Top It Off With Hats By Iris Lohninger - Stylehive

DIYthing had a chance to catch up with Iris Lohninger, a Los Angeles based milliner who is fascinated with hats. We asked her tell us about her style and inspiration for making such awesome hats.

Iris: How shall I describe my style...it's not cerebral, not intellectual. It always starts with vague abstract feelings and a desire to express these feelings and condense them into reality. I pick material that I think fits and surround myself with them, and then I start working on a kind of a prototype. I do sketches, I cut pieces of paper to make a pattern to get a handle on the 3D space. I stop and go and change and take all apart again and so on. It's like composing music. I never give up on a new design. If it doesn't totally satisfy me, I feel challenged and have to come up with new solutions and in the end I'm always surprised about the final outcome! I have so many ideas in my head. I only need to see a few buttons and some fabric and I get the idea! And not to forget all the people who can't wait to see my next creation.That's a thrill for me!!!

DIYthing: We noticed you do more than design hats- do you find when you are working on another design that you have ideas for your hats pop in your head, or that what started out as something else ends up as a hat?

Iris: Yes, yes, and yes! All the time! Creating can be many things- it could be that I'm cooking and the same time dream a hat! I also work in the movies, on set, on location and get quite some inspiration from the drama of being there. I'm also selling the majority of my creations during film shoots. I wear a different hat everyday and there's practically no film shoot where one actress or another doesn't pick up one of my designs. So I get paid twice. I think fashion in general (not only hats) is immensely fascinating - as fascinating as any other kind of art, be it fine arts or music or poetry. And I think we could need more fashion still! I'm fascinated by fashion of all forms.