About Kaori Millinery

Milliner (Hat & Headwear designer / Craftsman / Creator) : Kaori Maeda

After studying the basic of hat making at the Salon de Chapeau school (Tokyo), Kaori spent three years in London leaning couture millinery techniques from one of the world’s top milliners, Prudence, who is one of the few milliners to continue the traditional hand-sewn method of production. She worked under Prudence as an assistant in the production of headwear for fashion shows of Vivienne Westwood, for whom Prudence has been designing and Creating for many years, as well as producing headwear for stage costumes for the English National Opera and other productions. Later, she trained at Mühlbauer in Vienna in order to get to know mass-produced hat-making, which is different from couture.

Upon returning to Japan in 2014, she set up her own business as Kaori Millinery. Currently based in Tokyo, she works as a bespoke hat craftsman and headwear creator, utilising both couture milliner and mass-produced skills.