From humble beginnings, celebrated Canberra milliner Cynthia Jones-Bryson has forged an international reputation with hard work and by overcoming enormous physical challenges. DAVID TURNBULL continues his series of stories of remarkable Canberrans.

Cynthia Jones-Bryson designs and manufactures hats on consignment to customers all over the world.

These are not just any old hats, mind you.

They are works of art, high-fashion articles complementing the outfits the rich and famous wear at prestigious social events such as military parades, the Kentucky Derby, or Royal Ascot.

But if you think this doyen of fashion is a pampered socialite, you would be wrong. Born and raised in Delegate, in the Snowy Mountains, Cynthia is a country girl to the core. And has an inner strength that belies her petite stature.

From humble beginnings, she’s forged an international reputation at the high end of exclusive fashion millinery with hard work, and by overcoming enormous physical challenges.

The second eldest of seven children Cynthia was taught dressmaking and sewing by her mother as a matter of necessity.

“We were very poor, and mum used to make clothes for the family,” she says.

“The philosophy was: Mass on Sunday, clean shoes and honesty.”

Cynthia went to primary school at St Joseph’s Convent in Delegate, and then Bombala High.

“I had two sisters and four brothers, and we had free rein to roam the bush, and swim in the river in summer.

“We made our own fun in a small community of only a few hundred.

“Everyone knew everyone.”

Leaving high school, Cynthia headed for “the big smoke” and started a primary teaching course at the Catholic university at Watson.

But she soon found teaching was not for her.

“First practical, you know, I had a room full of kindergarten kids, and that settled it. No way I could do that.”

To keep her head above water, Cynthia joined Housing ACT..

“I was just trying to survive,” she says.

“Like other young girls, fashion was important to me, but I couldn’t afford the clothes in shops, so I made my own, and developed a style.”

Horrific injuries and a struggle to survive

At 22, Cynthia’s life took a dramatic turn.

Driving home from work one night, she had a head-on crash on William Hovell Drive when a car crossed on to her side of the road.

She suffered horrific injuries and struggled to survive.

“I had a collapsed lung, severe fractures all over my body, but the arm and the hip were the worst,” she says.

“My hip was so bad, they had to tilt the bed to give me a bit of relief.

“The pain was endless.”

Permanently on crutches, Cynthia had no choice but to return to Delegate where her sister cared for her for 12 months.

Then, by chance, an aunt in Sydney told her a new orthopaedic surgeon at Concord Repatriation Hospital was doing hip replacements.

She had her first hip replacement at 23. 

Over the 40 years since then, she has a total of four, including a 10-hour pelvis reconstruction only a few years ago.

To say she has lived with pain is an understatement.

Today she has 23 titanium screws holding her together.

“Back then, a lot of the surgery I needed was experimental, and Canberra did not have the expertise.

“That’s all changed now. My last op was here.”

Convalescing over such a long period, of course, gave Cynthia the chance to reassess her life.

“I nearly died, and I thought, ‘I’m going to do what makes me happy’.

“I quit the public service and enrolled in a full-time fashion designer’s course at CIT.

“And I was so lucky because the fashion design school had a great reputation.

“You were taught how to design and how to make. It genuinely prepared you for work in the industry, and I chose millinery as an elective.”

London – where the passion for hats took off

On leaving CIT, Cynthia joined a well-known Canberra fashion house as a pattern maker for a few years before moving out on her own.

She worked from home for some years, doing things she liked doing, and then married and had a son before her husband was posted to London.

And this is when Cynthia’s life-long passion for hats took off.

“With John working at the Australian High Commission, we had to go to a lot of official functions and that gave me the chance to make hats for a complete head-to-toe outfit,” Cynthia says.

“I also enrolled in a millinery course at Morley College.”

By the time the family returned to Australia, millinery had become her main creative focus.

Her son, Tom, was her number one priority, but she found herself making more and more hats,

“I don’t know if I had social media or what. It just kept growing by word-of-mouth,” she says.

“I would make hats for people going to the Melbourne Cup, or the Everest at Randwick. 

“Then, one day I got a call from a woman in Miami who wanted me to design and make something for her, and then 10 of her friends gave me commissions as well.”

Along the way, Cynthia has won the Melbourne Cup Carnival’s Millinery Award three times, sold one of her creations to the Victorian Art Gallery and made hats for Dame Quinten Bryce, Australia’s first female governor-general.

And she’s just released a book – Hats, a Fine Art – that is as Australian as she is. It was designed in Canberra and features the work of local photographers and models.

‘Buy the original. I don’t copy’

So, how does Cynthia go about making a hat?

“I’m crystal clear what I won’t do; if someone asks me to make a hat they’ve seen in a magazine, I tell them to buy the original,” she says. “I don’t copy.

“I generally meet the client, ask about the function, and what their overall outfit will be and go from there.

“If they are wearing a floral design, I might match that with flowers or feathers.

“It depends on the occasion and what I feel from the person.”

Surprisingly, there’s a lot of engineering in designing a hat.

“Absolutely, “says Cynthia.

“It’s not just about a nice look. With a ball of feathers, for instance, you need to create the illusion the hat is floating, not just sitting on the head.

“It’s a challenge”

In the back of Cynthia’s book there’s a plain straw hat her son Tom sewed beads on as a child to say “Best Mum” for Mother’s Day. 

That hat is still her favourite. 

Journalist David Turnbull is writing a series of profiles about interesting Canberrans. Do you know someone who deserves a moment in the spotlight? Share the name in an email to David via editor@citynews.com.au  

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