2024 Racing Season Recap

Custom “Le Profil” hattinator for a Derby Party

Horse racing season (also known as my favorite time of year) is moving ahead at full speed! I absolutely love to see what everyone is wearing, assist in narrowing down accessory options and create custom hats that finish off the look. Seeing faces light up when we find the perfect hat, is the best.

I just returned from Derby Trunk Shows in Louisville and Dallas and while those new pieces are in production, I thought it would be fun to revisit some of my favorite custom pieces from last year’s racing season.

My slots for custom Derby hats are filled for this year but I have lots of pieces in stock that can still be customized to match your Derby look and space available for custom creations for the Preakness, Belmont Stakes and Royal Ascot. If you are still looking for the perfect piece to top off your race look or another summer event, let’s setup a time to chat either in person or via Zoom.

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Outfit combinations above from the top, L to R:

Row 1: Le Profil hattinator with Camilla dress, Flirter fascinator with Leo Lin dress, Le Melon hat with Zimmerman dress

Row 2: Sylvie hat with feathers and Carolina Herrera dress, Le Profil hattinator with Dolce & Gabbana shoe, Custom fascinator with Theory dress

Row 3: L’houpette fascinator with Chanel dress, Vivian fascinator with Zimmerman dress, La Reine fascinator with Dolce & Gabbana dress

Row 4: Canotier hat with Giambattista Valli dress, Le Melon with Alice + Olivia suit, Custom fascinator with Sandro dress

Row 5: Custom fascinator with Zara dress, Petite Mademoiselle hat with Huishan Zhang dress, Le Profil hattinator with Monique Lhuillier dress

Row 6: Gigi fascinator with Cara Cara dress, Le Profil hattinator with Dolce & Gabbana dress, Caprice fascinator with Zimmerman dress,

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Of course the best part of all this are the day of texts and emails from the races themselves! Seeing everyone in their full looks, having fun with friends and family makes me so happy. Truly, you all look so fabulous and I am so grateful you trust me create these hats and fascinators for you.

Up-cycled Bucket Hats at Samueli Academy

The sample Bucket Hat I made for the class utilizing up-cyled jeans.

I have always enjoyed teaching and sharing my millinery skills with others. I am forever grateful for the artisans who have given me their time, educating me and sharing the traditional techniques of hat making. Making hats is a craft best learned over time as an apprentice. Years of trial and error, converting the old world into the modern day with new materials and machinery, while staying true to the art of millinery.

I have been on a bit of a teaching hiatus as my current atelier is not conducive to working with groups and I really miss it! One of the great things about teaching is that I tend to learn as much from the millinery enthusiasts that take my class as they do from me, so when the design teachers at Samueli Academy asked if I would come and work with their students for a “Passion Ignition” day, I jumped at the chance.

Samueli Academy is a charter school in Santa Ana that offers both a project and work based learning ciriculum and serves the diverse student population in the area of Santa Ana, CA with a focus on foster youth. It’s a very impressive campus and throughout the year they host what they call, “Passion Ignition” days where the teachers create seminars (ignitions) for the students about things they, the teachers, are passionate about. The school invites experts from various fields to work with the students, exposing them to new things and igniting their passion to reach their greatest potential.

Samueli Academy students working on their bucket hats.

I met with the school’s design teachers, Reid and Patricia who toured me through the design department and we hatched the idea of having the kids make an up-cycled bucket hat using donated denim from their supply closet. We chose the bucket hat, currently having a fashion resurgence, to appeal to a wide range of students and denim with all of its various washes and elements, would allow students to really make a piece that spoke to them individually.

For me, the next step was simplifying the hat to the fewest possible seams while still creating a hat pattern with pieces small enough to fit easily onto the recycled jeans we would be working with. Knowing I was going to be guiding 60 plus teenagers through the process of making a complete hat in just 4.5 hours was a bit daunting and I knew I had to make things as simple as possible. With a little trial and error on my part the pattern came together. I graded it into multiple sizes and sent it off to the design team at Samueli Academy. The students prepped for the class by pre-cutting the pattern pieces and adding the necessary interfacing and we were ready to go.

Samueli Academy students working on their bucket hats.

Those 4.5 hours went by in a blink! It was incredibly fun and rewarding to work with the students. Some of the kids had never sewn before and others were active members of the school’s Fashion Club and were able to add embellishments like pockets, embroidery and crystals onto their hats. While rethreading and untangling sewing machines, ripping out seams and problem solving, I was able to answer endless questions on my fashion background and schooling, my design process and most importantly for them, what famous people I have made hats for. It was a really great day and I loved watching the kids push through the process and make the hats their own.

A huge thank you to the design teaching team at Samueli Academy, Reid, Patricia, Stephen, Anthony & Lucy for having me and for making it such a rewarding experience for the students and for me!

Dior, in Paris!

Above - The dress worn by opera singer, Axelle Saint-Cirel to sing the French national anthem at the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremonies.

One of the through-lines of my year has been the designer, Christian Dior. I have found myself on an unexpected and delightful deep dive into the designer’s life and work that culminated this summer with a visit to La Galerie Dior in Paris.

It was such a joy to see the workmanship and details of the clothes up close and even more exciting to find that they had recently updated the exhibit to include the dresses the house created for the female performers in the 2024 Paris Olympic Opening Ceremonies.

But let’s rewind to the beginning. It all started this spring while visiting fellow milliner, Cassie MacGregor for our annual Kentucky Derby Trunk Show in Dallas. One evening we decided to start watching the wonderful Apple TV series, The New Look together. This dramatic story follows designers Christian Dior and Coco Chanel as they navigate the Paris of World War II and it is filled with the most gorgeous fashion.

I was familiar with most of the Coco Chanel history, but the Dior storyline was new to me. As I continued the series back at home, I found myself rewatching episodes to focus on the clothes because my initial viewing had me riveted to the story and parsing out which details were true, and which had been embellished for the show.

Above - A selection of dresses embellished with flowers from La Galerie Dior exhibit.

It’s a great watch if you are looking for something to binge this winter break and there is talk of a second season coming that follows the designers post war period (fingers crossed).

From there, Cassie surprised me with a copy of the book, Miss Dior: A Wartime Story of Courage and Couture by Justine Picardie. A beautiful dive into the relationship between Christian Dior and his beloved sister and muse Catherine. It tells the deeper story of Catherine’s work with the French Resistance and the aftereffects of her capture by the Gestapo and eventual deportation to Ravensbrück. The siblings deep, emotional bond and how Christian’s empathy and love for Catherine brought about the foundation for his New Look collection and signature scent, Miss Dior. The book filled in the historical gaps of Dior’s story and expanded upon the design inspiration he found in his mother’s garden.

After that, I was lucky enough to find myself headed to Paris and visiting La Galerie Dior while I was there was at the top on my list (after croissants, of course). The exhibit is fantastic with a timeline that explores his early years and military service, his work as an illustrator and milliner, his time designing for Lucien Lelong and eventually the creation of his own fashion house and some of the work of the designers that have taken the helm for the House of Dior after his retirement. It really brings the world of Dior to life in the most beautiful way and weaves the influence that flowers had on his designs to life. If you find yourself in Paris, I recommend getting tickets to see his stunning work in person.

Pictured above, a few of the ensembles from the exhibit that resonated with me:

Row 1: A daytime ensemble from the “New Look” collection with a signature hat, A front & side view of an evening dress with a uniquely placed flower

Row 2: Two black daytime ensembles utilizing layered textures, An evening dress with a delicate lace overlay, A close up of a hand-made lace and satin flower accenting a dress bodice

Row 3: A more modern suit created for Dior by Yves Saint Laurent incorporating a hooded jacket, An extravagant evening gown of floral printed silk (the back of the dress can be seen in the mirror), The beaded dress Celine Dion wore for the 2024 Paris Olympic Opening Ceremonies

Row 4: Three cotton and muslin dress prototypes from one of my favorite rooms in the exhibit which was made up of all white prototypes and works in progress with the designers markings and embelishments

Pictured above: Part of the exhibit featured a cut out in the floor to a birds-eye view of the designer’s millinery workroom with hat making supplies, hat boxes and finished hats, A 3D printed fedora made to look like woven straw, A quote from Christian Dior on the success of his millinery, A crin mask created for the house by Stephen Jones, A sketch by Christian Dior of a tulle shawl and gloves, A wider view of the “white” room in the exhibit made up of cotton muslin samples, Me and my daughter in front of the colorful staircase display at La Galerie Dior.

A Pinch Me Moment, Film to Fashion - Metropolitan Museum of Art Installation

Update: The Milliners Guild, “Film to Fashion” display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been extended through January 6, 2025. To make an appointment to view / buy the hats contact Laura Einstein, Manager of The Gallery at The Met Store at 212.650.2908.

My hat "Vanity" on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gift Shop

I love a pinch me moment and I really love that after 26 years of making hats professionally, I am still having them!

Last week, a hat that I designed as part of the Milliners Guild’s, Film to Fashion Collaboration was installed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s, Gift Shop.

As a former resident of NYC, The Met has always loomed large for me and I have spent many hours strolling its halls and enjoying summer cocktails on the roof overlooking Central Park. In those early days, I dreamed of having one of my creations in the permanent costume collection and although I am not there just yet, it’s a real thrill to have something I created, a piece of me, on display in the building!

This installation is to celebrate the winners of the Milliners Guild’s, “Film to Fashion” competition honoring milliner Mildred Blount and her work on film costuming in the 1930’s and 40’s - much of which, sadly went uncredited. I served on the Milliners Guild committee that put together and oversaw the competition and was asked to create a piece for the event.

Our hats will be on display and for sale through October 30th. You can view all of the hats included here.

My inspiration: Actress Eve Arden playing magazine editor Cornelia Jackson in the office scene of Columbia Pictures 1944 musical Cover Girl. photo credit: The Closet Historian Blog

The inspiration for the cocktail hat I created was the 1944 Columbia Pictures film Cover Girl. The film which is a musical stars Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, Eve Arden and a delicious array of fashion including many fun hats. I grew up watching films of this era with my grandmother and they still supply endless inspiration for my designs today. This is the time where hair styling became more popular and hats got smaller, the birth of what we today call a cocktail hat or fascinator. For my cocktail hat (pictured below) which I named “Vanity”, I reimagined the draped, free form hat Eve Arden wears in the office scene (pictured above) into a chic and modern, summer cocktail hat. I gave it an added touch of whimsey by adding a trim at the back to create a 360 degree design and veiling accents as a nod to the many veiled hats showcased throughout the movie.