Canberra milliner Christine Waring has just received a treasure trove from the past - vintage Tracey Lord hats from the 1950s and 1960s.
They were made by Irmgard Grady, better known as Irmgard Lyons, who owned Hats by Tracey Lord in Braddon, and later the Monaro Mall, where buying a hat was less a shopping experience and more a rite of passage for many young girls and women in the national capital.
"I collect her hats because she was Canberra's first milliner," Christine said.
The Ainslie milliner was recently gifted several Tracey Lord hats owned by Canberra woman Lina Shlager who migrated to Australia from Switzerland in 1953.
Mrs Shlager had kept an article from The Canberra Times in 2014 which detailed the connection between Christine Waring and Irmgard Lyons and kept her in mind when deciding what to do with her prized vintage pieces.
"Just out of the blue, I got a text from her daughter-in-law, 'We'd love someone to look after them'," Christine said.
"So, I said, 'Okay, I'll be the keeper of the hats'.
"And when I get too old, I'll pass them on to someone else."
Mrs Lyons, originally from Germany where she learnt millinery, came to Canberra in 1954 and married Kevin Lyons who had the hat shop originally in Lonsdale Street. It was named after Grace Kelly's character in High Society.
She sadly passed away in 2020 in Canberra, aged 89.
Christine, in business since 1988, is her natural successor, the milliner stylish women go to for hat or headpiece of a special occasion.
She remembered the Tracey Lord shop in the Monaro Mall.
"Irmgard had the only millinery business back then and everyone went there," she said.
"We used to drive her mad after the school. She probably thought every time, 'Here they come again, but they're not going to buy anything'.
"She was on the top floor where all the good shops were."
Mrs Shlager's Tracey Lord hats are all in mint condition, decades after they were made.
"She used to wear them to church," Christine said. "Back then, everyone had a hat for church."
