Blog

Pink Fascinators for Weddings (Blush, Dusty Rose and Fuchsia)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, five hand-made pieces, and the two pinks that answer two entirely different briefs. Pink at a wedding is really two colours doing two different jobs. Blush and dusty rose are the mother of...
Red Fascinators for Weddings (And the Rumour You Have Probably Heard)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, five hand-made pieces, and the viral claim about red at a wedding answered by people who work at them. First, the thing you actually came to check. There is a claim, revived on...
Burgundy Fascinators for Weddings (A Guest's Colour, Not a Theme)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, five hand-made pieces, and why burgundy belongs to the guest rather than to the couple. Burgundy is an autumn and winter colour, and most British weddings are not. Office for National Statistics figures...
Green Fascinators for Weddings (Emerald, Bottle and Why Not Sage)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, five hand-made pieces for a wedding guest or a mother of the bride, and the shade decision behind them. You have decided on green, which is the harder half of the decision and...
Navy Fascinators for Weddings (The Colour the Rules Leave You)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, five hand-made navy pieces, and the case for navy at a British wedding. You have decided on a navy headpiece, and you have arrived at the one colour British wedding etiquette actively leaves...
What to Wear to High Tea (Season by Season, and What the Room Actually Requires)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a guide built on the dress codes the tea rooms themselves publish, four seasons of what to wear, and a hand-made piece chosen for each one. Almost everything written about dressing for tea...
What Are Tea Hats Called? (Fascinators, and the Names Milliners Actually Use)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, the short answer, the five proper names sorted by shape, and the museum and dictionary evidence behind them. Most of the time, when you refer to a hat worn to a tea party,...
What to Wear in London (By Season, and By Room)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, the weather answer in one section and the part nobody writes: which rooms in this city have a written dress code, and where a hat belongs. Every guide to dressing for London answers...
What to Wear When You Don't Know What to Wear (Four Questions, In Order)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a method for the mornings when the wardrobe is full and nothing in it is right. The advice written about this problem divides neatly in two, and neither half is much use on...
How to Do an Outfit Check Before You Go Out (And Why the Mirror Lies)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, five checks that take ninety seconds, and one famous rule that turns out to have no author. Most people do an outfit check by standing close to a mirror in good light and...
Unique Fascinator Hats for a Formal Event (for Those Searching for a Personal Piece)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, the difference between a piece described as unique and a piece that genuinely cannot be repeated, and the five we would put forward. Search for a unique fascinator and you will be shown...
How to Style a Fascinator Casually (What Works, and What Cannot Be Made To)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, an honest answer to whether occasion headwear can come down a level, and the five pieces that manage it. Yes, some of them can. Not all of them, and the difference is not...
What to Wear in the Weeks Between Summer and Autumn (And Exactly When the Hat Changes)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, the one part of transitional dressing nobody writes about, and the six hand-made pieces that carry you across. Every August the same articles appear, and they all say the same thing: layer a...
What Colour Fascinator with a Navy Dress? (French Navy to Midnight)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a guide to the headpiece colours that work with each navy, and the seven hand-made pieces we would choose. Navy is the safest occasion colour in Britain and the hardest to accessorise well,...
What Colour Fascinator with a Burgundy Dress? (Claret to Oxblood)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a guide to headpiece colours across the whole burgundy family, and the seven hand-made pieces we would choose. Burgundy is what a great many British women wear when they do not want to...
What Colour Fascinator with a Champagne Dress? (Champagne, Oyster and Nude)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a guide to headpiece colours for the warm neutrals, why they photograph paler than they look, and the seven hand-made pieces we would choose. A champagne dress presents a problem that no other...
What Colour Fascinator with an Orange Dress? (Coral to Terracotta)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a guide to headpiece colours across the whole orange family, the year Ascot named a red-orange its own, and the seven hand-made pieces we would choose. Orange is the colour most likely to...
What Colour Fascinator with a Teal Dress? (Turquoise to Petrol)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a guide to headpiece colours for every blue-green, the pairing almost nobody uses, and the seven hand-made pieces we would choose. Teal is chosen by women who have decided not to wear navy,...
What Colour Fascinator with a Purple Dress? (Lilac to Aubergine)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a guide to headpiece colours across the purple range, and the seven hand-made pieces we would choose. Purple covers more ground than any other occasion colour. A wisteria lilac and a deep aubergine...
What Colour Fascinator with a Pink Dress? (Blush to Fuchsia)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a guide to headpiece colours across the whole pink range, and the seven hand-made pieces we would choose. Pink is the default colour of British occasionwear, which is exactly why the headpiece is...
What Colour Fascinator with a Black Dress? (The Accent Does the Work)
From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, a guide to the headpiece colours that hold their own against black, and the seven hand-made pieces we would choose. A black dress asks almost nothing of you until you reach the headpiece....