Immy Howard Millinery

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Immy Howard Millinery

Immy Howard Millinery is the home of hand made headpieces, from vintage inspired classics to fairytale fancies, and anything in between!

Bespoke hats and headpieces for bridal and eventswear. Do get in touch if you would like to discuss a commission! [email protected]

24/01/2026

A few satisfying curls being styled on the table this morning! ✂️

16/11/2025

Recently I’ve been working on a little dog puppet for an upcoming project, so thought I would show you how it’s going! There’s still a little way to go (and I am by NO means a puppeteer or dog whisperer 😂 so please excuse the dodgy dog handling!) but really chuffed with how it’s coming together so far. Will share more as I develop and eventually finish it, but hope you enjoy this little experimental video!

04/08/2025

Here are some closeups of the floor I designed and made for one of our most recent self produced shows at , A Caucasian Chalk Circle. I loved working on this project and creating this abstract, paintily floor was so much fun ♥️
The overall idea was for this floor to represent lots of different locations within the play, and to have a general sense of timelessness to it. I built the texture of the floor up in various layers using neutral washes, before adding detail with floorboards, grassland, and marbling. I hadn’t really done marbling before so was improvising quite a lot with how to approach it, but completely fell in love with doing it, and think it looked pretty effective (despite taking AGES to dry 😂)

I hope you like these photos! I’m enjoying sharing a few different projects here and there, and have some really exciting millinery bits that I can’t wait to show you too. Have a lovely day, all!

01/08/2025

A Caucasian Chalk Circle
This was one of our most recent productions at , and it was such a joy to be part of! I designed the costumes and set for this show, so wanted to share some images from start to finish. The entire cast, crew and creative team were an enourmous joy to work with and it was so much fun bringing this show together with everyone!

The time period, location and overall setting for this show was non descript, giving me a chance to get quite conceptual with the overall design. I decided to focus on the main themes of the play that stuck out to me, and how to depict those through design. These included themes of loss, abandonment, class, power and journeys. To explore this, I decided to take common household items that were associated with varying levels of status, and suspended them in a scattered and unorganised way to represent chaos and the idea that home was just out of reach.

The floor itself shows a variation of terrains including battered floorboards, grassland and deserts, all mingled in with murky marbled textures to blend them all together.

I hope you like it, and can’t wait to share more images with you!

21/07/2025

🏎️ DHL X F1 - JAPANESE GRAND PRIX 🏁
I am so excited to share this rather unusual commission I received earlier this year!
The brief: to make a bespoke headpiece for inspired by the exquisite fan-made hats traditionally worn at the Japanese Grand Prix (definitely worth a Google search if you don’t know what I mean!)
This hat was then worn by the brilliant at the Grand Prix to host a special competition. It was such a pleasure being part of this epic experience!
I worked closely with and designed a selection of headpiece options, and this was the one we settled on. It is inspired by the Japanese Suzuka circuit, adorned with iconic modes of transport that DHL use (with a little bit of artistic license from me 😉)
I customised each vehicle with hand made tiny labels and DHL paint work so it was in theme. The track itself is made of foam board to keep it strong and lightweight, and is based on a construction helmet, which is traditionally what is used as a base for these types of hats.
I hadn’t known much about these headpieces when I first got the commission, and I have to say it was one of the best internet rabbit holes I have been down for a while!
🏁🏎️🏁

10/06/2025

I thought I’d share a bit of exciting recent news on here… I’ve got a new job!

I’m absolutely thrilled to share that I have taken on the role of Resident Designer at 🎭 I’ll be designing the majority of our self produced shows throughout the year, including the costumes for our upcoming pantomime, Dick Whittington! I’ve worked with the Playhouse since 2016 doing various backstage and front of house roles over the years, and I’m over the moon that my responsibilities at the theatre have now evolved into something much more design based, which is what I trained in. I can’t wait to share some of the projects I have been working on with you all! 🎨

Just to add! My new job has not affected any of the freelance work I can take on, including my Immy Howard Millinery business which is very much open for commissions 😊 I’m working on various hat making projects so if there’s a dream headpiece you have in mind for a wedding, production or other special occasion, send me a DM or email, and I’d love to work with you! I will also be continuing to work with the fabulous and her magical creations, so watch this space for some exciting things to appear on my page 😊

Have a lovely week, all! X

Photos are:
1- me in 2016 making hats as part of my university work experience at
2- my first year at the theatre as pantomime Wardrobe Mistress
3- my new workspace for design and costume making projects!
4- a recent pic of me, deeming it appropriate to take a selfie in the same mirror as before, with added pencil behind ear ✏️

02/01/2025

♥️SLEEPING BEAUTY♥️
Happy New Year all! Here’s another group snap of some of the costumes I designed for pantomime, ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Designing for this show has been an absolute dream, and SO interesting as well. We start off in the medieval era, 985 (hence the myriad of coloured tabards!) before hurtling through time 1000 years to 1985! Researching and designing for these two eras has been totally brilliant and it’s been so much fun peppering the show with references from the 1980s as a bit of foreshadowing for the second half of the play.

In other news, I am off on holiday for a few days in York next week! If you have any recommendations of things to do, please feel free to send me a DM!

Have a lovely start to the year, everyone ♥️

#1985 #985

28/12/2024

♥️SLEEPING BEAUTY♥️
Merry Christmas everyone! These photos may explain some of the radio silence on my page recently. This year, I have had the absolute pleasure of designing the costumes for ’s current pantomime, Sleeping Beauty! It’s been a dream of mine to design the costumes for the Oxford Panto since I was a little girl and working on this project with such a marvellous team of creatives, cast and crew has been an unforgettable experience. On until 5th January so if you’d like to come and see this magical show in the new year, grab yourself a ticket!
#1985

27/10/2024

🔮 🕷️ Happy Halloween! 🪲 🪱
Richard and I teamed up to make our Beetlejuice inspired costume this year! We thought this might be what Adam and Barbara Maitland would look like if they somehow coaxed the sandworm into becoming some sort of demonic pet. Swipe through to see some snaps of what we made to go to last night for their Monster Ball!

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http://www.immyhowardmillinery.com/

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