Kirkcaldy milliner Rachael’s business is going from strength to strength

Making hats and headpieces started out as a hobby for Rachael Nixon after she was struggling to find something suitable to wear for a friend’s wedding.
Rachael Nixon, owner of Chanix Millinery.  Pic: Fife Photo AgencyRachael Nixon, owner of Chanix Millinery.  Pic: Fife Photo Agency
Rachael Nixon, owner of Chanix Millinery. Pic: Fife Photo Agency

But now business is booming for the Kirkcaldy woman, who has been winning some top awards for her creations.

Last summer Rachael gave up her job as a nurse at CHAS’s Rachel House hospice to concentrate full time on her business, Chanix Millinery, which she had been running on a part time basis for four years.

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Since then Rachael has seen business go from strength to strength.

In October she won the Fife Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award, and was the first person to have won it who hasn’t come from an art or fashion degree background or education.

She won the Lincolm International Millinery Competition in December, and she’s been shortlisted for Best Wedding Accessory Provider for the Scottish Wedding Awards which take place later this month.

The former Kirkcaldy High pupil has also seen her work feature in magazines and some have been picked for best hat and best dressed at the races.

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Rachael said: “I lived in Saudi Arabia for three years and when I was there I was invited to a posh event at the race course. I didn’t know what to wear, but decided to go and find the best headpiece and rock it that way.

“I spent a couple of hundred pounds on a big hat and when I put it on I felt fantastic. It felt really good and filled me with confidence.

“I thought it would be great to be the designer giving someone that feeling.

“When I came home I was looking for a head piece for a friend’s wedding and I couldn’t find anything suitable, so I thought ‘why don’t I just make one?’. And that’s what I did.

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“I put a picture on Facebook and from that I had a couple of people asking me to make them something and things have grown from there.”

Rachael now runs her own business, designing and creating bespoke hats and fascinators, as well as offering a hire service.

She said: “Now I have people in my studio trying on their finished piece and they have the same feeling I had putting them on.”

And having trained herself in all the traditional millinery techniques, Rachael is now undertaking an advanced course at Glasgow Clyde College.

To find out more visit www.chanixmillinery.co.uk

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