Chocks Away

The ‘Onwards and Upwards’ hat from Goodrum & Merryweather. On exhibition from 22/02/22.

My latest exhibition, a group show with other UK-based milliners, has finally opened (on 22/02/22) at the Flying Museum in the evocatively-named Middle Wallop, Hampshire, England. It’s quite a thrill as plans have been afoot for many months and the culmination of everyone’s hard work, especially our saintly and patient curator, Dan Ball, has come, rather splendidly, to fruition. The exhibition will be at Middle Wallop until mid-April before touring throughout the Southern counties for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023. Most exhilarating of all is that my hat (pictured), titled Onwards and Upwards, has bagged a plum spot for display: front-and-centre to an original, and exceptionally rare, Sopwith Pup vintage biplane. Chocks away, as they say.

My fellow milliners and I were invited to respond to existing, historical, hats already held in the museum’s archive by creating new and original work. The exhibition label accompanying my resulting hat elaborates, thus:

“…[Her] hat is titled Onwards and Upwards and is a tribute to the pioneering women, past and present, in army aviation.  Inspired by the iconic blue beret of the Army Air Corps, it is made from a vintage parasisal straw hood, topped with a jinsin swirl and arrowhead quill.  The idea for the hat emerged from the experiences shared in the Army Flying Museum’s new exhibit and online lecture, Women in Army Aviation.  The hat captures the spirit of the women and their stories: dynamic, energetic and with plenty of oomph.”