Rachel Trevor-Morgan is a 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 g ...

best known for the hats she creates for the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. In 2014, she was granted a Royal Warrant. Joan Collins - Monte-Carlo Television Festival

Early life and career

The hat designer Rachel Trevor-Morgan was born in

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

, West Midlands. Her father was a vicar and, as a child, she loved seeing her mother wear hats to church. She was a pupil at

The Alice Ottley School The Alice Ottley School was an independent all-girls' school in Worcester that existed under this name – referencing its first headmistress – between 1883 and 2007 before it merged with the Worcester Royal Grammar School. She had already resi ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

and, aged 19, moved to London intent on learning how to be a milliner. She wrote to British milliner Graham Smith – hatmaker to

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

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 Primetime ...

and

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

among others – asking if she could see how he worked. He interviewed Trevor-Morgan and offered her an apprenticeship. She learned the trade for three years, as one of a workroom of 14 women in his studio near

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as ...

, then working for another royal hat designer

Philip Somerville Philip Douglas Frank Somerville (12 February 1930 – 14 September 2014) was an English milliner – partly trained in Auckland – who had a salon in London. He is widely known for hats worn by the Queen – from whom he held a Royal Warran ...

between 1988 and 1990. Trevor-Morgan has said of her training with two of London's most celebrated milliners that Graham Smith taught her how to get the hat right and Philip Somerville taught her about "people relations". She has also described Smith as remaining her "mentor" when she needs advice.

Eponymous label

Trevor-Morgan set up in business in 1990, initially selling her designs in the market at

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

Church. Soon she was supplying

Fortnum & Mason Fortnum & Mason (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an upmarket department store in Piccadilly, London, with additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station, Heathrow Airport in London and K11 Musea In Hong ...

;

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...

and

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...

followed and, in 1992, her business moved to a 17th-century studio in the prestige location of

St James's St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. In the 17th century the area developed as a residential location for the British aristocracy, and around the 19th century was the focus of the de ...

. By 1998, her reputation had grown to the extent that a feature in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' included her in a list of go-to milliners in London, alongside much more established names such as Frederick Fox and Stephen Jones.

Royal commissions

Trevor-Morgan began making hats for the Queen in 2006 – initially she was invited to create six sketches for review and then some designs were made. The first of her models was worn by the Queen at her 80th birthday church service at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

. The Queen then chose another of the designer's hats – a beige shot silk model – for her birthday lunch at the Mansion House – inspiring a ''Times'' journalist to note that Trevor-Morgan had now become "a new recruit to a tight little band of royal headwear designers". Since 2006, she has been one of the Queen's preferred milliners, creating some 60 hats (averaging ten a year) up to 2012. In 2014, Trevor-Morgan was awarded a Royal Warrant. Trevor-Morgan works closely with the Queen's design team, including fashion designer Stewart Parvin and the Queen's senior dresser and assistant Angela Kelly. More recently, Trevor-Morgan hats have also been worn by other members of the British Royal Family, including

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Princess of Wales, (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely next ...

Other commissions

Trevor-Morgan still supplies London stores such as Fortnum & Mason as well as creating hats for private clients. All designs are bespoke, with fabric and straw dyed in the St James's studio. Trevor-Morgan has said she prepares her dyes in a saucepan, cooking them up to achieve exactly the right shade. In 2014, she was commissioned to add miniature hats to

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

figures in front of a replica of

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

Legoland Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

in the run up to

Royal Ascot Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races and ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevor-Morgan, Rachel British milliners English fashion designers British women fashion designers People educated at The Alice Ottley School People from Stourbridge British Royal Warrant holders Living people Year of birth missing (living people)