Styling in line with self-perception
- Margret has always loved caring for people
- Her hats satisfy both a person's need for decoration and their need for protection
- She is inspired by colors, shapes and ideas
Handicrafts, such as knitting and crocheting, have always been valued in Margret Porwoll's family. Her mother knitted a lot and had a talent for improvising with the materials and yarns available. Margret made clothes for her dolls from a young age, making sure to decorate their heads with a piece of material to complete the costume. Fashion has always been important to Margret as an expression of her individuality. She became a nurse after leaving school and continued to make hats while still studying. At the age of 29, she started her second education as a milliner in Hamburg, with Ursula Diemel. "I have always worn caps of my own making," she explains. Now a professional milliner, Margret has her own studio in Braunschweig, where she hand-sews unusual and unique headwear. "Self-perception of the wearer is more important than external perception," she says. It is important to her that the person wearing her hat likes themselves above all.
Interview
- What do you aim to achieve with your work?
- My aim is that the headwear I design highlights the style of the person wearing it. I do not seek to create a shocking or eccentric look. I always look at who the person is, what suits them, and what they want, and use my intuition. When a person finds a hat or cap that suits them, it is immediately apparent – a kind of energy passes through their body, and they feel great.
- What inspires you?
- Everything. When I am working, I do not follow mechanical schemes, and it is often the material itself that inspires me. The way it lays or what it resists. I am a visual person, and I am inspired by all colours, shapes, and graphic things. Ideas inspire me, too.
- What is the relationship between tradition and innovation in your work?
- My work is handmade from start to finish. It gives me much more freedom. Many fashion designers use head and wooden brim forms, on which you just have to stretch the material, but then the shape is permanent. This is too boring for me. I always model the brims by hand. I have to feel the material between my fingers.
- Do you feel millinery is a dying craft?
- No, definitely not. There are a lot of events where hats and caps are still worn, especially in bigger cities where people dress more extravagantly and want to stand out from the crowd. It is very interesting to see what other creators are doing on Instagram, and I do not feel alone. There is no question of extinction.
Margret Porwoll is a master artisan: she began her career in 2004 and she started teaching in 2008
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Margret Porwoll
