Frederick Fox

LVO The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(2 April 1931 – 11 December 2013) was an Australian-born British

milliner Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of ...

who designed hats for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British Royal Family.

Early life

One of nine children, Fox was born in

Urana Urana is a small town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is in the Federation Council local government area. Urana is located between Lockhart and Jerilderie, about southwest of the state capital, Sydney. To the we ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and began assembling and making hats from the age of nine. Fox trained under the Australian milliners Henriette Lamotte, Mrs Normoyle and Phyl Clarkson, from 1949 to 1958. Fox moved to London in 1958, and studied under the milliner Otto Lucas.

Millinery

Fox joined Mitzi Lorenz from Otto Lucas, then went to Langée in Brook Street, Mayfair. Fox took over Langée in 1964, and later moved his

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or ...

to Bond Street. By the late 1960s, Fox had joined the Queen's dressmaker

Hardy Amies Sir Edwin Hardy Amies KCVO (17 July 1909 – 5 March 2003) was an English fashion designer, founder of the Hardy Amies label and a Royal Warrant holder as designer to the Queen. Early life Hardy Amies was born Edwin Amies on 17 July 1909 in ...

. Fox's first hats for the Queen were designed in 1968 for her tour of Argentina and Chile. In 1974, Fox was the recipient of a

royal warrant of appointment Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to tradespeople who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The royal warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the issuer of ...

as 'Milliner to HM The Queen'. Fox made 350 hats for the Queen over 35 years, and also made hats for many members of the royal family, including

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, (born Lady Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott; 25 December 1901 – 29 October 2004) was the wife of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the mothe ...

, Diana, Princess of Wales, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother,

Princess Alexandra of Kent Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel; born 25 December 1936) is a member of the British royal family. Queen Elizabeth II and Alexandra were first cousins through their fathers, King George V ...

Princess Michael of Kent Princess Michael of Kent (born Baroness Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, 15 January 1945) is a member of the British royal family of German, Austrian, Czech and Hungarian descent. She is married to Prince Michael of Kent, ...

and

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...

. His other notable clients included

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

and

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primeti ...

. Notable hats designed by Fox included flying-saucer-shaped hats for Princess Diana. When he died in December 2013, numerous sources cited the pink hat with 25 fabric bells that the Queen wore to mark her Silver Jubilee at a thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral as Fox's most famous design for the Queen. But it was confirmed by the

Royal Collection Trust The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

in August 2016 to be the work of

Simone Mirman Simone Mirman (1912–2008) was a Paris-born milliner based in London, chiefly known for her designs for the British royal family. Early life Simone Parmentier was born in Paris on 18 May 1912 to middle-class Catholic parents. Simone had an ap ...

. In films, Fox designed the white "crash helmets" worn in '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1969) and hats for ''

The Great Muppet Caper ''The Great Muppet Caper'' is a 1981 British-American musical heist comedy film directed by Jim Henson (in his feature directorial debut). It is the second theatrical film in ''The Muppets'' franchise. In addition to the Muppet performers, the ...

'' (1981) and '' Evil Under the Sun'' (1982).

Honours and assessment

In 1999, Fox was appointed a

Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

, and in 2013 he was named Australian of the Year in the UK. Fox was president of the Millinery Trades Benevolent Association and an honorary patron of the Australian Millinery Association. The Royal Mail stamp collection issued for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee featured four images of Queen Elizabeth wearing Fox's hats.

Retirement and death

Despite his retirement in 2002, Fox occasionally made hats for his most established clients. A

Freeman of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

, Fox lived in Suffolk. Fox also regularly visited Australia and helped judge the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...

's Fashion Field for over 20 years. For 53 years, Fox was the partner of the British fashion designer Murray Arbeid, who predeceased him in 2011. The British milliner Stephen Jones wrote an obituary for Fox in ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

''. Jones wrote that

When I first started in hats, Freddie was the person in London and the greatest milliner there was...His hats had balance and they were never too heavy. He created hats for women who wore hats all day, and they could just forget about them once they put one on...He made hats that became part of the person; they never jarred...He had such an air of refinement about everything that he did; he had tremendous class and never did anything that was too much.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Frederick 1931 births 2013 deaths Australian emigrants to England Australian fashion designers LGBT fashion designers Australian LGBT artists Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order British milliners People from the Riverina British fashion designers