The Milliner

A milliner is only limited by the laws of physics and a lack of imagination.” Equal parts artist, architect and builder, master milliner Loreta Corsetti has been creating unusual headwear for discerning clients for over thirty years and has gained a reputation for excellence and ingenuity in her craft. With a passion for the past, everything from the Italian Renaissance to the innovative age of Art Deco, Ms. Corsetti takes her inspiration from the obvious to the obscure and occasionally from the absurd. By applying these aesthetics to her lavish line of chapeaux, Corsetti has built and tailored her millinery business to appeal to both art lover and hat connoisseur alike.

With a background in fine art, Miss Corsetti studied fashion design and was trained in “Haute Couture”, a French term meaning high sewing. She took a semester of millinery and with techniques similar to sculpture, she fell in love with the craft.

Following college, she began her career by designing bridal headpieces and within a year was hired as head milliner for a local hat shop.

In 1989, Loreta opened a boutique featuring rare, vintage apparel along with her own label couture pieces. Almost immediately, she noticed that her clientele were drawn to the hats she made mostly to adorn the shop. Recognizing the demand, she decided to streamline her business by converting retail to wholesale and focusing solely on millinery. Two years later, Loreta was selling her collections to some of the finest boutiques in the city, the following year to Nordstrom and Henri Bendel.

The designer is known for her unequaled adornment and exquisite craftsmanship, utilizing Old World techniques and the finest materials to produce avant-garde shapes. Embellishment, her strength, is the essential element in all her work and sets it apart from others. Loreta has amassed a treasure trove of antique and vintage trims and materials mostly found in Italy and France on her many excursions. Among her favorites are the highest grade woven straws from Milan that are no longer manufactured, brilliantly hued Italian Duchess beaver felts and hand made appliqués produced in Paris in the 1920tys for the Ballets Russes. When creating a chapeau, Loreta incorporates some of these rare pieces into her own detailing. By hand, she constructs her intricately beaded appliques, cuts, curls, paints and assembles feather sprays and makes a variety of silk and leather flowers by using one hundred year old, brass iron presses purchased on Portobello Road in London. She does all her own blocking, sometimes altering her wooden blocks using molding clay and foil. She cuts directly into the fabric for her novel, draped hats. Merging the past with the present is her way of preserving the art form but Ms. Corsetti finds that embracing experimental ideas is the key to her success.

In November of 2005, Loreta Corsetti opened her millinery atelier in Chicago’s Gold Coast. She wanted to create an atmosphere where women could enjoy the luxury of privacy and personal attention while choosing the perfect chapeau or ordering a custom made piece. It reflects the mood of the original millinery salons of Europe in the early part of the last century. Clients range from socialites to women who save up just to treat themselves once or twice a year.

Along with co-founding The Millinery Arts Alliance, Ms. Corsetti counts the following accolades as high points in her career. Her work has been featured in countless magazines including W, WWD, Italian Vogue and many others. Loreta’s hats have been shot by renown photographers including Steven Meisel and Patrick Demarchelier. She regularly receives commissions from famed stylists, Lori Goldstein and Patti Wilson for interesting editorials and fashion icons, Daphne Guinness and Linda Fargo own some of her pieces. She has also had the great privilege of designing for an opera directed by the late Robert Altman aside her best friend and fellow milliner, Laura Whitlock.

In 2007, Loreta achieved a life long goal by winning an award for her work from the prestigious “ Cappello del Mondo” international hat competition. Her work was chosen among hundreds of applicants from around the world to be featured in a permanent exhibit at the Museo del Cappello in Italy. Ms. Corsetti is the first milliner from the United States to receive this honor.