Windswept by Karen Henriksen

Traditional and utilitarian headwear, alongside contemporary urban trends, provided the inspiration for Karen’s MA collection at the Royal College of Art in 2003. Featuring sculpted headscarves, caps, hoodies and sou’westers on a grand scale, it was the starting point for her millinery practice, informing some of her future Couture Collections, and notably leading to the formation of her casual, unisex
Windswept Collection.
See above and below for pieces from the MA collection, photographed on and off the catwalk, a glimpse at some of Karen’s sketchbooks, and examples of press attention at the time.

Fresh from presenting the collection on the college catwalk, whilst still at the RCA, Karen began to experiment with asymmetric pattern-cutting. Her re-imagined iconic British flat cap became the ‘Windswept Flat Cap’. This was soon followed by a deeper-fitting version, ‘DC’, which in turn led to many other variations, including ‘Georgia’ and the Windswept Rain Hat, which continues to be one of her
bestselling designs.
See below for some images from the Windswept Collection archive, dating from 2003 to 2012.