Presented at AIFF 2018
55 min | Australia / US | Boston Premiere
Synopsis: A remarkable journey from the remote red dirt of the outback in Australia to the red carpet in New York as milliner Felicity Brown takes her amazing collection of hats and fantastic headpieces to New York for Fashion Week, ready to take on the world, one hat at a time…a celebration of creativity, passion, and overcoming obstacles to follow a dream.
Marie Galvin is an award-winning Irish Milliner based in Boston. In the late 90s, Marie discovered that Boston’s Fort Point Channel was the perfect environment to hone her passion and set out to carve her niche in New England’s largest artist communities. At the time there were no millinery courses offered by schools in the US. Undaunted, Marie instead chose to forge ahead and teach herself the Art of Millinery in her quest to become a true milliner. With the aid old early edition Millinery instructional books and the deconstruction of vintage hats, Marie began an intense program of study, documentation and education. This methodology would afford Marie the old and lost techniques that defined that art of Millinery. Marie felt that like any art form, you must understand the masters in order to hone your own craft. With that Marie found her true calling.
In 2000, Marie landed her first official full-page editorial in the coveted Boston Globe’s Art Section. The following year she was hand selected by Genart along with up and coming designer Zac Posen out of hundreds of applicants to present their debut collections in New York City in front of the New York’s fashion elite. Marie captured the attention of the industry’s top fashion editors and stylist thus launching her NYC fashion career. Its was not long before celebrity stylists where knocking down Marie’s door to dress the heads of their top clients, Alicia Keys, Cher, Claire Danes & Taye Diggs to name a few.
Following her NYC fashion successes, Marie captured the attention of British millinery fashion scene. Marie won 1st runner up honors as the The Hat Magazine coveted “Hat Designer of the Year” award. These awards and accolades soon had Marie traveling to New York, London and as far away as Australia to represent her creations.
In recent years, Marie has had the honor of showing her work at the prestigious Peabody Essex Museum for the very successful world tour of the V&A “Hats an Anthology” exhibit. An exhibition that showcased the worlds top milliners both past and present for the public to appreciate. Marie was also chosen as the keynote speaker for the launch of the US leg of of the V&A exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum.
Marie’s inspiration comes from her formative years growing up in Irelands wild and stunning west coast. Each season, Marie employs high end unique fabrics and unusual trims which are delicately engineered and skillfully manipulated into bold and fresh silhouettes that defy gravity. Her one of a kind designs have garnered a large following of dedicated clients and collectors both locally and internationally. Her hats are regularly seen in Buckingham Palace, Royal Ascot enclosure, Kentucky Derby to Boston’s largest fundraising luncheon, the Emerald Necklace Conservancies “Party in the Park”. Marie can be found creating magic on a daily basis in her Boston South End studio.
