Beverley Edmondson Millinery, Illustrated: Stories From Our Hat Shop

At Beverley Edmondson Millinery we love supporting students at University of the Creative Arts. Several of our past and present team members have been students there, so when student Elizabeth Wheatley approached us and asked if she could do a study of the shop as a project for her illustration degree, we welcomed her in.

Over several weeks Elizabeth came into the store and observed how we worked, our interactions with clients and client’s requests, sketching what she saw in sketchbooks from a quiet corner. As she worked you could see her ideas of how to develop the work coming through as she experimented with different ideas….

The work she completed blew us away! We were presented with incredible tongue in cheek illustrations, documenting the shop, called ‘A collection of Beverley Edmondson Millinery Stories’ every hat is recognisable as real hats in the shop, every display in the background is as the shop displays are and every client comment is familiar.

These witty illustrations are the perfect documentation of the shop. They couldn’t describe the boutique more perfectly without words! She even branded the images in our colours and wrote poems and quotes alongside as extra observations. I was absolutely blown away by her talent, when I first saw the final pieces It raised all sorts of emotions in me

You can follow more of Elizabeth’s work here. After what I’ve seen of her work, I’m sure that you will agree that she will be one to watch as she develops her style and starts out in her career. In the meantime, I’m off to get a set of these gorgeous prints framed for the shop and another set for home!

I’m waiting to hear back from Elizabeth to see if we can get some cards printed up of some of the prints to sell instore! I will keep you posted if they become available for those hat lovers in your life!