Mühlbauer, The Modern Milliner

A century-old Vienna-based headwear company doesn't particularly have a trendy ring to it, but reserve judgement until you've discovered Mühlbauer. Knobby tweeds, samtvelours, and feather-and-tassel accented caps may be the stereotypical image of Austrian hats - and all of them appear in Mühlbauer collections - but it's brightly coloured felts and rock star fur caps that are putting a modern face on the brand's image and winning it a new following.

Showing at hip tradeshow Premiere Classe, and generally adopting an updated strategy to garner a younger audience, Mühlbauer is clearly responding to the increasingly competitive headwear market that includes many brands without such a rarefied history.

Leading the brand's renewal effort is fourth generation brother-and-sister team Klaus and Marlies Mühlbauer, who together head up design and merchandising. Their A/W '04 eye candy collection of hand-stitched brimless shapes, jazz-inspired felts, nappa leathers, and velvet streetwise caps sells at the label's seven stand-alone stores in Vienna and at international retailers that include Isetan in Tokyo, Le Bon Marche in Paris, and Really Great Things in New York.