All of Los Angeles was frantically abuzz this past July when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid a visit to our town. The Royals were staying at the British Consul-General’s residence in Hancock Park, which coincidentally is just a few short miles from the Bijou Van Ness studio. During the Royal Visit, I gave Her Royal Highness a Bijou Van Ness fascinator as a token of my admiration and in commemoration of Her Royal Highness’ visit to Los Angeles. It was a grand honor and thrill to design and create the couture fascinator.

Recently, I received a letter from British Consul-General Dame Barbara Hay. Her letter states that the Private Secretary to Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge asked her to thank me for the fascinator. She concludes the letter with a personally handwritten note, which says “I wish you much success with your business which seems very promising.” I am truly honored and touched!

The Fall/Winter 2011 collection of Bijou Van Ness hats is now online. You can view the full collection here. Hope you like all the new styles and images!

We’re very excited that the Bijou Van Ness Bridal Collection was part of New York International Bridal Week alongside some of bridal fashion’s biggest names. The collection for Spring 2012 included a variety of unique and elegant hats, fascinators and headpieces. We had the privilege of meeting with an array of amazing buyers, stylists, editors and more. Can’t wait to get our newest styles on the heads of stylish brides around the world!

Click here to see what brides.com thought of our feathered hair clip.

It’s that time of year again! The 3rd Annual UNIQUE LA Spring Show is this weekend, May 7-8, in the penthouse of the California Market Center. Get the rare chance to meet and shop directly from over 300 hand-selected designers and artists at the largest independent design show in the country. Come by and visit us at booth 236!

While Prince William and Catherine Middleton exchanged vows in London, across the pond, in Clinton, Connecticut a royal wedding viewing party was held at the beautiful bridal boutique, The White Dress by the shore. Owner and stylist, Beth Chapman was interviewed by the press wearing the Bijou Van Ness Riviera Rose fascinator. Several members of her team wore Bijou Van Ness as well.

Click here to read more about the royal wedding viewing party and coverage.

Photography by Carrie Roseman

Yesterday was the much anticipated royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen designed the beautiful and elegant long-sleeved lace and satin wedding dress, reminiscent of Grace Kelly’s dress when she married Prince Rainier of Monaco. 1,900 guests were invited to the ceremony in Westminster Abbey and the royal dress code required all ladies to wear a hat. It was so much fun to see the beautiful assortment of chapeaux worn by the guests. World-renowned milliner, Philip Treacy, designed hats for numerous guests including Duchess of Cornwall Camilla Parker Bowles, Princess Eugenie and Beatrice of York, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Zara Phillips and Victoria Beckham.

A very warm congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

I just returned from a very exciting trip to New York City where I debuted the Bijou Van Ness Bridal Collection during bridal market. The collection included silk satin fascinators, pillboxes made from Italian Mikado silk, hand-sculpted sinamay hats with vintage pearl pins and exotic straw turbans with Swarovski crystals. I had the opportunity to meet with amazing buyers, press, stylists and more. Brides.com called the hats “superchic” and included Bijou Van Ness in a list of favorites from the show. Truly honored!

During LA Fashion Week, I was very excited to collaborate with clothing designer NeuNel for the F2 Runway Show, which took place at the penthouse of the California Market Center. I presented several wide-brim velour felt hats from the Bijou Van Ness Fall 2011 collection. Other great designers who presented their collections included Camelia Skikos, Rock Chiq, and Front Street.

Olivia Munn is the cover girl of the Spring 2011 issue of Audrey Magazine. You can see her wearing  the Bijou Van Ness Cascade cocktail hat in this issue and looking gorgeous as usual.

To see behind the scenes footage of the shoot, click here.

The popular fashion site FabSugar, dedicated to all the very latest must-haves in fashion and accessories, featured the Bijou Van Ness Spring 2011 collection in a post titled 10 Bijou Van Ness Spring Hats We Could Totally See on Kate Middleton! Even LA Times morning fashion and beauty report wrote “Bijou Van Ness hat designer Rehn Dudukgian, whom we’ve written about before, has a new hat collection that FabSugar says would be lovely on princess-to-be Kate Middleton. We agree!”