Kildare-based milliner Nessa Cronin talks about her life and career
1. Let’s go back to the beginning. What kind of child were you and what did you want to be when you were little?
I wanted to be a teacher, and so I did an Arts degree with the intention of teaching English and French. But I got a part time job in a hat shop and literally fell in love with the whole fashion and retail industry, and everything changed.
2. Did you grow up locally? If so, where?
I grew up in Dublin, but I spent most of my career in Kildare between owning the hat shop on the Curragh racecourse from 2004 until I think 2017, and also owning Vanity Fair in Newbridge from 2010 until 2020. I owe my career and success to the people of Kildare!
3. What was your first job as a youngster?
I worked as an usherette in The Concert Hall in Dublin, which was amazing to get to see all the concerts while getting paid.
4. What was your big dream when you left school? Did you go into further education?
Yes, having fallen in love with retail, I went onto to do a master’s in marketing after my primary degree. I knew I wanted to open my own hat shop and felt I needed to learn about business, as there are no business/ self-employed people
in my family or background. Little did I know that it wasn’t further education I needed. In 2001, at the age of 26, I opened my shop Mad Hatter in Dublin city center and learned everything I needed to know on the job! When you own your own shop, you learn something every day that no college can teach you.
5. Can you tell us a bit about your pathway into your career? Or did you have a clear idea of what you wanted to do? Has your professional career grown organically?
Yes, my whole career has grown very organically actually. It has always felt that every step and pivot was a natural progression. When I opened Mad Hatter first, I also started wholesaling hats into boutiques around the country. By 2008, my
hats were stocked in over 60 shops, one of them being Vanity Fair in Newbridge.
In 2010, when the opportunity arose to take over the shop, I grabbed it with both hands and spent the best 10 years of my life there. Millinery continued to play a large part of my work, and I was dressing women from head to toe for their
special occasions. In 2019, I rented a room that joined on to the upstairs of Vanity Fair, and I started giving millinery classes at the weekends. When the pandemic came and I lost everything, one of the things I missed most was those classes,
and so in April 2022 I rented a little cabin down in Crookstown Craft Village specifically for getting back to teaching my classes. It was kind of a full circle moment. I did end up being a teacher after all!
6. What have been some of the great highlights or achievements for you personally?
One of the most exciting things was in 2014, when President Higgins and his wife Sabina visited the Queen, she purchased six of the eight hats she wore from me in Mad Hatter, the excitement was real let me tell you!!
7. Anything exciting that is happening this year at… that we should look out for?
Apart from my in-person classes, I have also launched a series of online millinery courses www.millinerycourses.ie and an online millinery membership with extra monthly masterclasses and one to one tuition. This will allow me to spread my
love of all thing’s millinery all over the country to people who can’t travel to me on specific dates. Who knows, the online courses might go global!
8. What are the joys of your job?
Seeing the look of pride and amazement in someone’s eyes when they try on their own creation. There’s nothing like it! That look of disbelief that they were able to make something so beautiful in just one day. It’s magical.
9. And the challenges?
I suppose millinery is a very niche interest and a very seasonal product. April to September is when people mostly wear millinery, at the races and at weddings, so the winter season can be long and lonely in terms of seeing customers for
bespoke pieces. But the winter is also a great time to learn a new hobby, so the classes fill that void.
10. When you look back on your working life, what do you wish you’d known at the start?
That everything works out for a reason. I’ve been through so many ups and downs over the last 23 years, and I’m sure there are many more to come, but I’ve learnt to take it all as it comes and not worry and stress so much. So, I wish at 26
I had known not to sweat the small stuff. Recessions, pandemics, crashes will always come, but so will the highs.
11. What advice would you give to someone wanting to be in the same industry?
Specifically the millinery industry? I would say plan for how seasonal it is. Generally, it’s a 5 months of the year business, so have a backup source of income for those quiet months. And for the general fashion/retail industry, I would say be prepared to work long hours, every day, often for less than what you pay your staff! But the buzz makes it all worthwhile.
That feeling you get when you see a happy customer fall in love with herself in a new outfit is just magical. So you have to be passionate about people and building their confidence. If you don’t love people, the fashion industry is not for you.
12. What do you think is the key to enjoying working life?
Being passionate about what you do. The saying “Do something you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life” is true. As cliché as that sounds, it honestly is the truth. When I hear people talk about their jobs, I thank my lucky stars every
day that I feel I’ve never worked a day in my life!
13. When you’re not working, what do you like to get up to in your free time?
I don’t have any hobbies and I’ve no interest in exercise. I wish I could say something like I love reading books, but listening to Audible in the car has replaced the reading I’m afraid. So apart from having the chats with friends, the one thing I try to do every week or so, is a walk on Brittas Bay beach. The sea is good for my soul.
14. Lastly, what’s the most surprising thing about you?
I’ve never been to the races! (Unless I was working in the Curragh)