Swinburne University of Technology - Melbourne Australia

Race day art a triumph for media-savvy mad hatter

Story by Kellie Penfold

When her faculty dean likened graduates' degrees to simply foundations on which to build, the words stuck with Marilena Romeo and from that day on they directed her along quite a different career path.

Spoken by her Swinburne University of Technology faculty dean at her 1991 graduation with a Bachelor of Arts, Marilena took to heart the advice that a degree was the beginning and that how she built on this foundation was entirely up to her.

It was advice that has served Marilena, who majored in media, literature and philosophy, particularly well. Initially her studies stood Marilena in good stead for her earlier career choice of public relations and event management, but today they have become just as relevant to her career as one of Australia's most creative milliners.

Marilena is happy to be known by her customers as the 'mad hatter' and says all milliners have to be a bit whacky to maintain the levels of creativity which, for her, have drawn clients from around the world.

The move from PR to hats happened when Marilena was seeking unique headwear for her wedding, not long after graduation. Meeting a milliner for the first time opened her eyes to an artistic world that used traditional techniques to create modern fashions.

"I just felt it was for me, and a friend suggested that if I had a go I could make a success of it. So I found an older milliner who was happy to teach me everything she knew, which was the old way, but it provided me with another foundation ... this time for making hats of the highest quality," she says.

Marilena's business, Marilena Romeo Millinery, is based in her Melbourne home studio from which she and two employees create hats for local and international clients.

Each year Marilena exhibits her latest collection in Dubai - which has strengthened her global standing and last year won her the Dubai World Cup Millinery Award. Back home most of her work is creating headwear for the Spring Racing Carnival, for which she takes bookings as early as January.

When asked about the foundations beneath this success, Marilena points back to the media component of her Bachelor of Arts: "Studying media was one of the best things I could have done to prepare me. It taught me how to ask the right questions to get the answers. By getting those answers from my clients I've understood how to position myself in the market."

Those clients, she says, consider having a made-to-order headpiece as investing in an object of art, a way to enhance their natural attributes and to tantalise themselves and those around them.

This said, Marilena says that creating 'allure' is very much a challenge of physics: "You look at the person's face, the shape, the neckline, their height and their complexion. The outfit they are wearing is actually the last thing you consider," she says.

"A good hat can make you taller if you are short, or take pounds off your face. Then, when you take it off, it should continue to be something you can display and admire as a work of art."

As she gears up for the 2008 spring racing season, Marilena predicts white and silver will play starring roles in headwear this year, with the ever-popular opaques and muted black remaining on the radar. Last year, Marilena's creations featured upturned brims at the back, which add height to the wearer, and she suspects that they will again be popular this year.

And as her faculty dean predicted, she continues to draw on her initial academic foundations. Now a regular judge at fashions-on-the-field events, Marilena continues to use her media training, treating race meetings as valuable PR opportunities for her business.

"I grab my camera and love photographing clients in the competition or just having a good time wearing one of my creations."

Looking back she says her communications studies drew her from her "own little bubble" and into the wider world. And that, she says, is what positioned her for the career she finally pursued.

More information: www.marilenaromeomillinery.com