Pink and Blue Fascinators (Ice Blue to Navy, Seven Hand-Made Pieces)

Blush against powder blue, dark pink against navy, and the seven pieces from our London atelier that work the whole range.

A pink and blue fascinator is the quiet workhorse of British occasionwear, and it is more flattering than either colour alone. Blue on its own can read cool, and navy in particular can read corporate. Pink on its own can wash out at a distance. Together the blue supplies the ground and the pink puts warmth at the face, which is precisely where a photograph is taken. The pairing suits the widest range of complexions of anything we make.

Why blue and pink flatter where each alone struggles

Pink is a tint of red, so on the artist's wheel its complement is green. Blue sits alongside rather than opposite it, which makes this an analogous pairing rather than a contrasting one, and analogous palettes are restful. The eye is not asked to resolve a fight. What you get instead is depth: a cool ground with a warm accent, which is the same structure a portrait painter uses to bring a face forward. If your dress is the blue one, our guide to what colour fascinator to wear with a blue dress works the problem from the other side.

The practical version is simpler, and it is where the depth of the blue starts to matter. At the pale end, ice and powder blue are cool and low in contrast, so a warm pink is what keeps the piece from looking washed out in flat daylight. At the dark end, navy is the one deep colour that carries no caution at a celebration, but a navy piece with nothing pale on it reads as a silhouette in a group photograph. A navy piece with blush crystal or a dark pink rose reads as an outfit. Same pairing, opposite problem, one solution.

How these pieces are made

Every piece here is designed and hand-made in our London atelier. The bases are blocked by hand over traditional wooden hat blocks, a shape held under steam until the material takes it and keeps it, which is why a hand-blocked brim holds its line where a pressed one softens. Trims are built separately and stitched on by hand: silk petals cut and shaped one at a time, feathers stripped and curled, beadwork applied by needle rather than glue. Merve Bayindir is a member of the British Fashion Council with pieces selected for the Royal Ascot Style Guide. Work is made to order as part of a deliberate, low-waste way of working, and every order arrives in a custom box, with worldwide DHL Express shipping included.

Sinamay dominates this group. It is woven from abaca fibre, stiffened, then blocked damp over a wooden form, and it is the material that allows a saucer to curve twice and hold it. Buntal, a finer palm fibre, is worked into the raised stripes and swirls. The flowers are not bought in: silk sateen and organza are cut petal by petal, shaped over a heated tool and wired, then assembled into a bloom by hand.

Seven pink and blue pieces

Ranged from the most substantial to the easiest to wear, and running from ice blue through to navy. Prices include UK VAT.

FEYRA WIDE BRIM HAT

£3,100

A wide-brim hat in A-grade sinamay and organza, worked in aqua with lilac, butter yellow, blush and sky blue through the trim. The widest palette here and the most painterly. For a summer wedding held outdoors, where a brim earns its keep and the colour reads from across a lawn.

MARION FASCINATOR

£1,750

A high saucer on a blush pink A-grade sinamay base that curves twice towards the inside, with irises in soft pink and blue shades worked petal by petal. The blue in the flowers is what stops a pale pink piece from flattening out in photographs. A sculptural, high-line piece.

WREN FASCINATOR

£1,600

A light blue disc in sinamay and silk organza, with a garland of pastel organza flowers in pink, blue and cream spiralling from the edge towards the centre. The spiral is the point: it gives the eye a path around the piece rather than a single focal cluster.

JESSIE FASCINATOR HAT

£1,500

A light blue saucer hat on an ice blue sinamay base, trimmed with iris flowers in shades of blue and pink. Ice blue is the coolest ground in this list and it makes the pink read warmer by contrast. Best in strong summer daylight, which it can take without going flat.

ROSALEE FASCINATOR

£1,150

A navy button-shaped fascinator carrying a cluster of dark pink sateen roses. Dark pink rather than blush, which gives it enough saturation to work against a navy or black dress rather than only against a neutral. The most straightforwardly wearable piece here.

HONOR HALF HAT

£1,000

A refined navy blue half hat in silk abaca over buckram, softly padded and twisted for height, with a hand-embellished starburst of faceted stones in gold, smoky and blush tones. The blush in the stone work is the pale element a navy outfit needs at the face. Takes a chignon well.

EDEN'S WAVE HAT

£550

A powder blue hat in parasisal and silk, trimmed in soft pink and blue. Parasisal is a fine straw that breathes, which matters at an outdoor summer wedding where felt would be punishing. The lightest and least expensive piece on this list.

At a glance

Frequently asked questions

Does pink go with blue?

Yes, and it is one of the most flattering combinations in occasionwear. Blue and pink sit near each other on the colour wheel rather than opposite, so the pairing is restful rather than contrasting. The blue carries the ground and the pink puts warmth at the face.

Which shade of blue works best with pink?

It depends on the season and the effect. Ice and powder blue with a warm pink read as spring and summer, and they need the pink to carry the warmth. Navy with blush or dark pink is the formal, year-round version, and it is the one to choose if the occasion is photographed indoors.

Is a pink and blue fascinator right for the mother of the bride?

It is one of the easiest choices for the role, particularly at the navy end. Navy is rarely a bridal party colour, so it coordinates without matching, and the pink detail prevents the flat, dark-shape effect that a plain navy outfit produces in group photographs.

Find your piece

Every piece is hand-blocked and trimmed in our London atelier. For more in each colour, see the pink collection and the blue collection, or the navy collection for the deepest end of the range. Our mother of the bride hats range is grouped for that brief specifically. A pink and blue fascinator is the safest strong choice in British daylight, whether you take it pale for summer or navy for a formal day, and the full range of hats and fascinators holds more in the same register.