About

Flora and the Fox is a Millinery and Accessories brand created by Helen Gillingham. Each item is designed and handcrafted by Helen in her home studio with skill and attention to detail.

 

Meet Helen

I have been creative from as early as I can remember - starting with drawing and painting to embroidery and receiving my first sewing machine at 8 years old. I have my Mother to thank for always fostering and indulging me in the newest technique I found and teaching me how to make my own clothes.
I went on to study Illustration at Kingston University, achieving a First Class BA Degree, but my interest in fashion and textiles persisted. 
While at University I developed a passion for vintage clothes and began amassing a collection of vintage hats. I was captivated by the textures of the feathers and the lightness of the veiling and how adding a hat of headpiece to your outfit changed your entire demeanour.

I began creating headpieces for myself and I soon fell in love with the craft of millinery. The seemingly endless list of techniques to learn and the skill and patience required to master them.
I started with a particular affinity for feathers after collecting a sackful of beautiful and varied pheasant feathers from the game farm my sister was living on and Flora and the Fox was born.

I have spent the years since honing my skills and learning new ones, experimenting with techniques and materials and undertaking training from renowned milliners worldwide.

I work from my home studio located just outside of Bray Village near Windsor in Berkshire, England. 
Nestled in the countryside, I find endless inspiration in nature and the changing of each season.
The colour of the sky, the shape of a leaf, or a new bloom in my garden many of my designs trace a route back to the natural world.

I enjoy nothing more than bringing new colours and textures together to create unexpected pairings for a jumping-off point and I have an extensive store of materials waiting for their perfect partner and project.

Vintage fashion and retro style have captivated me for many years, and I love searching through archives and old books for inspiring images of elegant  50s hats and quirky 60s designs that I can reinterpret through my own lens.

Sustainability and sourcing materials:

Sustainability is important to me and in a throwaway world full of fast fashion, I take pride in my approach of slow production, limited editions and quality one-of-a-kind items. 

I am constantly on the lookout for vintage and deadstock materials to use what is already available in the world to create unique styles with minimum environmental impact. It has to be said that the quality and visual impact of these vintage materials often exceed anything produced today, and my studio is stocked to the brim with beautiful, unique treasures, making it worth their weight in gold for the time spent tracking them down.
I also work with a selection of UK game suppliers to source beautiful pheasant and duck feathers that are from free range birds farmed for food.