one night, she saw a man with the exact same fedora hat. She said to her ex: "There's your twin hat!".

Do you have any interesting stories of how you revised a hat that you bought?

Till we meet again,

xoxo

Jasmin

Eco Cashmere Collage Dresses!

2011-06-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, I had a nightmare where giant moths came into my studio apartment. In my dream, I screamed, "Oh my god, moths!". I think my scream woke me up, because I don't remember then what happened in the dream. You don't have to resort to (ob)noxious moth balls to protect your precious sweaters. You can use cedar or lavender. I use Siskiyou Cedar sachets from Juniper Ridge. These cashmere band-aids by Stella Neptune are brilliant. They're sold at Fiat Lux, a cool new boutique near the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco at 218 Church Street which carries my blocked felt hats.

Fiat Lux is hosting a trunk show for Elwyn Crawford of O'Lover Hats and I on Sunday, June 26th from 3 to 7pm. I'll have brand new cashmere and cocktail hats! If you can't make that one and you live in the East Bay, I'm also in a trunk show on the day before, on Saturday, June 25th at Rue Atelier at 2981 College Avenue, Berkeley with jeweler Alison Rutherford.

Cashmere is often on my mind. I love it! I wonder when I'll discover a new thrift store that sells good quality cashmere sweaters in bounty. I'm lucky if I find them for $10 these days. More likely, they're $15 or even $20. In the past two years, maybe because of the economy, the price of vintage cashmere sweaters has been going up up up. I don't want to start using a cashmere broker or wholesaler because I'm afraid I won't be able to choose what quality or thickness that I get. Plus, since I'm Sagittarius, I delight in the hunt. What's so delightful about re-using cashmere? Well, since it takes one goat 4 years to grow enough hair to produce one sweater, by taking cashmere and refashioning it into new hats and dresses, I feel that I'm doing my part to be gentle to the Earth. Next up is cashmere jumpsuits! I am inspired by this style especially. I love asymmetry.

From one of the new Star Trek series

I first used cashmere in dresses before I started making them into hats. You can see more cashmere hats at my online store.

My lovely friend Jyl in her grey Eco Cashmere Turban

The very first cashmere dress which I made in 2004 was a pretty sexy hot number, with a bare back covered by a cape. It had a bit of side cleavage, a little thing I got obsessed with in my junior year of highschool in Iceland during Home Ec class. One of my fellow Icelandic classmates (most were military kids) named 'Iris' (pronounced Eetis) showed up to class one day wearing a white sleeveless muscle undershirt (no bra!) with denim overalls. Up until that time, I'd never seen side cleavage. I wonder to this day why don't more fashion designers capitalize on this sexy part of the anatomy. In going through my photos, I was shocked that I couldn't find a photo where I'm wearing this dress. All I found were the top and then the bottom, in two separate photos taken in two separate places at two separate times.

The top part of the red cashmere dress worn with a headband made of fruit bags!

Here you see the bottom part of the red cashmere dress. I made the silver boots too!

Since 2004, I've made a handful of dresses and tunics, all hand-draped and hand-stitched. The first collection of dresses I made in cashmere were first shown in 2007 at the DeYoung Museum, in a fashion show entitled 'Kinetic'. It ran concurrently with the Vivienne Westwood Exhibit. Watch a video here, starting at 2:34. I remember that the models didn't want to take the dresses off, they said they were so cozy soft (I sleep in mine sometimes, shhh!)

I like this dress in light pink and red-violet. It has a lace cutout of a heart and lace on one side with a shallow pocket below. It's pretty short, yeah. one of my friends said I needed to wear leggings with it so I wouldn't look so 'hoochy koo'. I don't think so, though!

Heart cutout cashmere dress

A few weeks ago, I was commissioned by one of my dear customers to make a turquoise cashmere dress. Because I couldn't find any turquoise cashmere, I had to dye my own. The first time I dyed cashmere, I neglected to do my research, and so I used an aluminum pot. No-No! You never dye in aluminum because it can cause a weird chemical reaction with the dye. No wonder my black Jacquard acid dye turned out brown cashmere! I got some other weird murky colors that I wasn't able to turn into hats. I'm going to have to overdye those ones soon!

To make the turquoise dress for Solara, I had to first drape the cashmere on her body and pin it together. I do this because it makes a perfect flattering fit and it's more of a fun collaborative process.

Solara's cashmere dress pre-dye time

Never neglect to dye a swatch first! Notice I have a steel pot now!

Thoroughly wet your cashmere garment and wring it out a bit before throwing in the dye bath

The happy customer with her new cashmere dress!

Check out how the wing of the sleeve is echoed by her hairstyle!

Here is past cashmere collage work I've done worn by their new owners. The first one in maroon cashmere is made from a cardigan sweater that Solara had given her mother as a present. Her mother wore the sweater all the time. After she left the Earth plane, Solara inherited it. I had the strangest feeling while draping this top one night. I felt like the spirit of her mother was in my studio, curiously watching me, wondering why I was cutting up her sweater!

This is the top after it's been draped

Solara wearing her new maroon cashmere top

Cream cashmere tunic on Anastazia (Domini made the wonderful hat)

Black and maroon cashmere top on Anne

Teal and Turquoise Cashmere dress on Denisse

Cashmere dress of 3 different greys on Larissa with cashmere hat

Cashmere Poncho in Greys on Michelle

I've recently started buying up boiled wool cardigans and jackets to redo into new creations. Here's a cardigan I wear practically non-stop. Imagine my surprise when I found the exact same one, but in fuchsia! Guess who's also excited and who's going to get it!

All pinned and ready to stitch up!

Want to read about the cashmere hats? Read an earlier blog posting. And another...with customers wearing their new Jasmin Zorlu cashmere hats!

Jane D'Arensbourg hosts Freeform Hat Blocking Workshop

2011-05-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

On the evenings of Thursday May 12th and May 13th, the lovely Jane D'Arensbourg hosted a Freeform Hat Blocking Workshop at her studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It was the second workshop I taught in my short two week stay in New York City. The first one was at Lola Hats in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I had met Jane almost ten years ago, when I was based in New York City. She makes gorgeous jewelry and wall sculpture by flame working glass rods. I've been wanting to learn this technique to make glass tieras for some time now. I don't know of any one else using it. I wonder how I could incorporate fish leather into it? I fell in love with Jane's new camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC LX-5 and didn't have the heart to edit down more of these photos. In fact, I just bought the same camera two days ago!


Jane D'Arensbourg's jewelry and mono type prints.

The glass rods patiently awaiting manipulation with fire from their master

Because Jane had inherited several hat blocks from a costumer, we'd been talking about making a hat making workshop in her studio for about a year. Providence allowed us to schedule a hat making workshop 2 weeks before her due date. She made the joke on Thursday night that hopefully the baby wouldn't come before our second session, on Friday May 13th. Ha ha! Luckily, he didn't. Jane's friend Sayumi Yokouchi, who teaches jewelry making workshops at the 92nd Street Y, also took part. Who knows? We may even teach a workshop in the future where Sayumi teaches brooch and hat pin making and I teach the hat making segment.

Jane took Sayumi's button making workshop and made these, almost made it to her hat!

Sayumi measuring her head

Diana was our other student. She works for the United Nations and had taken millinery workshops at the Fashion Institute of Technology. It was a very fun workshop!

As long as the hat block is balsa, you can work with any shape: check out Diana's toque block!

Here I am blocking the fur felt hood smoothly

Jiffy makes a travel steamer!

Adding the blocking pins

We utilized two travel steamers instead of one conventional hat steamer

Sayumi and Diana having fun blocking

The hoods all blocked, pinned and awaiting air drying overnight

Diana expresses her concern to Sayumi that Jane may have the baby before our 2nd session

Jane sewing up her cloche

I demonstrate how to pin the sweatband into the hat

Sayumi swirling the grosgrain ribbon into a curve

Sayumi modeling her cute cloche!

Jane and her coquettish cloche

Check out Jane's necklace!

Here I am assisting Diana to put in the sweatband

Jane, Diana, me, and Sayumi

The expecting mother and I
Jane gave birth on the 27th to a beautiful baby boy!

Backstage at Yiriba Fashion Show

2011-05-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday, April 29th 2011, I participated for the second year in a fashion fundraiser show to help raise money for the Yiriba Orphanage in Koloko, Burkina Faso, founded by Yonel Perez. My recent work of fish skin cocktail hats (one in stingray!) were shown with the clothing of young fashion designer Anya Zuyeva. The fundraiser was successful in raising over $6,000 for the orphanage to provide the children with bed frames so that they wouldn't have to sleep on mattresses on the floor. There was also an aerial act, a tango dance show, and a swimwear designer who showed her collection.

I took these photos backstage, before the show. Check out the amazing makeup!

'Existentialist fish skin fantasy' by Jasmin Zorlu Millinery

'Nebula Cocktail Hat' by Jasmin Zorlu Millinery

'FloweRay Cocktail Hat' in Stingray by Jasmin Zorlu Millinery

The following photos were taken by Melissa Agocs.

You can view more photos from the show on the Facebook page.

Cocktail Hat Making Workshop in Pebble Beach

2011-05-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

In March, I received a call from out of the blue from a super sweet lady named Julie, asking me if I'd be interested to teach a cocktail hat making workshop in Pebble Beach near Monterey, 2.5 hours south of San Francisco, as part of a yearly insurance company appreciation event. I said yes immediately, not knowing how I would get down there (I don't drive) or who would assist me. I knew that since I'm aligned with my higher purpose in life, the universe would provide for me. Sounds hokey, but it's true! I consulted with Wayne Wichern, an generous millinery instructor, who lent me several colors of his crinoline and recommended that I ask Elwyn Crawford. Elwyn, of 'O Lover Hats' is a wonderful milliner and also teaches workshops. It was a delight to spend the whole day with Elwyn, on the18th of May.

Elwyn assisting a student

The 20 ladies and 2 men created delightful creations which were later worn that night to a 1980's themed dance party later entitled 'Studio 54'. I wish I had my good camera, but it was picked from my bag in New York City a week before. These are taken with my Blackberry.

Elegant and understated

Check out the cool '4 leaf clover effect'

The shiny metallic thread in the crinoline lends a bit of bling bling!

Elegant and understated: simply delightful!

Narrow crinoline stripping with wide.

The view of the golf course outside the Inn at Spanish Bay

It was a wonderful workshop and inspiring too! I hope to return soon to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium to get some more inspiration for cocktail hats out of crinoline and feathers!

Sea Anemones at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Glue is not all that evil!

2011-05-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

This is my last bit of deliciousness shared by Lola of 'Lola Hats', during the 'Freeform Hat Blocking Workshop' which was held in her studio factory on the weekend of May 7th in Brooklyn. I had to share it with you in a separate blog posting so that I could talk about my recent dilemma with using glue on a hat.

Lola said that 14 years ago, when she had her millinery boutique on 18th street in Manhattan, she and her assistant were working late one night when a man who looked like Santa's assistant walked in. He had on red velvet pants and looked very cheery with white hair and a long white beard. He started talking to Lola's assistant who was sitting and working behind the counter while Lola was upstairs. The boutique had a duplex-like feeling, with a balcony on the 2nd floor where you could see who walked in the door. He asked the assistant why she was working like the milliners from the 18th and 19th century. Glue is not bad to use in millinery. There wasn't glue back then specifically for millinery. Lola was riveted, hanging over the balcony but not revealing herself. Guess who it was? One of Philip Treacy's millinery instructors!

One of the students in my workshop, Karen, has a milliner friend named Tim Crawford who makes church hats. He told Karen to put down her sewing needle and pick up the glue if you want to make money. I don't think I entirely agree, but I know that there's a time and place for glue. Stitches are stronger than glue, which can wear out and get brittle. Plus, it just doesn't look good. I've never ever owned a glue gun. A few days ago I taught a cocktail hat making workshop to a group of 22 ladies, many who had never sewn before in their lives. I didn't bring glue, because it intimidates me and I didn't want things to get messy.

But you can't live without glue! Up until last month when I spent 23 hours hand-sewing 86 hand-cut pink leather circles together to a felt helmet base to make my signiture 'Molecular Mermaid Helmet', I never considered glue as my friend. Professor Janet Linville, my millinery instructor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, trained me so well that I didn't use glue for nearly 2 decades!

Until this hat which was commissioned by a lady who had a custom made long leather coat in the same leather from Johnson Leather on Polk Street. Loook at all the hand-stitching which went into attaching the leather circles to the felt helmet base!

I had to watch several movies while stitching this to keep my brain stimulated!

The finished leather Molecular Mermaid Helmet

You can see the trace of the felt base where I adhered the circles with glue on the underside of the helmet. You can also see that because the leather was so thin, the circles underneath showed a bit, which was not my intention. In order to cover the wrong side of the leather, I had to use latex glue (it stretches with the leather) to adhere a leather circle to the inside of the helmet.

However, I wouldn't think of ever using glue in my fish skin helmets because stitching will always be stronger and it's more couture based. My millinery specialty is in making perfectly fitting custom made fish skin helmets that will last for years, only getting better as they age (like vegetable tanned leather bags). They are $747. I assure you, they will look modern into the next century! Plus, they fit perfectly underneath a bike or motorcycle helmet, keeping your hair neatly in place and providing warmth and exotic beauty. With my metallic lilac fish skin helmet, I don't ever need to wear makeup. It is its own makeup.

In my own fish skin helmet!

Whirlwind Wisdom from Lola Hats

2011-05-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

I recently traveled to New York City for two weeks get my Big Apple fix. Having imitated a human ping-pong ball by uprooting myself twice, living in NYC then SF then NYC and now SF again, I can appreciate both places wholeheartedly. I always say that it's easier to live in San Francisco, but it's easier to make money in New York City. Who agrees with me on this one? SF=nice quality of life vs. NYC=money

Truly a whirlwind trip, in 12 days I met up with many old friends (several from the University of Michigan!), taught 2 hat making workshops, met with 2 hat companies about possible freelance work, toured a hat making factory, saw the Alexander McQueen exhibit, got food poisoning at a Turkish restaurant in Brooklyn, fainted (for the 2nd time in my life), went to the Russian Turkish baths and lounged outside enjoying the moon, and got my crappy digital camera picked from my bag (this never ever happened to me in the 7 years I lived there!)

Nilu and Karen made wonderful cloches in the workshop.

Karen from Philadelphia and Nilu from Manhattan steaming their felt hoods

On the weekend of May 7th, 2011, I had the honor of teaching one of my freeform hat blocking workshops at the studio factory of Lola Hats, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Lola generously came in on the weekend! I had first met Lola back in 1995 when she had a lovely millinery boutique on 18th Street in Manhattan. I even interviewed once, later in 2002 for a machine sewing job, which I didn't feel confident in taking because my strength is in hand-stitching, not in using the sewing machine (I'm not fast enough). Lola has a booming international millinery business with 20 employees! She shared some amazing tips with us.

My demo freeform blocked cloche all pinned and ready to dry!

Nilu swirling the headsize ribbon

So here are a few words of wisdom from Lola:

1. It's great to stay small as a milliner otherwise you become a person who manages everyone and thinks only of money money money--how to earn it, how to spend it, how to save it. Making millinery is different than making clothing because it doesn't cost a lot to make a hat compared to making a coat.

2. I always teach the freeform hat blocking workshop with fur felt hoods instead of straw hoods because the blocking pins always end up making big unsightly holes in the straw. Lola said that the solution to this problem is to go back with a sponge after the parasisal is dry to work out the holes.

3. Make any thread strong and fit for vigorous hand-stitching by running the thread over beeswax and then ironing it! One of Lola's interns from Germany had shown her this trick. Lola says that she learns as much from her employees as they learn from her.

4. One hat can look good in a certain color, like emerald green. Another hat may not look good in that color.

5. The older you get, the more movement you need in your hat.

6. Use soap instead of chalk your felt where you want to cut it because it'll fade away with steam.

7. To make a nice fuzzy soft edge to your fur felt brim instead of a hard cut one, run it through the sewing machine on the smallest stitch without thread.

8. Hats bring something out of your personality that hasn't yet been revealed. You see it immediately when you put the hat on.

9. And for the most important piece of wisdom. From now on when I'm selling my hats and I hear people say "Oh, I can't wear hats, they don't look good on me!", I will say (thanks to Lola): "Choosing a hat is like choosing a swimsuit suited for your body type and personality".

"There's a hat for every face and hairstyle!

The lovely Nilu sporting her piece of freeform art!

Nilu made her cloche to also be worn with the back in the front!

Karen drove in from Philadelphia to take the workshop

The vibrant Karen in her new freeform cloche!

Lola said that I approach millinery intellectually and think about the hat emotionally when I'm creating it. I don't think I'm particularly intellectual, but I do approach the art conceptually. When I make a fishskin helmet for a customer, not only do I think about the reactions that they will get from others, but also how the hat will make them feel when they're wearing it. One customer said that she feels like a 'spinxy minx from the sea' when she wears hers. (she has two fishskin helmets, actually).

I'm on the left, with Lola on the right

Millinery is such an amazing form of wearable sculpture which constantly stimulates me. Even though I make reconstructed cashmere clothing like tops and dresses from time to time, I love millinery because it appeals to my need to be constantly stimulated and challenged. Not only do you have several different materials to choose from, from plastic to fish leather to straw to felt to whatever you can wrap your head and hands around, but you have free reign to create new silhouettes which have never been seen before. Read my recent interview called 'Designer supports sustainable millinery' by the stunning Australian milliner Louise Macdonald.

I have more words of wisdom, but you must come back for it, I will post it in the next few days! Hint: it has to do with millinery and glue!

In New York City now....to teach some workshops!

2011-05-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

I did once live in New York City, well actually twice over a 7 year span, since I couldn't get it out of my system once I left the first time for the West Coast. I've visited around 21 countries in my lifetime and lived in 6 of them, and I can say that hands down, New York City is the most exciting, stimulating and hardcore place I've ever been to. Sure, China was interesting, but I really only saw my hotel and the shoe factory where I was working on samples for an American shoe company. I'd like to go back someday as a tourist. Before I left to NYC, an owner of a hardware store in my neighborhood of Nob Hill, San Francisco asked me if NYC was more 'dynamic' than San Francisco. I asked him if he was kidding. Then I saucily said, 'Is the Pope Catholic?' (learned this one from my mother, Happy Mother's day!)

So here I am typing away on my laptop at 11:12pm EST when it's 8:12pm PST all packed and ready to go to a 'Freeform Hat Blocking Workshop' at Lola's Hats in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I've loved Lola's millinery since I first had an interview at her studio in 2001.

Courtesy of Lola Hats Facebook Page: Chic Turban by Lola

I remember when I saw her booth at the prestigious trade show in Paris in 2004, 'Premier Classe', I longed to be like her, and have an international business like hers. I'm working on it! For now, I'm very excited to teach a workshop at her factory that she's so generously offered me, to 'further the millinery cause'. She's coming in on her day off! Wow.

I made a visit to ManHatCo to purchase some felts for my workshops this weekend, and also the one next May the 12th and Friday the 13th from 5-9pm both days. There are 2 spaces left! Sign up here: www.jasminzorlu.com/workshops.html and also watch the YouTube video, there are over 1500 views on it already!

Hat Making workshops in New York City May 2011

Raymond at ManHatCo has standard balsa heads for $155, from 21" all the way to 23 1/2". They last forever. I've had my 23 1/2" head back from 20 years ago, when I took my first Hat making class at the University of Michigan. It's imperative to have them in half inch increments from 21 1/2" to 23 1/2" if you want to get serious about doing the freeforming technique and selling them to your customers. I'd like to get a 21" and a 24" one. Raymond also had the sweetest little hoods in parasisal straw to block minuature doll hats.

Standard balsa heads used for 'Freeform Blocking' from ManHatCo Hat Supply.

Then I went to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the MET, 'Savage Beauty'. It was amazing, though a little underlit at times. The videos of the show were way up high on the wall of black wood cubbyholes. I wish they hadn't put the hats so high up, you couldn't really see them. Oh well. I bought the hardcover book, it has a reticulated photo of Alexander morphing into a melting skull. Eerie....well, the music was quite eerie too, like horror movie music with groaning at times and wolves howling. It was packed, of course, since it opened two days ago. Here's a link to the MET museum's blog about it, where you can see photos of some of his gorgeous work. My favorite was a red silk bolero jacket from Autumn/Winter 2008/9, 'The Girl who lived in a Tree'. Then it was off to the Japan Society to a costume party.

I will post photos of the workshop next. I have so much to write about! I didn't even share the photos from the fashion show last Friday. Here are two backstage photos I especially like.

Nile Perchskin and crinoline Cocktail Hat by Jasmin Zorlu

Stingray and fake flower cocktail hat by Jasmin Zorlu

Got to get some sleep to be fresh for tomorrow, good night! Yah! I made my goal of spending only half an hour on the post instead of the usual hour I spend!

Jasmin

HaTalk Interview!

2011-04-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

Guy Morse-Brown, one of the few handmade hat block makers left on the planet, publishes an e-magazine for milliners, hat makers, and hat lovers called HATalk. He's located in Melksham, England, which is west of London near the town of Bath. Today the interview was published! It's a great honor to be asked to interview with such an amazing magazine. Click on the pages to expand them in order to read the interview and enjoy!

I know of only 2 other hat magazines on Earth. One is called The Hat Magazine which is published 4 times a year out of London, and Hat Life newsletter, published by the Hat Life directory in the United States.

Photos from Freeform Hat Blocking Workshop at Wayne Wichern's, May 2011

2011-04-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love teaching! My mother was a teacher for her entire life, working as a 2nd grade and then elementary school art teacher for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools. I'm so blessed that I got to travel the world on the US Government's dime. I was born in Germany and had the chance to live in Italy, Turkey, Japan and Iceland. People always get confused when I answer the question "Where are you from" with "No Where!". That happened to me a few days ago, in fact. The man who was questioning me kept on insisting: "No! Where are you FROM?" I just answered with "I have no roots". That perplexed him even further. Ha ha.

We had a wonderful time at the studio of Wayne Wichern this past weekend making freeform cloche hats from velour fur felt, on standard balsa hat blocks. Wayne is an amazing millinery instructor, check out his course schedule and take a workshop now from him! You may have already seen my YouTube video teaser on this workshop. The views have skyrocketed since Sandra Leko posted the 'Intro to Freeform Hat Blocking Workshop' video to her hatsupply website and also her Facebook page. Almost 1000 views in nearly 2 months! Wow.

I'm making a special trip to New York City to teach the next 'Freeform Hat Blocking' workshop at the studio and factory of Lola Hats in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday May 7th and Sunday May 8th from 11am-3pm. I scheduled the time on the 7th so that one would still have time to go watch the televised broadcast of the Kentucky Derby. Women compete with one another to wear the most amazing hat. That Sunday is Mother's day. Perhaps taking this workshop with your mother would be the perfect way to spend the day with her?

There are 5 spots left in the New York City workshop in May. Sign up here.

First you steam the fur felt hood and then pin the felt to the block.

Place markers with blue painter's tape on the block so that you don't make the hat too deep.

Pinch, push, pull, stretch that felt! The fun could go on forever!

The demo cloche hat by Jasmin Zorlu patiently awaiting the drying phase.

Our host, Wayne Wichern, took part in the workshop by making his own cloche!

Tres blocking her first freeform cloche hat

Rebecca enjoying freeforming it.

Check out all the brim blocks neatly filed away in the background!

Wayne's freeform cloche quietly surveys the workshop

The day after blocking, we hand-stitch the folds to keep them in place for years to come.

So very fun!

Tres demonstrates to us how to make decorative knots with embroidery thread.

Wayne loves his freeform cloche!

Tres loves her freeform cloche too!

Sleep, the elusive visitor

2011-04-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the San Francisco Public library to focus on computer work. I can't get any work done if the hats are staring at me, begging for attention! After a delicious lunch at the Turkish restaurant across the street, Gyro King, I decided to catch up on the past week's Women's Wear Daily. I'm making a business trip to New York City in a few weeks, so I need to be 'in the know'! I found a few articles very interesting. One was on how Italian luxury leather brand, Bottega Veneta, recently made its first fashion film. The film, called Viaggio Notturno (night journey), is directed by Christian Weber and inspired by BV’s Creative Director, Tomas Maier. It makes me want to make fishskin eyemasks, since I use a very boring one at the moment from Icelandair airlines that's made of nylon and who wants nylon next to their eyes all night? I want to make a fishskin one for myself with organic cotton on the inside and wear it on my flight to NY. Oh I wish I had bought a sleep mask from this Etsy shop. The designer has closed it down! Check out her designs in the 'sales' section.

Sleeping is not one of my strengths. No matter whether I'm in the city of San Francisco, New York or Istanbul or in the country and all I can hear are frogs and crickets, I have to wear silicone earplugs and a sleep mask. Sometimes I can miss the alarm, though, so I sleep with two alarms! I can sleep straight through the night about once or twice a month, thanks to swimming. Now I just need to stop eating chocolate after 6pm! I found some tips on how to get a good night's rest online that I wanted to share with you. I have the most fascinating exciting dreams sometimes that yield amazing designs, whether they are hats, clothing, tech devices like a cell phone watch, or oftentimes, furniture!!! I even recently dreamt of an entire interior that I had designed.

YouTube is a free, powerful platform for advertising your brand. However, one must be careful, because once you post on YouTube, they claim to own it. Did you know that? They can do anything they want with the video. Some people prefer to post to Vimeo because you retain the rights. Check out my YouTube channel and subscribe here. Does anyone else have a fashion film they want to share?

Minimalistic Abstraction

2011-03-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Listening to music is so integral to creativity. I prefer minimalistic and experimental tunes, they help my brain to wander into new territory to create new millinery. It took a friend to point out to me that the music I listen to, the paintings I own, and the hats I make are similar in style! I love abstract expressionism. My mother painted in the style of abstract expressionism with car enamel paints on masonite in the 1950's when she was in her 20s. I own two of her paintings and would have more if my studio were larger! Here are details from one of her paintings. I wish she had continued with her art, I'm sure she would've been famous. I don't know any other artist who even came close to her style. She instead took the path to inspire the children of the military as an art teacher and made a big impact on them (I still get people contacting me on Facebook to tell me how my mother influenced them). When following a degree in Art History at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, my favorite course was an Abstract Expressionism class.

Abstract Expressionist painting by Jasmin's mother

closeup of Jasmin's mother's painting

As a kid, I used to listen to the sounds between stations on my father's shortwave radio. I would get fixated on listening to pure static or the sound of morse code. I suppose this was my early introduction to listening to abstract, ambient music. A music critic once told me that many ambient and experimental electronic musicians were also fixated on these types of sounds as kids. Right now, I'm listening every single day to an album from 2006 by Burial, a musician in the UK. Here is my favorite track he's ever made, called 'Prayer'.

I even make my own tracks for a hobby with my spoken word poetry, field recordings, and samples from movies. When I first got my blackberry and scrolled through all the ringtones, I couldn't find one that I liked, so I figured out how to make my own in Garageband. So far I've made two ringtones. One I sampled from an old Esther Williams movie (the swimming star) where a man who's got a crush on her is massaging her feet and she says "Oh no, don't do that, no...no...no no no no...ah that feels good, that feels even better!". I know it sounds like something else, but that's the fun of it! The other ringtone is sampled from a movie where a man says in an English accent, "You can't just pull one out of a hat! I was born under the sign of Sagittarius, that's the archer!" He's talking about making a contract, plus I'm a Sagittarius! I then added a music track that Amon Tobin remixed, the one below. I used the music from :54. I have to say that I never miss a call!

Some other musicians I'm listening to now:

Pan Sonic

Pole

Autechre

Biosphere

Moth Electret

Subklinik

And so I'll leave you with one of the favorite hats I've ever made of black sinamay straw. It's inspired by smoke. It was sold last year before the Kentucky Derby race through a sweet hat shop named 'Hats on Post' in downtown Union Square, San Francisco to a woman who's with the Gallo wine family. She prefers to remain anonymous.

Turbans by Jasmin Zorlu Millinery for Colleen Quen

2011-03-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

The power of the written word is more dynamic than you think! Within week of writing down in my journal in the Fall of 2009, "I want to meet Colleen Quen", I met her! I'd been wanting to contact her for several years before that, but was shy and intimidated. We first met at the opening for the Harputs store in Union Square, San Francisco. She was standing in the middle of the store, holding her adorable French bulldog puppy, Lubai. I made a beeline for her and Lubai, as I am a huge small dog lover (I really don't know what's holding me back from getting one of my own!). She admired my cashmere hat, immediately saying that she wanted one. When she introduced herself, I did a little freakout. I said, "Colleen Quen, the Colleen Quen? Oh my god, I wrote down in my journal that I wanted to meet you and I met you only a few days later!" (there's my Sagittarian way, telling the truth right away!)

Colleen lives in a gorgeous to-die-for loft with her husband, Rick Lee, who's an industrial designer.

Colleen Quen's stunning couture gowns. Photo courtesy of mochimag.com

In September, I went to the opening of the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles to see the opening of TECHstyle SoftWEAR: Surface and Shape, a collaboration she made with Corrine Okada.

Here are two eco cashmere hats which Colleen bought. She's holding her adorable French bulldog, Lubai.

Colleen Quen in a Jasmin Zorlu eco cashmere hat

Colleen Quen in another Jasmin Zorlu eco cashmere hat

In October, before I took my father to Turkey for our 3 week vacation, I showed 3 turbans created from the fabric of Colleen Quen's daytime collection at a fundraiser for the Bay Area Auxiliary Arthritis Foundation. The denim and wool outfits ranged in price from $900 to $2500. I used fine grey wool and pleated it, wrapping it around the head. It was an experimental turban style, not your conventional one. Beautiful diamond and precious gem brooches pulled the looks together. The photos below are by the studio of Scott Robert Lim.

Colleen Quen's 'New Look' with turban by Jasmin Zorlu

This Colleen Quen dress is so hot! Turban by Jasmin Zorlu

Finale walk of Colleen Quen's 'New Look' collection with turban by Jasmin Zorlu

Here's a really fun vintage video on how to create your own turbans from scarves.
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Fish skin is fascinating!

2011-03-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Vogue Nippon 2010

Today I was listing a new hat on my Etsy shop modeled by the beautiful Kaylin Andres and looked her up. What did I find but an amazingly inspiring post which she made of an underwater photo shoot which appeared in Vogue Nippon in 2010. See more of these stunning photos of Alla Kostromicheva by Sølve Sundsbø in 'The Girl From Atlantis' here on Papermode.

I then listed a fish skin fascinator hat right afterwards. I'm really inspired by fish skin, because it's an eco friendly leather; not to mention it's downright gorgeous and interesting! Read all about it in an earlier post on this blog.

Fishy Fascinator Hat in Nile Perchskin, front view

Fishy Fascinator Hat in Nile Perchskin, top view

From Lovesick 4 fashion show. Check out the hat in purple!

I'm waiting on a new swatch book of tilapia leather from a tannery I just was introduced to by a dear friend of mine, Jubal. Tilapia is very different from Nile Perchskin. The scales are smaller and flatter with a scalloped shape, with less 'ruffle'. I'm going to be making the wedding hats which I mentioned in an earlier post out of it.

Eco friendly Tilapia Leather

I'm thinking daily about the devastation in Japan, I still can't believe it happened. I try not to look at the photos, just like when I was living in New York City for September 11th, I couldn't bear to go look at the site for an entire year! My heart and prayers go out to them. I lived in Japan from the age of 5 to 9, and let me tell you, it was one of the best times ever to live there. I remember the earthquake drills in elementary school and the field trips to cookie factories, silk spinning factories, rice pounding day, the Kamakura buddha. I still like to brag that I fell in love with Hello Kitty when she was launched! I watched shows on tv like Robocon and Goranger. I was into trading Pink Lady cards.

One of my Robocon trading cards saved from my childhood

Goranger was the precursor to the show shown on American TV

Pink Lady! Love the silver boots and hat!

I will make it back to Japan someday soon!

'Mens Hats are hot again'

2011-03-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a delightful article promoting men's hats posted a week ago on March 7th on the San Jose Mercury News website. They mention Goorin Brothers and Paul's HatWorks! Which style of men's hat is my favorite, you ask? I love the men's drivers cap the most. Here's one I recently made for a customer out of an upcycled 100% camel hair blazer. It has Nile Perch leather applique on the underside of the visor, which you can't see.

2nd fitting of the driver's cap accompanied by his adorable Bean, a french bulldog.

Here's a cool picture of him in 1983 which I found on Facebook. He had great hat taste back then too!

The man above!

I also just delivered a cashmere sting ray driver's cap to Danielle Schubert, the owner of the Mill Valley Hat Box. I was very honored to be commissioned by her, as I have been selling her hats for her customers for the past few years. Here is the sting ray leather right after I bought it. Isn't it incredible? It's actually Guitar Ray, a type of sting ray. It took me 16 hours to make the hat, because I wanted to make it perfect. It's not fun hand-stitching sting ray! This hat retails for $1200.

Guitar ray leather from a local supplier

Closeup of the Guitar ray leather

This is what the guitar ray looks like in the flesh

Danielle commissioned the hat because she had a near death experience with a sting ray at the age of 15. The sting ray injected poison into her foot! So for her, wearing the hat is a karmic experience. Here's the hat in progress: look at all the quilting work I did to make the cashmere stiff.

Danielle's sting ray cashmere driver cap in progress

The top of the cashmere sting ray driver's cap


That's me on the left and her on the right! Both wearing our aquatic leather headwear!

Hybrids are not just cars, they are also hats!

2011-03-11T16:20:00.000-08:00


I bought this hat from one of my neighbors, a woman who wore this as a bartender before she became a milliner

I've always had a soft spot for military uniforms. Perhaps the fact that I grew up around the American military for 17 years out of 18 of my formative years played a part in it.

When I made my first collection for Goorin Brothers which launched in Fall of 2007,

I was severely inspired by military caps and hats. One of the styles which I designed became a best seller. I remember when I presented the mockup in muslin to the their team and the President said "Oh that style will be good for press, but it probably won't sell well, it looks too Japanese-y". Well, surprise of all surprises, it surpassed all the other styles in number of units sold, and ran for 4 seasons. You can see more of the work I did for Goorin Brothers here.

Parisian Pompier Cap by Jasmin Zorlu for Cassel Goorin, Fall 2007

This Parisian Pompier Cap was a hybrid of three different hat styles: A Parisian Firefighter's cap from their regular day-to-day uniform, a garrison cap (similar to the hat at the top of this blog posting) and a fedora. I love blending existing, recognizable hat silhouettes and creating something innovative, fresh and exciting.

When I lived in Paris for 6 months from 2003 to 2004, I was given a gift of a Parisian firefighter's hat direct from the firefighter at the firehouse near the Saint-Sulpice Church. I was invited to coffee in a back office and subsequently given the 20 questions in French! Are you married, why are you here in Paris, etc etc. My heart was pounding for the entire 20 minutes that I didn't even remember I had my SLR Nikon FM2 camera in my bag. Oh, I should've gotten a photo with them! I even ended up trading my 9-11 FDNY embroidered patch for an authentic Parisian firefighter's calender (no, no half naked men, sorry!). The Parisian firefighters are considered part of the military, so they aren't allowed to strike. Thus, they must fundraise on their own to keep their firehouse open, can you believe it? And we thought we had it bad in the States, with our closing firehouses.

This is their new fire helmet, as of 2009. I like the old one, below this one. It's more beautiful, don't you think?

New Parisian Firefighter's Helmet, 2009 Courtesy of dailymail.co.uk

Parisian Firefighter's Helmet, 2008, courtesy of Gunnsi on Flikr

I have always had a huge huge fetish for firefighters, ever since I can remember. My mother told me that our next door neighbor in Santa Barbara used to come over and have me sit on his lap when I was 4 years old. He was a firefighter. I won two essay contests on Fire Prevention in grade school. I placed an ad in the 'Village Voice' paper in New York City looking for firefighters to date (went out with 2 different ones). I especially heart New York City firefighters.

I love the suspenders and the harness! He looks like he stepped out of a movie.

Firefighters hanging out on a nice day on 8th Avenue, New York City


Check out the helmets, so classic. They're made of leather!

Leather firefighter helmet by Cairns

FDNY Firefighters are true angels: selfless, friendly, engaging souls!

Here I am wearing a collection I designed for my graduation from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City in 1997 in a NYC firehouse. I figured out how to do the thigh-high stretch boots on my own without help from the teacher. She didn't like working with fabric! Stretch boots then came on the market right after I made mine! I'm tapped into the collective unconscious. Notice how I put the red on the inside and silver on the outside, unconventional.

I was one of two graduating students from May 1997 who was profiled in Footwear News, and industry publication for the footwear industry. I'm still wearing those silver boots below, but have cut the tops off to make them more wearable. The other one featured, Sarah Mullins, is a professor at FIT in the Accessory department and has co-authored two books on making bags. (I have one of them!). And who was she inspired by? You guessed it! Firefighters!

Me today, at a gallery opening wearing the same boots from 1997!

Learn how to make a 1920's style cloche hat that perfectly fits you

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Yesterday night I completed a video teaser for my 'Freeform Hat Blocking Workshop'. The video was shot by a friend of mine who is a videographer. He teaches kids 8 years old and up how to shoot and edit video!

The next scheduled workshop is at the beautiful studio of Wayne Wichern in Redwood City on the weekend of April 16th. It's 8 hours long, 4 hours each day. You don't even need any experience sewing, it's perfect for beginners. And once you learn this technique, I warn you, you may get addicted, because the possibilities are endless! Plus, you only need steam, a felt cone, a standard balsa hat block (easily found on ebay), and some strong straight pins. I have been using this technique for 18 years!

I'm in the midst of scheduling workshops in San Francisco, so please email me if you're interested at jasmin (at) jasminzorlu.com to be altered as soon as the dates become available.

You can sign up for the 'Freeform Hat Blocking Workshop' on his website here. Scroll down for more information.

Learn how to make a 1920's style cloche hat that perfectly fits you. In this two-day workshop, milliner Jasmin Zorlu will guide you through the exciting art of 'Freeform Hat Blocking'. Using steam and your fingers, manipulate a pre-formed fur felt cone on a standard wooden hat form and then hand-stitch it. No machine stitching skills are needed, only basic hand-stitching skills. This class is perfect for beginners who have no experience sewing. Non-intimidating, plus the possibilities are endless!

"I believe anyone will be pleased with the skills they learn in any class taught by Jasmin Zorlu. You will go home with a one-of-a-kind hat you'll be excited to wear! Jasmin's instruction is clear and she will lead you through the hatmaking process step by step. She has a serious interest in making sure all her students understand exactly what to do. A great artist and a great teacher. I highly recommend her classes."--Jennifer G.

Jasmin Zorlu has been making Sculptural Headwear since 1991. She has been teaching workshops in the art of freeform hat blocking since 2001, in New York City and the Bay Area. Locally, she has taught at Apparel Arts, Lacis, SomArts, and Wayne Wichern's studio. Her freeform blocked felt hats have sold in Barney's and all over the world. Erykah Badu, Tom Waits, and Neil Young have bought Jasmin Zorlu's hats.

Lovesick Fashion Show Photos

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Hat by Jasmin Zorlu. Top and corset by Alexandria Von Bromssen. Photo by Del Geronimo

The superstar photographer Del Geronimo with lovelies Kara Emily and Caley Johnson

Here I'm intruding on the lovestruck couple of Alexandria Von Bromssen and her boyfriend Chad, drummer in the band who performed, The Goldenhearts. I was afraid I wouldn't get a photo with her (I was right to be afraid, because this is the only photo I have of her and I).

The happy couple Chad & Alexandria with intruder Jasmin Zorlu

This past Monday, February 14th, 2011, I showed my fishskin cocktail hats at Lovesick 4 in 111 Minna Street Gallery. Lovesick is an annual Valentine's day fashion show dedicated to those who are frustrated about love. Alexandria Von Bromssen conceived the idea and has thrown the show for 4 years in a row. She's a simply amazing fashion designer who received her Master's in Apparel Design at the Academy of Art. I've taught hatmaking twice at her sewing school for kids, Camp Couture. This year she blew me away with an amazing top made of organic fabric which I dubbed 'infinity top', because of the countless ways in which you can wear it. Here it is, worn with a new type of cocktail/fascinator hat that I've been making in the shape of a fish. I call it 'Fishy Fascinator' I added abalone shells and greenish blue feathers.

Hat by Jasmin Zorlu. Top by Alexandria Von Bromssen. Photo by Svetlana Saitsky

Alexandria loved the purple one so much, she bought it at the end of show! I can't wait to see her using it for photo shoots with her amazing clothing, or wearing it! I texted her the next day, asking about the price of the 'infinity top', because I must have one!

Hat by Jasmin Zorlu. Top by Alexandria Von Bromssen. Photo by Svetlana Saitsky


The uber talented photographer Svetlana Saitsky, my building neighbor!

Check out more photos of Lovesick 4 by Svetlana Saitsky. Above Svetlana is wearing the hat I wore last year. Here are some photos from another photographer named Lawrence Gerald.

Hat by Jasmin Zorlu; Dress and undies by Alexandria Von Bromssen. Photo by Lawrence Gerald.

Hat by Jasmin Zorlu. Underwear by Alexandria Von Bromssen. Photo by Lawrence Gerald.

I ended up making a hat for Alexandria on the spot, before the show. I used the same fabric as the wedding dress. I had brought some supplies with me, like ostrich feathers and white ribbon. It turned out well! She didn't want me to add any veiling or tulle at the back because she wanted her bride to be 'modern' (check out the footwear choice--very smart!)

Wedding Headpiece by Jasmin Zorlu. Wedding dress by Alexandria Von Bromssen. Photo by Lawrence Gerald.

Wedding Headpiece by Jasmin Zorlu. Wedding Dress by Alexandria Von Bromssen. Photo by Lawrence Gerald

Hat by Jasmin Zorlu. Wedding Dress by Alexandria Von Bromssen. Photo by Lawrence Gerald.

I absolutely love the headdresses of Caley Johnson. Her business is called 'Miss G Designs'. I NEED one! This is my favorite one which she opened up her segment with, it would go with my Trendy Love leggings, which I wore that night, right?

Headdress by Miss G Designs. Photo by Svetlana Saitsky

The other designers who showed were Tamo Designs, Silver Lucy, My Dirty Dishes, Miss Velvet Cream, Fluidance and Pace Clothing.

Here is my favorite hat from Lovesick 3 last year where I used the soundtrack from Vivaldi's Four Seasons called 'Summer'. All the hats I showed were black and called 'Armageddon collection'. This one-of-a-kind hat below inspired by smoke ended up selling in a hat boutique called Hats on Post in downtown San Francisco to a member of the Gallo wine family right before the Kentucky Derby last year who preferred to remain anonymous. I miss it :-(. If you missed my blog post about the show, check it out here.

Smoke Sinamay Straw Hat by Jasmin Zorlu. Photo by Ryuuzaki.

Oh my gosh, I love Vivaldi. Here is the soundtrack I used:

If you'd like to see the photos of the other amazing designers, go to

Svetlana Saitsky's website
Lawrence Gerald's flickr page

Stay tuned for Lovesick 5 next year my love doves!