Peter Jago: A Life in Hats and a Home at Kensington
If you love hats—or just fashion in general—you may have already heard of Australian Milliner Peter Jago.
Peter has been making hats for nearly five decades, most recently under his own label Peter Jago Exclusive Hats in Melbourne. Now retired, he moved into his Unison apartment a few years ago and values the security and spaciousness of his home:
"The suburb I first loved and lived in, Kensington - I call it Royal South. I really appreciated on application to have an apartment that had a studio room for storage, especially with hats, hatboxes, haberdashery, fabrications and all the accessories. I was able to develop a tropical gardenesque and privacy with security and lockup garage.”
The transformation of Kensington
Kensington itself has undergone a major transformation in recent years. Once a large inner-city housing estate, the area was redeveloped into a diverse, mixed-tenure community. While two high-rise public housing towers—94 Ormond Street and 56 Derby Street—remained, the surrounding housing stock was replaced over a 14-year period, with the final stage completed in 2012. Today, Unison manages a mix of social, affordable, and private homes. There are dedicated community hubs, a park with playground equipment and BBQ facilities, and several shared gardens, including the Food Forest, which has its own compost hub. A central walking path, the Warun Biik Pathway, runs through the middle of the development, fostering community connection while linking residents to each other and the surrounding spaces.
A rich and diverse career in fashion
Peter’s passion for fashion history and restoration has earned him widespread recognition. He was the first inductee into the Australian Millinery Hall of Fame in 2003, and his work is featured in the Australian Performing Arts Collection at Arts Centre Melbourne, as well as in other collections around the country. His creative journey was shaped early in life, growing up in Papua New Guinea, where his parents were teachers in the Eastern Highlands. The region’s rich cultural heritage left a lasting impression on his aesthetic:
“The local men were the show-stoppers, wearing their headdress of birds-of-paradise, cassowary, parakeet and cockatoo plumes, with headbands of scarab beetles and python skins.”
Peter’s career took off when he joined the Australian Opera in his twenties, designing millinery and costumes under the Head Milliner. One of his most memorable projects was creating designs for Dame Joan Sutherland. In the 1980s, he moved to Melbourne—the home of the Melbourne Cup—and launched his own label. His hats became the ultimate fashion statement, worn by style icons and celebrities, including Wendy Murdoch, Sigrid Thornton, Sam Neill, Rhonda Burchmore, and Rachel Griffiths.
A well-earned retirement
Now enjoying retirement, Peter reflects fondly on his career. While his days are no longer spent hand-moulding hats or designing bespoke pieces, his appreciation for artistry and fashion remains strong. When asked if he finds hat-making therapeutic, Peter laughs.
“I find cooking therapeutic, but not millinery. To loosely quote Bette Midler in Death on the Nile: ‘An oyster nearly dies in the process of making a pearl!’”
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