Nahant resident fashions ‘fascinators’, reminiscent of royal wedding

NAHANT – Holly Payne-Strange said she is used to her “unusual” fashion sense drawing attention.But she never expected that fashion sense to result in a business called Holly The Hat, where she makes one-of-a-kind headpieces called fascinators similar to those popularized for Americans by Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton.”Fascinators are kind of the link between high fashion and normal fashion,” Payne-Strange said. “They’re not normal, but they are pretty. So they supply the demand (for both high and wearable fashion) to look good and because they are eye catching.”Fascinators are highly decorated headbands.Payne-Strange showed headbands with a tear-drop or round base of fabric attached, that holds decorations including feathers, vintage jewelry, curlicues and more protruding in several directions.Payne-Strange sells her pieces from $5 to $70, and makes them by commission and for retail stores. So far, she estimates she has sold all but 10 of the 50 pieces she has made since October.She sells them at Toppers, on Newbury Street in Boston, and will be selling them at a store in Wales.She created pieces for the Lynn Museum, two fashion shows and sells them online at HollytheHat.com and at craft shows.She said she is currently making pieces for a fashion show in Tampa, Fla., and her biggest deadline – the May Ball at Aberystwyth University in Wales – where she is a first-year student studying drama.Most importantly, at least 10 percent of proceeds go to Annette’s Climb, a nonprofit in Groveland that supports victims of domestic violence.Payne-Strange did not set out to be an entrepreneur, however.She simply wanted to visit a shop called the Pink Flamingo near her university. Fortunately, she was wearing a fascinator she had recently fashioned.”They said they loved it,” she recalled, and they requested some for the store.Payne-Strange soon began designing pieces for fellow undergrads.”They’re very popular at weddings, people wear them everyday,” she said. “It can be anything you want it to be, they’re quintessentially British.”But she said they also are enjoying a resurgence in America due to the new Duchess of Cambridge – her dream client. Although Payne-Strange says Americans are a little less into the “statement piece,” preferring designs that are “more delicate.”Payne-Strange is a British citizen and permanent resident in America, and resides at her family home in Nahant when she is not at university.Lynne Francis-Lunn, director of merchandising at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, said hats and other millinery are becoming more and more popular.The museum is hosting an exhibit in September entitled “Hats: an Anthology by Stephen Jones and Francis-Lunn” and she and other workers are collecting names of local milliners whose work they can sell in the gift shop. Payne-Strange said she is hoping to contribute some of her pieces.”We’re testing out the market and the result that is coming back is there is great demand for hats, people are fascinated by them – they’re trying them on, they’re buying them,” Francis-Lunn said. “People love shoes, people love jewelry, it’s another accessory. It’s all about being an individual, you don’t have to look like everyone else.”Meanwhile, Payne-Strange has orders to fill and accounts to track – in between her studies, of course.But she’s also incorporating that into her business, too. The Dragonfly Theater of Dedham will perform her play “The Princess’ Voice,” in July. The royal family will be wearing fascinators.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].