Melissa Jackson

Melissa Jackson, best known for her colourful, sculptural and highly original hat designs, has an impressive following in fashion circles and is a favourite of race goers.

Melissa Jackson studied textile design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) with a view to becoming a knitwear designer. After graduating from RMIT, Melissa went on to complete a Bachelor of Music at Melbourne University.

In 1996 this creative ‘multitasker’ headed to the UK where she was accepted into the famous Central Saint Martins design college to study a Bachelor Arts in Fashion Design (Knitwear). Whilst waiting for classes to begin, Melissa undertook a short millinery course, a passion that was developed much earlier through the influence of her grandmother.

After graduating Melissa returned to Australia in 1998 and was asked to include some of her hats in a parade for the re-opened and much lauded Georges department store. “I didn’t even have my hat blocks here, everything was still in the UK,” Jackson remembers. “The next thing I knew, Georges had placed an order for 20 hats and people were calling me a Milliner.”

Now with her own store at 195 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy plus a studio in Melbourne’s central business district, Melissa Jackson continues to create signature collections and made-to-order hats and headwear, along with one off garments and knitwear.

Based in Melbourne the heart of the Australian racing industry and the Australian fashion capital Melissa Jackson has become synonymous with racing and fashion.