After starting out as a milliner in her 50s, Helen Manning is proving that if you want to get ahead, get a hatshop

TIME to let it go to your head. Hats are back, more popular than they've been for years, as a whole new generation discovers the fun and fashion of them.

But the chances are that many of these will not be hats as you know them, not necessarily safe and serviceable, but just delightfully decorative - a mere wisp of velvet or straw, a scrap of net and ribbon, all topped off with a frivolous feather or flower.

Helen Manning makes them all - elaborate wedding hats, this season's fashionable cloches, or hats that are a mere suggestion, a confection.

She was a successful businesswoman, running her own company exporting toys. "But I had always loved hats, and always wanted to be a milliner." So when she reached her 50s and knew what she wanted to do when she grew up, she decided to do something about it, starting with a course at Darlington college.

And that was just the start. "Then I went on to get all the experience I could from established milliners, sat at their elbows, learnt all I could."

That included workshops with Rose Cory, the lady who made hats for the late Queen Mother, and top milliner Philip Tracy, whom she met at a Tatler tea party at Harrods - the way you do - and who was "wonderful, really encouraging".

"It took over my life and I thought, 'Do I really need this?' but I love it, I really do."

Helen started making hats for friends and family and it soon snowballed. Now she has a workshop at her home in Darlington and her hats are flying off the stands, including one dashing hat with an ostrich feather that went to a very stylish 90-year-old in New Zealand.

"But what's really boosted hat wearing, I think, is the number of young women going to the races. It's become a popular day out and they all get dressed up and that, of course, includes a hat," she says.

And when Ascot comes to York next year...

Those race-going hats are likely to be the "fascinators", tiny, frivolous ornaments, held on by a comb or Kirby grip.

There are also wedding hats, which can also be made to order. "Finding the perfect fit and the perfect colour can be a nightmare, but..." (she gestures to rolls of material in the corner) "I can find most colours and then the client and I can work out the design together, so we have something that looks good and feels comfortable. Unlike a mass-produced hat, I can alter the proportions of hat and brim, so it's just right for that person." Which also means that you feel confident and comfortable wearing the hat - instead of the hat wearing you.

She has a range of ready-to-wear hats and everyday ones, too, including some fun leopardskin-patterned berets.

She travels regularly to Luton - hat-making capital of Britain - to see what's available and stock up on interesting materials. "The veiling alone - there are so many different types of wonderful colours and designs..." Helen also goes to London to keep up with the latest ideas in fashion.

"You can't design hats in isolation. They are part of the general scene. That's why I'm making cloches at the moment, because they go with that tweedy feel, and long skirts that are around this year."

Hats, says Helen firmly, pull an outfit together, indeed change a set of clothes into an outfit, add a certain elegance.

She knows that many of us would like to wear hats but don't dare. "When I do an exhibition, there are always lots of people hanging around the stand, feeling a bit shy, but longing to try the hats on. Some women say that hats just don't suit them. Not true. They just haven't found the right hat."

* Helen Manning's hats cost from £35 for the fascinators, and from around £60-£80 for the big wedding hats. She also produces a range of wraps and scarves. She can be contacted on (01325) 360710.

* This Sunday, Helen will be exhibiting at Blackwell Grange Hotel, in Darlington; Saturday/Sunday, November 13/14 at Duncombe Park, Helmsley; November 21, at Yarm School.