SAPPHIRE WHISPER

  About:

Ellen Christine Millinery has been in retail 16 years this September and has worked for trade only 25 years prior to that. She marks her interest in fashion beginning at a very early age.

When I was in the Girl Scouts, a girlfriend in my patrol wanted to beat another patrol, in badges for their sash. So we had to come up with an additional project to win and chose the Sewing badge, because we all had mothers, or grandmothers,  who sewed and so we figured it was in the bag, so to speak. Well, we won the badge, beat the other patrol, and I continued to sew, since I had been involved in arts and crafts since the age of 4.

After college, and my BA, I went to Boston’s School of Fashion Design. When that was done, I continued to NYU for my graduate studies, just to round out the costume background, and finally opened a retail shop in NYC, selling antique clothing and accessories, and my hats. We still do the antique, but it’s by appointment only, and the hats prevail, with coverage in all major magazines. Ellen Christine is known around the world at this point, although we don’t as yet wholesale on a global level, we hope to develop that side of the business next.

I’m originally from Philly, and so NYC was a frequent stop on the Amtrak all throughout my youth. The decision to move to NY and begin my graduate studies was in part a nudge from Florence Mueller, who founded the Costume Dept. of the Louvre, in Paris. She was very generous with me, with her time and advice, and a great many people owe her their careers, and direction.

I first lived right here in Chelsea, one block over, and I remembered the warm feeling of the neighborhood when I set out to scout a retail location. A costume designer I knew owned a building in Chelsea, and so I first went to him to inquire about locations. He owns the building in which the shop is located, and remains my landlord and friend to this day!
 
My millinery designs are based in history, and the myriad styles prevalent throughout the ages. While I was suffering through my graduate school courses in Europe, most of my time was spent in research. With a background in antique clothing, and my graduate work in costume history, past iconic images became part of my everyday creative reality. Inspiration, automatic, and by osmosis, happens when you walk the streets of Paris.

People are looking at the hat as a realistic, and not a foreign object. As an accessory, designers have used the hat to add nuance and elan to their runway shows, and that is much appreciated and applauded by those of us in the Millinery world.

Ellen Christine Millinery is presently designing a capsule collection to show to specific stores, as a way of expanding the business and creating a wholesale venue.

  Press:

  Store Hours & Location:

                                                        Ellen Christine Millinery                        Tuesday to Saturday:  11am - 7pm 
                                                              255 West 18th Street                                 Except Thursday:  11am - 6pm 
                                                                    (at 8th Avenue)                                                Sunday:  1 - 6pm    
                                                              New York, NY 10011                                      admin@ellenchristine.com
                                                                   (212) 242-2457                                             www.ellenchristine.com  

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