Chelsea millinery students design for leading London fashion store  

Millinery students at Morley’s Chelsea Centre for Creative Industries, are benefiting from the opportunity to work with buyers from the high-end department store Fenwick’s, located on Bond Street, one of London’s most expensive streets. 

The students, who are studying for the Higher National Certificate in millinery at Chelsea, are currently working on designing hats, which can be worn for all summer occasions.  

Buyers from Fenwick’s will choose hats to sell in the millinery department at the Bond Street store, ahead of Royal Ascot this summer, an event where hat wear is as popular as the horses. 

Vesna Persic, tutor in millinery at Morley College London said: 

This is a great privilege for the students and gives them an invaluable introduction to the world of professional occasion millinery.
Their creations will sit alongside the leading UK milliners and be seen by many of the most discerning millinery customers.

Vesna Persic

Morley’s Chelsea Centre is one of only a handful of centres that teaches millinery and the relationship with Fenwick’s is a long-standing one, which has seen around 75 students taken part in the collaboration and their creations displayed and sold by Fenwick’s. 

Students gain industry experience, learn how to respond to a buyer’s brief and to design for specific customers. Additionally, it teaches them about considering materials, comfort, trends in colour and in matching with other outfits.  

They also gain huge knowledge from the experience of having their work considered by one of the UK’s leading millinery buyers.