Fern Berreen is Hove's Member of the Month! 

Keep reading to find out about not only how fabulous Fern is, but about her amazing 'Fern Berreen Millinery' business! 

Fern - take it away… 

“Fern Berreen Millinery constructs ‘One-off’, eye-catching pieces to wow and impress which is totally what we do best. Everything is hand sewn, made in house with love, creativity and buckets of sass. We create headdresses for sexy people: showgirls, burlesque, boylesque, drag, cabaret, also catwalks, editorials, weddings, glamorous costume parties, the races, regattas, festivals and carnivals. Some of our clients and commissions include Hampton Court Palace, Lion King The Musical, Missy Fatale, Serafina Hart, Dita Von Teese, Italia Vogue, National Youth Theatre, The Dublin Playhouse, Whitehall London, Cow Events.”

Who is Fern Berreen Millinery?

“Fern Berreen Millinery is just moi, Fern! I frequent work with other creatives to push collections for editorials and magazines. Variety is the spice of life and my door is always open to working with new people to create something fresh and interesting. Always up for bouncing ideas off of other crazy humans. I’ve been in love with millinery for 10 years but officially I went fully 100% self-employed in Jan 2019.... Scary eh.”

When Fern was asked, ‘What is your unique selling point?’, her response was: “Bigger is always better, if sparkles can't fix it then nothing can; I eat eccentric designs for breakfast and if my client doesn’t slightly salivate when they try their new headdress on for the first time then something isn’t right.”

But what really made Fern set up her business?

Working in a soul-destroying office for digital NHS companies for several years will kill anyone’s mini millinery creature growing inside. Leave anything that doesn’t make your heart sing, your fingers bleed and doesn’t leave you picking off sequins from your bum cheeks every morning….  After meeting Sean Barett, the millinery for Titanic, Alice in Wonderland and Elizabeth the Golden age and stalking him around my university for 2 days, I decided I should really get a life. Of course, starting out with anything new never pays for the bills and for about 9 years I've been doing Fern Berreen Millinery on the side. Now after moaning ‘bout how I hate life and just want to make peoples heads look fabulous, my Mr pushed me over the cliff and here I am!”

“Why is my business successful? It depends what you mean by successful. For me success is clients respecting what you do, coming back for a 3rd or 4th commission and sending you kisses at the end of messages. In 2-5 years time, I’d like to focus on being the person that burlesque and drag performers come to, to get their headdresses made. Also, I’d like to develop my thermoplastic skills and spread the cosplay love throughout my work.”

Why have you chosen Freedom Works as your Work-Home? 

“As much as I claim to like my own space, I actually love people! Chatting about life and inappropriate topics over Friday beers is the best. Also knowing that you’re not alone in going it alone is comforting. Also, getting away from working at home in my pj’s and procrastinating by doing housework instead of hand sewing for the next 5 hrs. I also get to use the loo in private without my cat Winnie getting involved every time….

Finally, we asked Fern 'If you were remembered for only one thing, what would it be?' Fern's response was - Awwww yes I know Fern I have a few of her hats, total legend!”

 

Thank you to the GLORIOUS Fern for being Hove’s Member of the Month. You are indeed (already) a “total legend”! 

 

Stay tuned for next months edition of Hove's Member of the Month… See you then! 

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