Social & Personal September 2011

Social & Personal September 2011

Image magazine August 2011

Hats for the play “Translations” at the Abbey July 2011

Social & Personal July 2011

Style Tonic fashion blog 2nd July 2011

The Irish Times 27th May 2011

Image magazine May 2011

Irish Tatler 12 May 2011

Four Live Rte1 blog post 29th March 2011

The Irish Times magazine 22 January 2011

Sunday Independent life magazine 9th January 2011

Irish Tatler November 2010

Social & Personal November 2010

Irish Tatler October 2010

The Irish Times 23 October 2010

Advertisment showing the hat that John Shevlin designed for the Gate theatre’s production of “Endgame” by Becket

Sunday Business Post Agenda magazine 5th September 2010

Irish Daily Mail 1st June 2010

Article in The Sunday Business Post 18th Feb 2010

John Shevlin: Milliner.
You don’t need a hat for an occasion.
It’s very practical, it keeps you warm and you do turn heads when you wear it.
The majority of my customers are female, although I do see an increase in men looking for hats.
Men make up about 20 per cent of my business.
The word milliner originated from Milan.
It was a big centre for hat making.
I began making hats thanks to my late father.
He started a hat factory in Malahide in the 1960s. The clothing industry in Dublin was a big employer then, but not so much now.
I export my hats.
I’ve had a massive order from Japan.
Hats are making a comeback.
They did go away in the 1970s and 1980s.Then Lady Di came on the scene andreinvented the hat industry in England.

Men tend to be conservative
and go for a black hat.
With ladies It’s different.
They’ll happily wear different colours. I’m trying to get men to go away from black and I’ve succeeded with quite a few.
A lot of people come into me saying, ‘I can never get a hat to fit’.
There’s no problem with that -I can make one up specially for them.
One customer came into me saying that he and his wife always bought their hats in London as they could never get one to fit here.
Then he found out about me.
With the recession, people are accessorising more now.
They’re thinking of ways to look different, to look better.
Rather than buy a whole new outfit, they can look different with a hat.
I’ve been working on hats that have taken, between
coffee breaks, two or three days.
But I could do one in
two or three hours depending on the style.
Very often, people don’t know what they’re looking for.
One lady had never worn a hat before and was saying, ‘I
don’t know what hat would suit me’. We tried on every different
shape and she found one that did.
Some shapes are better for some people.
If I take into account a person’s height, the shape of their face and what they’re wearing, I can immediately say: ‘This one won’t do you any favours’. I won’t sell you a hat that doesn’t look right.
The Panama hat is something I want to specialise In . more.
The best quality Panama is made from theToquilla plant,
which originates in Ecuador.
One of my customers asked me where was the best
place to keep her hat.
Of course, I said: ‘On your head’.
Treat your hat with care
it’ll last a long time.
You’d often see hats in the back windows of cars.
The sun softens the material and it gets discoloured. Try not to do that.
Interview: David Clerkin Picture: Feargal Ward

John being interviewed on Rte2’s “The business” radio show


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