Main content

Crowning The Queens

A milliner from London and a turban-designer in Paris whose clients include Queen Elizabeth and 'Queen Bey'.

Can hats be liberating for women? Nelufar Hedayat brings together a hatmaker to the British Queen and a turban designer to BeyoncΓ©.

Rachel Trevor-Morgan is a London based milliner who has been making hats for the Queen for over a decade. As well as royalty she also sells to top fashion retailers, and thinks it's a shame that we don’t wear hats as much as we used to. Rachel is not trying to push the boundaries of fashion with her hats - she says her mission is to make her clients look classically feminine and glamorous.

Donia Allegue Walbaum is a French luxury fashion designer whose turbans have been commissioned by BeyoncΓ©, including for the video for her latest single. She's aiming to reinvent this age-old headpiece in a modern way, and says it's the ultimate accessory. Many of her clients also wear them to cover their heads for religious reasons, or even in the case of illness.

Image: Turban designer Donia Allegue Walbaum and milliner Rachel Trevor-Morgan donning their designs
(L) Donia Allegue Walbaum. Credit: Laurent Mauger
(R) Rachel Trevor-Morgan. Credit: Catherine Harbour

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Sat 18 Aug 2018 19:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 13 Aug 2018 02:32GMT
  • Mon 13 Aug 2018 03:32GMT
  • Mon 13 Aug 2018 04:32GMT
  • Mon 13 Aug 2018 10:32GMT
  • Mon 13 Aug 2018 21:32GMT
  • Sat 18 Aug 2018 19:32GMT

The best of The Conversation

Enlightening, inspiring, revealing: Some of our favourite Conversations so far

100 Women

Global experience on image, work, relationships, equality, migration and working lives

Podcast