Milliners, rejoice! Women’s hats are making a comeback.
For centuries, hats were must-have fashion accessories. Now, after a decades-long lull, there is a revival in the popularity of hats and fashion-conscious American women are topping off their outfits with stylish pieces that do more than just warm their heads.
This resurgence comes to the delight of those in millinery – the art and trade of making and selling women’s hats. From casual to chic, hats come in a wide variety of styles, including fedoras, newsboy caps, berets, and cloche hats. This variety offers fashion designers and hatmakers plenty of creative avenues to travel.
“The possibilities of designs are infinite,” says fashion designer Tammy Apóstol, who teaches hat design at the Miami International University of Art & Design. “There has been a revival in millinery, from the classic looks to the more modern designs.”
Historically, hats denoted social status and were required as part of the garb for women and men of many different societies, cultures, and religions. Modern American hat trends have been influenced by European fashion. According to Apóstol, elaborate hats for women started fading away at the beginning of World War I as the trend turned to more understated styles.
“Hats slowly became a mere accessory rather than a social status symbol,” she comments.
Inspired by glamorous fashion icons past and present, Apóstol started experimenting with millinery at the beginning of her fashion education and continues to incorporate hats into her designs.
“I have worked with an array of materials, including felt, straw, silk, velvet, tulle, lace, leather, feathers, beads, flowers, netting – it is an endless list of amazing components,” she says.
The assortment of materials and embellishments that can be used for hats make them versatile accessories, night or day, no matter the season.
“For evening wear, hats are usually smaller and embellished with more crystals or feathers, whether it is a casque, a pillbox, a fancy beret … for daytime wear, you have bigger hats with wider brims, derbies, and newsboy caps,” Apóstol offers.
Vintage Millinery and Hat Design
Meanwhile, milliner Laura Hubka is in her studio delicately trimming each of the pieces for her hats by hand.
“My favorite trims are either vintage pieces, such as a shiny shoe buckle, a piece of ribbon, or a wisp of feather, or ones I make myself,” she says.
Hubka describes her hats as contemporary and feminine. She usually starts with a certain hat shape in mind and then selects the materials she will use.
“The materials usually take on a life of their own and tell me what to do,” she says. “Often the shape changes along the way and the trims that I thought were perfect get scrapped and recreated. All the time asking myself: ‘Is this going to make someone feel beautiful when they put it on?’”
As fate would have it, a haircut led the former seamstress and pattern-maker to a career as a milliner.
“I stumbled into making my own hats after being the victim of a bad haircut,” she tells. “It was love at first try. After that, I was committed to learning everything about the craft.”
Hubka combined her fashion design and fine arts skills with some business savvy to launch her own shop – Laura Hubka Millinery.
“Every day is different,” Hubka says. “That’s the best and sometimes most challenging part of being a professional artist. You never know what client will call or what color will inspire you.”
Working in hat design can be both exciting and challenging. Not a typical art form, a major challenge in millinery is finding the right equipment and supplies.
Another challenge is keeping hat designs fresh and contemporary and not falling into a look that is too historical.
“Vintage-inspired, yes,” Hubka says. “Vintage-looking, no. Keeping a younger client in mind really helps to design for a modern silhouette.”
Also, hat buyers often need to be guided to see the difference between the craftsmanship of a couture hat as opposed to a mass-produced department store hat.
“They have to understand a little about the process in order to appreciate what they are purchasing,” Hubka says.
Celebrities and Designer Hats
Certain events and celebrity trendsetters have helped broaden people’s knowledge of hat styles. In addition to horse racing, the tradition of women wearing large and elaborate hats continues to grab the spotlight at the Kentucky Derby. Fashionable women, and recently men, can be seen on race day wearing wildly creative and lavishly designed hats.
Then there are fashionistas like Prince William’s betrothed Kate Middleton and style icon Victoria Beckham. These lovelies from across the pond are showing women all around the globe how to sport a chapeau.
And with her love for edgy headwear, Lady Gaga could write a hat romance. The pop superstar even applied for an internship with famed milliner Philip Treacy, whose creations have been worn by Madonna and Sarah Jessica Parker, to name a few. Treacy has also been selected to design hats for members of William and Kate’s royal wedding party.
“The hat craze that we have today is due to the fact that we have celebrities wearing more of them as a fashion statement and the instant exposure to communication and visuals worldwide through the internet and social networks,” Apóstol explains. “There are things like ‘The Gaga Effect;’ Lady Gaga has truly blown us away by wearing artistic and never-seen-before creations.”
Hubka is happy to see younger women develop their interests in hats. “Young girls, even those interested in fashion, are easily intimidated by headwear,” she says. “Any time they see a hat worn beautifully, it gets them a little closer to being tempted to wear one.”