Sarah McGahon, who established her business in 2009 after graduating from the National College of Art and Design, was the victim of a car theft at her Bray home in the early hours of Thursday morning, and has made a plea for the return of the hats which were in the car when it was stolen.
Sarah has created hats for stars including Lady Gaga, Rosanna Davison and Amy Huberman, who wore one of her pieces to the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William in 2011. She has also created hats for The Tudors and the Abbey Theatre.
Before setting up on her own, Sarah worked with designers like John Galliano, Basso & Brooke, and Erdem, and had celebrity clients like Dita Von Teese, Kylie Minogue and Mick Jagger.
She was due to join other members of the Made in Wicklow cooperative for a showcase of the work of craft makers from across the county, but shortly after 4am, on Thursday, her car, a white Dacia Sandero (141 D registration), was stolen from her gated home in the town.
While she only discovered the theft on Thursday morning at 10am, footage from a neighbour’s camera timestamped the incident at exactly 4.22am.
While Sarah has plenty of stock, the hats were destined to make a big splash at the exhibition. One hat in particular, titled the ‘Pink Cage’, was earmarked especially for the visitors who will descend on Powerscourt in their droves, with the event Sarah is involved in, opening yesterday evening (Friday, January 30) and running until Sunday, February 8.
Work on her hats, she said, takes “hours and hours”.
“I get very bored with brims and crowns, like traditional hats. So, I try and push the boundaries in terms of what fabric can do. So, I’m putting wire fabric or magnets in them, or I’m putting wire that kind of makes something float. They start at about €300 to €500. What I do is expensive,” she said.
Wiclow milliner Sarah McGahon’s car, which was stolen from Bray.
The ‘Pink Cage’ hat has a special value for Sarah, as it featured in a breakthrough collection from 2015.
“I created a five-piece collection, with hats that changed shape, and there was was a lot of work in them. And I held my own fashion show in Dublin City Centre, and I got press, and a few celebrities to turn up and I actually also catered it for myself, because the venue wanted to charge me for catering. So, I did all the catering for it myself.”
Many of Sarah’s clients come to her for weddings, and Sarah did post a lot on social media, but had to take the images down from Instagram after her ideas were being “pinched”. The car theft though, has been a real setback.
Sarah has filed a report with the gardaí and she believes “the best outcome is that the car and the hats are abandoned somewhere”.
Anyone with information can contact Bray Garda Station, on: (01) 666 5300.