Hats off to Elisabeth Koch, the Dutch milliner whose creations have been worn by Li Bingbing, Angelababy and Zhang Ziyi
- The Beijing-based milliner talks about some of her quirkier creations, her A-list clients and moving back to the Netherlands
- Her most memorable client? Queen Maxima of the Netherlands
How did you come to be a milliner in Beijing? “My husband was posted here as a diplomat in 2007, and I started with a studio in the spare room of my home for the first four years. At that time there was nobody making traditional hats or with millinery expertise. Yes, there were hat factories, but my high-end hats were made by hand and sold for 3,000 yuan and up.
Everyone said, make use of the fact that you are in China to produce a lower price label, so I launched Elisabeth Koch Millinery Blue Label. The hats were priced at an average of 750 yuan, one size fits all, and sold like hot cakes.”
You have accumulated quite a collection of A-list clients. “I had my hats featured in two major feature films – If You Are the One 2 starring Yao Chen and The Message, a period movie set in the 1940s with Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun. I have also made hats for Shu Qi, Zhang Ziyi and Angelababy.
“Big brands such as Porsche, De Beers, Sotheby’s and Wedgwood also hired me for VIP gatherings where I would give a talk or hold a workshop on hat etiquette. I have a long-standing collaboration with Swarovski. On one occasion I was asked by a client to make a hat in the shape of a dinosaur that was studded with Swarovski crystals.
“I have also made hats in the shape of a motorcycle, a lobster and a panda. I have made numerous hats for Royal Ascot in England; there are specific rules for the size of your hat depending on which box you are in. I have also made hats for the Melbourne Cup, which is Australia’s biggest horse race.”
