We have all admired the work of milliner Marie O’Reagan, who made hats for Queen Elizabeth II for several decades. Her story is beautifully told in Mike Southon’s short film, “The Millinery Lesson” which also gives an insightful view at the history of millinery over the past century. Watch it here.
Here are some of the more than 200 hats Marie made for Her Majesty, under her own label as well as those of Freddie Fox and Philip Somerville.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Images from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
I finally got a 58-minute block of time, and thoroughly enjoyed the video on Marie O’Regan. Such a delightful person, she reminds me of my long departed Polish American grandmother – strict, exact, and above all, loving. I literally laughed out loud at her comment on how women can be. (This isn’t universal, is it?)
Looking forward to watching this later today!
In the past week milliner Ian Bennett posted on his Instagram a great tribute to Marie O’Regan and talked briefly about his recent visit with her: https://www.instagram.com/p/CkAy3RmIAR7/
Here it is:
Thanks HatQueen; I thought I got the link correct to embed the post, but clearly not.
I watched this last night; of course I knew virtually nothing about Marie O’Regan beforehand, but what a delight to learn about her past (Armenia and France!), seeing how she talked about her designs under Fox and Somerville (made me laugh because I get it), and watching her in action teaching. Thank you HatQueen for finding and sharing this with us! I wish more milliners were profiled like this.
she has a certain creative fluidity
lovely hats
Lovely hats here and so varied! I particularly like the grey one with blue trimming in the 3rd slideshow and the grey one with the pink underbrim in the last. Off to watch the film now!
Some very unique designs and stunning colours!
Thank you so much for sharing this, what an amazing artist.
Definitely not a milliner with only one string to her stylistic bow!
Fascinating! Thank you for sharing the link to the film!