Hat Ethics
I'm very new to hat making. In fact, it would be presumptuous for me to call myself a milliner. I will say I'm fairly adept at many hat making skills. At this point, all the work I do is for free. I just want to learn to make hats.
I've copied Kate Middleton's saucer hats, Aretha Franklin's inauguration hat, and several QE2's hats. It used to not make any difference because I wasn't a very good mimic. Now, I am better at copying, and I can make a hat that looks quite similar to a famous hat.
I know that many hats are going to look the same. A cloche with a grosgrain ribbon and a flower on the side is a pretty standard hat.
Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery or is it theft? If a client, paying or nonpaying, brings you a picture of a hat someone is wearing, and tell you that they want one like it, is that ethical to reproduce the hat? More and more people are wearing my hats. I don't want to start out being a poacher.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Aoife Kirwan -
I don't agree with copying a design of any other milliner and then selling it. It's fine to try make it yourself just to see if you could do it or to practice a technique but never to show or sell. If someone came to me and asked me to copy another milliners hat I would refuse. Maybe you could take inspiration from a design like a colour or shape but try to put your own spin on it.
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Permalink Reply by Cynthia G Peacock
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Thanks for your opinion, Aoife. I agree.
I think sometimes people think about hats the same way we think about hairstyles. If you show a hairstylist a picture of a haircut, the aim is to copy that hairstyle as precisely as possible. No one considers a hairstyle as intellectual property.
But a hat is more than a hairstyle.
I recently had told a friend of mine I wouldn't copy a hat. It was a very unique bespoken hat. It was very obviously something that two people could not have come up with simultaneously. It just didn't seem like the right thing to do.
I never ever thought I could make a living making hats. I still have my day job! :) Now I'm thinking it's something that I might just be able to do on a part-time basis. It is true that you find the time to do something you love to do. I just want to make sure that if I actually accept money for what I do that I'm acting in an ethical manner.
I work in healthcare, and there are all sorts of codified ethical guidelines. It seems that millinery doesn't have all that (unless it is something I'm unfamiliar with) -- probably because it is an art that cannot be codified.
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Permalink Reply by Vivienne Morgan Millinery
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I agree 100% with Aoife. I am doing my millinery part-time and its amazing how much time you can find to do it (rather than watching TV in the evening for example!). Good luck!
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I agree with Aoife. There are copyright laws which prevent people using someone else's design and presenting it as their own. I'm not sure that this applies in the millinery world, but I believe there is a strong ethical and moral imperative not to copy another's work. Millinery is a combination of art, self-expression of the milliner and, in many cases, the imagination and wishes of their client. Copying is very much frowned upon in the art world, so I think the same rules apply here.
I agree with Aoife, that to use a technique or practice is fine, but that the result never sees the light of day.
The fine line, I think, is between inspiration and duplication.
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Well most of my samples/copies have the stigmata of my ignorance stamped on them, so they wouldn't see the light of day anyway. :) There was a time that I thought that marking the front and back of the hat was an unnecessary step. I thought I could just "eyeball" the center back and front. Of course every book I read said to mark the hat, and I thought I knew better since I eyeball center front and back when I sew garments. So, all my early work includes binding that is about 3/4 inch off. I didn't notice it at the time, but now it really bugs me.
And yes! It is amazing how much time you can find for hats. I need a large chunk of time to block a hat because I have to drag all the equipment and supplies out (I don't have a dedicated hat making space). But I can work on trimming 30 minutes at a time, etc. I think about it a lot also. My kids like Hat Making Mom because I've lost interest in micromanaging their lives. :)
I know I'm entering a creative phase because I'm temperamental--tearing things out, and throwing things away. :)
Hats that I have made that folks have worn outside my house have been boaters for the "Music Man" and saucers to match bridesmaids dresses and hats that go with frog costumes -- nothing with any special design.
I am yet to make a WOW hat. I want to make a hat that never before existed. I guess everybody wants to do that, huh?
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Cynthia, I love your 'stigmata of ignorance' comment!! do you mind if I copy that? I'm thinking of a big box with 'S.O.I. HATS' on the front - where I can keep them all :) I don't want to look at them now, but one day, when I'm brilliantly clever, I shall pull them out and re-work them.
I'm waiting for the day when I can create with my hands, the exact picture that's in my mind and have it perfect. That's my WOW hat. But I guess that's the same for everyone at every level of skill too.
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Of course! I'd consider your creating an SOI box an honor! I want to make a hat that looks like it's moving, even when it's standing still.
