The thunder of galloping thoroughbreds and chinking champagne flutes will be mingled with gasps of joy from Yorkshire’s best dressed racegoers. Nine Millinery students from Leeds College of Art will be launching their debut collections in the Life & Style Marquee at Yorkshire Post Ladies Day, Wetherby Races Thursday 20 May.
Leeds College of Art, is the only college in the North to offer a specialist millinery course. Course leader Sharon Bainbridge, an established milliner herself, describes the course, ‘I teach traditional millinery techniques whilst encouraging each student to think outside the box with their designs and materials.’
Sharon continues, ‘At the end of the course each student is equipped to work as an independent business women. Following the success of last year, my students will again be launching their new businesses at Yorkshire Post Ladies Day.’
The students’ collective stage name at race day is ‘Hat Makers of The North’. They are a dynamic group of women, whose ages range from 19 to 50 years plus. The life experiences of each milliner have a strong influence on their work and business philosophy.
Millinery student, Suzanne Gill spent many years travelling the world with her husband’s career alongside looking after a family, ‘My business ethos is based on flexibility and convenience for my clients’. Wearing her other hat, student Rhian Kempadoo designs and creates carnival costumes, she describes her millinery collection as, ‘Extravagant, decadent and themed on Caribbean folklore.’
The racegoers at Wetherby will be treated to a number of catwalk shows interspersed between the races at Yorkshire Post Ladies Day. Each milliner will show their debut collection based on summer and winter themes. The catwalk is located in the Life & Style Marquee, which is an ideal place to treat yourself to oysters, a glass of bubbly and a sojourn into feathery flights of fancy.
