Headpiece by Ashley Lloyd.
All clothing and shoes by Acne.
Socks by Rodarte.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: ASHLEY LLOYD

The term “millinery” can evoke images of stuffy royals sitting down to high tea, but the association could not be further from milliner Ashley Lloyd’s creations. You would be unlikely to spot one of Lloyd’s fantastical headpieces, fashioned from feathers, flowers, bones, and horns, perched atop the head of a guest at the royal wedding. Instead, you will find them on the pages of W, Vogue, and Vanity Fair, adorning such members of the fashion aristocracy as Kate Moss and Lady Gaga. Intricate, elaborate, and often embodying a dark romanticism, Lloyd’s designs steal the show in every editorial they are featured in.

Lloyd’s surrealistic vision ideally suits her medium, but she did not always aspire to become a hat-maker. Up until 2008, when she impulsively responded to a Craigslist post by a Brooklyn-based milliner seeking an intern, Lloyd had intended to channel her fine arts background into painting. “She taught me everything she knew about the traditional art of millinery,” Lloyd says, a craft that is tricky to learn given the limited programs available in North America. “I count myself very fortunate to have been taught on such a personal level.” She soon began constructing her own designs, the first of which she wore on her twenty-first birthday. Lloyd’s æsthetic took shape intuitively. “I remember constructing a hat from part of a pheasant pelt and making [the wings] go straight up,” Lloyd recalls. When her mentor remarked that no one would ever buy such a bizarre creation, Lloyd knew she was on to something. “I realized there was so much unexplored potential in the millinery realm,” she says. “From then on it became my mode of expression—my art.”

Charming origin story aside, Lloyd is secretive about her creative process. Though she begins each piece as any traditional milliner would: with hat felt, a hat head, and a steam, she is reluctant to reveal what happens next in her Sunnyside, Queens, studio. Some of the magic is in the materials, which she sources humanely online or on trips home to Florida. If her friends come across an oddity they think the designer might appreciate, they pick it up, though it is hard to imagine one often stumbles upon the deer hooves and bear teeth she favors by accident.

Evident in the fact that her mentor found her early creations unpalatable, Lloyd’s designs are not for everyone. “A bold lady unafraid of standing apart from the herd,” is who she envisions being drawn to her pieces. “Someone that doesn’t care that all eyes are going to be on her.” With aspirations to continue developing her namesake brand as well as exploring collaborative opportunities with likeminded fashion designers, it seems as though Lloyd’s herd of fashionable exhibitionists is only going to grow.

For more information, please visit AshleyDLloyd.com. Styling by Dwight Reeves. Makeup by Misuzu Miyake using MAC. Hair by Yukiko Tajima. Model: Jenna Walpole at New York Model Management. Photographer’s assistant: Stephanie Segura. Special thanks to Fast Ashleys Studio, Brooklyn.

Born and raised in Toronto, Allyson Shiffman discovered her passion for writing while studying abroad in Stockholm. She now lives and works in New York, where she frequently contributes to publications such as Interview, BULLETT, and EXIT. In her spare time, she drinks whiskey, engages in philosophical debates, and complains about mainstream culture.

Nadya Wasylko is a New York-based fashion and portrait photographer. A Ukrainian-American, raised in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine, Switzerland, and Canada, her international upbringing is a strong part of her visual vocabulary. She cut her teeth as a photo assistant in London before moving on to take a bite out of the Big Apple. Her photographs have been featured in New York Magazine, T: Magazine, and Dazed & Confused.

1 /4
Left: Headpiece by Ashley Lloyd. Dress by Viktor & Rolf. Right: Headpiece by Ashley Lloyd. All clothing by Sonia Rykiel.

Related

Esteban Gomez Finds Creatives a Home

With years of experience in the fashion industry, the Creatives Agent at Compass offers designers, photographers, stylists, models, and others a new approach to find a place to call home.

The Last Magazine Celebrates the Fall 2019 Issue

The cover story of our Fall 2019 issue is a love letter to New York City by photographer Dan Martensen and stylist Clare Richardson starring one of our favorite models of the moment, Binx Walton. For our launch party, we packed into Lola, one of the East Village’s newest hotspots, for an all-night dance party […]

Peter Ash Lee's New Magazine 'Burdock' Celebrates Asian-American Talent

Named after a root vegetable common to Asian cuisine, photographer Peter Ash Lee’s new magazine and digital platform celebrates Asian-American culture in an attempt to welcome a more diverse group both in front of and behind the camera.

Hans Neumann's Berlin Skaters

In an exclusive photo essay and “video poem,” the Peruvian photographer and director explores his family’s ancestral home through the lens of a group of young skateboarders who reflect the vitality of a new generation of European youth.

FUMI NAGASAKA STARTS A 'TEENAGE RIOT'

In her second book, the Japanese photographer captures the individual personalities and æsthetics of four adolescent girls in their hometowns in a collection that is both intimate and anthropological.

RO KWON ON CULTS AND YOUNG LOVE IN 'THE INCENDIARIES'

In her propulsive début novel, ten years in the making, the author ponders the unfathomability of others in the tale of a young woman who joins a cult.

MARTIN ZÄHRINGER GOES FISHING WITH JOHN BAKER

In his first book, the London-based photographer documents every facet of the life of a Barbadian fisherman with whom he felt an immediate kinship, acting as both visitor and companion.

JONAH BOKAER'S FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY

The collaborative, media-mixing contemporary choreographer celebrates fifteen years of his own company with a retrospective program and world premiere to look back while moving forward.

MARIO SORRENTI SHOWS A NEW SIDE OF KATE MOSS

In a new book of previously unreleased photographs, the famed photographer spotlights the iconic model’s innocence from their days of youthful love.

ROMAN MEJIA SHINES IN A NEW GENERATION OF DANCERS AT NEW YORK CITY BALLET

As the company makes its way through tumultuous times, the eighteen-year-old demonstrates the promise of a rising young crop of dancers with his clean lines and bounding jumps.

NEW YORK BY THE LAST MAGAZINE: VICE IMPACT PUBLISHER KATHERINE KEATING CHANNELS YOUTH ACTIVISM TO CREATE CHANGE

In an era of flourishing youth activism, the politically-minded advocate is harnessing the tools of social media and the internet to effect positive change by a young generation through direct calls to action.

NEW YORK BY THE LAST MAGAZINE: AUTHOR ALEXANDRA KLEEMAN SAYS WRITING IS LIKE PLAYING A VIDEO GAME

In her novel and short stories, the Staten Island-based author probes the border between science and literature with discomfiting tales about the body and its relationship to the perilous world around it.

HERMIONE HOBY'S 'NEON IN DAYLIGHT' REINVENTS THE NEW YORK NOVEL FOR A NEW AGE

In her début novel, the young British author ponders questions of selfhood and power dynamics in a thoughtful bildungsroman set during a sweltering New York summer.

ADWOA ABOAH HOSTS OUR TENTH-ANNIVERSARY PARTY WITH BURBERRY

Take a look at our tenth-anniversary celebration with Burberry at Radegast Hall in Brooklyn, hosted by our latest cover model Adwoa Aboah.

KANAZAWA

Photographer Marie Zucker was given rare access into an okiya, or boarding house, in the Japanese city of Kanazawa, where she captured these reflective images of geisha-in-training.

THE LAST WORD: ICEBERG

The Arctic ice pack puts the freeze on a teetering relationship in the latest edition of The Last Word, our ongoing series of original short fiction.

THE LAST GIFT GUIDE 2017

Our annual selection of gifts for you and yours, including everything you can imagine from a silk toothbrush on up to your own private island.

DAVID HALLBERG ON INJURIES AND INSECURITIES

In his new memoir, the celebrated principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre recounts his intense childhood training, joining the Bolshoi Ballet, and the arduous yearlong rehabilitation after a nearly career-ending injury that gave him a new perspective on his talent and the art form.