VV Chapeaux Peg Dolls and the Poetry of Scraps

There's something almost alchemical happening in the workrooms above V V Rouleaux's Marylebone Lane flagship. While most of us see waste, Caroline - one of VV Chapeaux's talented seamstresses - sees whispers of possibility. A fragment of crin becomes a dollop of hair. A discarded feather transforms into a dramatic hat flourish. Even the acetate sleeves from ribbon rolls find new purpose as tiny, shimmering skirts.

Since Annabel Lewis opened her doors in 1990 with the revolutionary notion that "everything can be trimmed," V V Rouleaux has become a pilgrimage site for designers seeking the extraordinary. The shop's name - from the French "rouleau," meaning a small roll of material - hints at the coiled potential within every ribbon, every trim, every seemingly insignificant off-cut.

Miss Felicity Felt-Netting

But Caroline has taken this philosophy to its logical, delightful conclusion. Her peg dolls, born from the detritus of V V Chapeaux's bespoke millinery service, are tiny manifestos of creative rebellion. Each figure stands barely three inches tall, yet commands attention with the authority of a catwalk model...

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Image Credits:

Lead Image: Miss Winifred Winter Straw. 

All other images courtesy of VV Chapeaux at VV Rouleaux