ABOUT

Fashion Trends in Couture Headwear with International Maven of Millinery Jennifer Kofler, Owner of Vivian Blooms

Jennifer Kofler, Owner of Vivian Blooms, enables clients to celebrate life’s moments with fanciful headwear. Vivian Blooms helps clients, stylists and fellow designers find headwear for special events with an enchanting collection of handmade millinery filled with fun and whimsy for all ages. Explore the intricate detail, elements and seasonal trends that are captivating the attention of the world’s elite designers and stylists.

Woman wearing a leopard print blazer with gold buttons and a large red feathered hat with a bow.

A woman is wearing a large, elegant cream-colored hat with black lace trim and a big black ribbon bow. She has light makeup, pink lipstick, and is smiling slightly, dressed in a black outfit against a plain white background.

Blooming Trends in Event Headwear Looking beyond the bare trees and winter beanies is a fantastical season celebrating flower blossoms, festive floral décor, and more importantly, the height of head-to-toe fashion for celebrated events around the country.

A woman wearing a sparkling, silver, halter neck evening gown with cut-out details, paired with nude high heels, and a zebra-print fur coat, stands against a plain gray background. She has curly hair, bold makeup with red lipstick, and is accessorized with earrings and a choker.

With the Easter Parade in NYC, the Central Park Conservatory Hat Luncheon, Hattitude for the Denver Center’s Women’s Voice Fund, Mothers’ Day, The Kentucky Derby Parties, garden parties, and 5-star hotel afternoon teas, Springtime wastes no time in fashion-forward events and attire. Millinery for special occasions helps to create an elevated atmosphere with style and whimsy.

SHOP THE LATEST COLLECTION

A woman with curly hair wearing a large pink and white fluffy hat and a floral-patterned blouse.

Origins of Millinery

Throughout the fashion and entertainment industries, hats have been prevalent in demonstrating character, class, image, and setting the tone for the rest of the outfit. According to HatTalk.com, “Hats have been worn for thousands of years. Initially, they were primarily used for military, religious or survival purposes. It wasn’t until the development of the fashion industry in the 18th century that millinery became a profession. The word milliner comes from the word Milan. In the Middle Ages, the Italian city was the hub of the world’s textile and fashion trade. Those making fashionable lady’s hats became associated with the city because of the materials they used.”

Kofler comments that “A hat is magical the moment someone puts it on their head, it changes how a person acts and feels. The hats are decorated with crystals, feathers and bows. Hats are a wonderful outward expression of a person’s inner truth and personality. They have the power to both enhance and transform the wearer. Amazingly versatile, hats can be a celebration of style, frivolity, and fun, conversely an acknowledgment of somber events. The millinery helps to create an elevated atmosphere for participants on many occasions. From weddings to funerals, headwear plays role in the declaration of the event’s importance. Worn headpieces can be seen as a tangible reminder of life’s most momentous and significant events.”

A woman with curly hair and bold red lipstick wearing a white dress and faux fur stole, standing against a dark blue background, with an illuminated decorative headpiece.

Inspiration and Craftsmanship

Vivian Blooms has taken center stage in the fashion world, from magazine covers to features in Fashion Avenue News, Voyage Denver, Urban Family, Race Day News, Hong Kong Press, and countless others. As an American ex-patriot herself, Kofler studied fashion trends worldwide throughout her various residencies overseas in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Guangzhou and Shanghai, China; and currently in the Middle East.

Kofler creates each flower using the finest natural fabrics of velvet, silk, and linen. With this process, the natural fiber is starched and then hung to dry. The flower petals are then cut out of the stiffened fabric. Each is then crafted by hand. The flowers are manipulated by heat, twisted and turned, then worked into arrangements and attached to the custom-made base.

If some of Vivian Blooms millinery looks good enough to eat, perhaps that is because Kofler didn’t start out as a milliner. Before she began designing and creating headpieces for Vivian Blooms, as a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Kofler’s first creative job was in restaurants as a pastry chef in New York City for some years. Vivian Blooms hand-made millinery has been heralded in London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and the United States. The company has collaborated with Miss. Victoria Regina to create the Mavens of Millinery, a Colorado-based collective of milliners creating outdoor Pop-Up Hat Shops in Denver 2020 and for the Kentucky Derby Parties of 2021. Vivian Blooms is currently planning for the Dubai World Cup in spring 2022, introducing the brand to new clients in the United Arab Emirates, and making a statement with creations that beguile and amuse.

“Be an original

and be in Bloom.”

– Kofler

Map of China and surrounding countries, including Mongolia, India, Myanmar, and Taiwan.

FROM JENNIFER

The Accidental Milliner

How a typhoon, an afternoon tea, and a parade of hats gave Vivian Blooms its beginning

“To succeed in life you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”

Mark Twain

In 2014, Jennifer Kofler was living in Guangzhou, China, raising her children and searching for her next creative adventure. She had already tried a little bit of everything: handmade jewelry, beaded earrings, crystal tea lights, feather bookmarks, lounge pants and even whimsical animals made from socks. There were ideas for upcycled shopping bags and a custom jewelry website, too.

Jennifer was always making something. She just hadn't yet discovered what she was meant to make.

A Trip to Hong Kong In May 2014, Jennifer and her daughter, Vivian, traveled to Discovery Bay in Hong Kong for an outdoor sale. Jennifer packed her collection of handmade goods and, at the last minute, added several flower-covered headbands she had hurriedly put together before leaving Guangzhou. Then the weather changed. Hong Kong's rainy season had arrived with a vengeance. Gale-force winds battered the hotel windows, the skies darkened, and the outdoor sale was looking increasingly unlikely. So, Jennifer and Vivian went downstairs for afternoon tea. And there, unexpectedly, Jennifer found something that would change the direction of her life.

The Wedding A wedding was taking place at the hotel. Jennifer looked around and saw a parade of women wearing beautiful hats and fascinators decorated with feathers, crystals, bows and flowers. She was fascinated. The shapes. The color. The extravagance. The sheer personality of it all. Something clicked. “This was my destiny. Making pretty things for ladies to put on their heads. I am home.” For the first time, Jennifer could see exactly where her creativity belonged.
The Worst Sale Became the Best Idea The irony wasn't lost on her. The typhoon-soaked outdoor sale was hardly a commercial success. In fact, the only things Jennifer sold were the flower-covered headbands. But perhaps that was all the confirmation she needed.
The journey home proved nearly as memorable as the discovery itself. Flooding canceled the train to Guangzhou, forcing Jennifer and Vivian to cross the border on foot at Shenzhen. They then waited under an overpass for more than two hours for alternative transportation. They finally arrived home at 3:30 in the morning. Exhausted, but inspired. Jennifer had returned from Hong Kong with something far more valuable than sales. She had found her direction.
Vivian Blooms Begins That unlikely adventure became the beginning of Vivian Blooms, a handmade millinery and accessories brand named for Jennifer's daughter. What began with a few hastily assembled headbands grew into a passion for creating extraordinary headwear by hand. Jennifer's work brings together her background in art, design and craftsmanship with her love of fashion and celebration. But at the heart of Vivian Blooms is something much simpler:
the transformative power of a hat. A remarkable piece of headwear can change how a woman carries herself. It can make her feel confident. Playful. Elegant. Daring. Perhaps even a little mischievous.
More Than an Accessory For Jennifer, millinery isn't simply about completing an outfit. It's about creating a moment.
A wedding becomes more memorable. An afternoon tea becomes an occasion. Race day becomes a spectacle. An ordinary day can become an excuse to dress beautifully. Every piece carries the possibility of becoming part of someone's story. And that is what Jennifer loves most about making hats: watching what happens when a woman puts one on and sees herself differently.
An Invitation to Be Yourself The Vivian Blooms philosophy has grown from that rainy afternoon in Hong Kong.
Fashion doesn't have to be about fitting in. It can be about curiosity. Expression. Individuality. And having enough confidence to wear the thing that makes everyone else wonder where you're going. Sometimes the best ideas arrive unexpectedly. Sometimes a failed plan leads somewhere
better. And sometimes, all it takes is a typhoon, an afternoon tea and a room full of extraordinary hats to discover what you were meant to do all along.
Vivian Blooms: Be an Original. Be in Bloom.