Josephine Willis
Josephine was first introduced to millinery while studying Theatre Costume at London College of Fashion. From 1995 to 2002 she was the milliner at internationally renowned costumiers Cosprop where she worked in collaboration with many designers on productions including ‘Titanic’, ‘Sense and Sensibility’, ‘A Portrait of a Lady’, ‘Topsy Turvy’ and for television, ‘The Forsyte Saga’.
For the past 20 years, Josephine has been freelance, working from home in Bath on productions including The Harry Potter Films, ‘Tulip Fever’, ‘All is True’, ‘The Electrical Life of Louis Wain’ and most recently ‘Emily’ and ‘Firebrand’.
Josephine enjoys working in many styles and materials although straw is a favourite and she has been learning how to plait and weave straw herself, particularly Swiss Straw Work to incorporate into contemporary millinery. Her piece, Hedgerow Headdress won second prize in the 2022 HATalt e-magazine Competition run in conjunction with London Hat Week.