Fascinators

Fascinators

A fascinator is generally understood as a small hat with no brim, or a hair adornment, held with a band or clip. They are often headbands with a base, with some kind of ornament attached.

At Sahar Millinery we like our fascinators to be fairly substantial, especially in the base. We’re fond of flattering shapes, such as the ‘teardrop’ and our own round base which has an upturned side – akin to a mini brim. This makes the line between hat and fascinator fairly fluid – often people don’t know the correct term and simply say ‘fascinator hat’ – which is fine!

We tend to go for asymmetrical bases, or encourage women to wear their fascinators to the side. The straight-in-the-middle-symmetrical look is one we love – it’s a bold look, needs to be deliberate and the wearer needs to have utmost confidence. We would love to help you pull this off!

We may think of fascinators as a recent invention, but as far back as the Baroque era of the 17th Century, head decorations without a hat developed. Ostrich feathers were worn by ladies as head decoration among the European royal courts, Queen Marie Antoinette being at the forefront of that fashion. The term Fascinator was used in the 19th Century to describe a lightweight scarf worn around the head and tied under the chin – this was also called a ‘cloud. This type of head covering went out of fashion in the 1930s, but then in the 1990s, the word fascinator started to be used once again, this time to describe hat designs akin to 1960’s cocktail hats – designed to ‘perch’ on the highly coiffed hairstyles of the period.

We have many wedding fascinators which are also suitable for a variety of summer events housed at our showroom and studio in Central London. We also offer a bespoke service if you are looking to match an outfit, or have an idea of your own.

Most of our pieces are fixed with elastic, but if you prefer a fascinator headband, then we can change this to an alice band, or clip or comb.

Contact Sahar on [email protected] to make an appointment.