Two Santa Rosa women milliners make hats a style statement

Mention the Kentucky Derby, the British royal family or an Easter parade, and Jessica Jones and Amy Smith are at full attention.

Hats are their business and their passion, from refined to avant-garde, each one handcrafted with detail and precision.

Skilled milliners, the women design and create hats for businessmen and brides, fashion-forward millennials and women of a certain age who recall a time when no one would even think to leave home without the appropriate headdress.

The pair work their old-time artistry from the Maxwell Court Textile Studio in Santa Rosa, running separate businesses but with shared enthusiasm.

“We’re completely independent but we’re constantly giving each other support,” said Jones, 58, who operates Gould Hat Designs and also sells her hats at shops around the county.

The women became fast friends after meeting four years ago at a Los Angeles trade gathering for milliners from across the country. Both moved their businesses about two years ago to the textile studio now shared by four artists.

Hats, it seems, are as popular today as when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy topped off her fashions with the classic pillbox.

“I think there’s a whole new breed of us bringing it back,” said Smith, 63, proprietor of Flying Color Studios and also a partner in Portobello Hats, a downtown Santa Rosa hat shop.

Smith holds a degree in textiles and weaving and worked as a textile designer before becoming a milliner 25 years ago. At the peak of her career, she was making some 600 hats annually. She now crafts from 200 to 300 hats per year.

Jones, who splits her time between the studio and a second job in the IT department at LandPaths in Santa Rosa, has made “a couple hundred” hats in nearly a decade as a milliner.

The artisans create everything from broad-brimmed straw sun hats and high-crowned Stetsons to fanciful ladies’ fascinators and the bell-shaped cloches popular in the “roaring ’20s.” Each specializes in different styles.

They’ve replicated old-time hats from family photos of generations ago, outfitted various Sonoma County docents with historically correct period hats, and crafted countless one-of-a-kind pieces.

Smith has done a considerable amount of work for stage productions, even creating hats for Michael Jackson’s comeback tour before the singer’s death. Jones is completing a “super fun” custom project, making 10 hats “with flair” for a bridal party headed to the Kentucky Derby for a bachelorette party.

Both create brand-new hats and upcycle vintage ones. They love working with various textiles, including elegant felt popular for a number of styles.

Their side-by-side workshops are eye candy for fashionistas – finished hats on display, spools of thread, textured buckles and yards of colorful ribbon and veiling filling their studios. Smith and Jones handcraft many of the embellishments on their works, from delicate rosettes to feather adornments.

Their hats are hand-blocked and hand-sewn using traditional millinery techniques. Hundreds of wooden hat blocks are within hands-reach to shape textiles into wearable art.

Some provide history lessons. Smith pulls a favorite from a shelf, a weathered form stamped “1925” and reminiscent of something from the Teddy Roosevelt era.

The women sculpt their hats as they carefully press and mold fabric around the wooden shapes, steam irons sending foggy mists as they transform 21st century textiles into timeless, head-turning creations.

It can take from six to eight hours – and longer – to create one hat. Depending on materials and trimmings, handcrafted hats typically range from $65 to several hundred dollars.

Both do custom work and sell their hats to the public.

Who loves wearing them?

“Everybody,” responded Smith. “Who doesn’t?”

Smith said customers include “anybody who wants to protect their skin or keep their head warm,” as well as those attending special functions or celebrations or simply wanting to enhance their attire.

People of all ages and backgrounds purchase hats, some influenced by celebrities, movies or television shows.

There’s been a recent interest in vintage styles depicted in two historical period TV shows set in England, the tale of class struggles in “Downton Abbey” and the gangster family epic, “Peaky Blinders.”

The ever-cool actor Johnny Depp has popularized the fedora with the two-inch band, and actress Angelina Jolie always catches attention in her on-screen hats.

Cowboy hats and lightweight Panama hats also are popular in Sonoma County.

Beyond their practical benefits of providing warmth and sun protection, hats can project an image and an attitude and make a statement.

“You don’t know until you put it on that it’s the one,” Smith said. “You get to play with the persona it projects. A hat can direct that persona.”

The milliners have watched transformations again and again, all with the placement of a proper hat. The fit is as important as the style.

Those who say they can’t wear hats may want to try again.

“It’s only because they haven’t tried the right one on,” Jones said. “You have to try them until the right one fits.”

Custom orders assure a perfect fit – and the perfect look.

Beyond the creative process, both women enjoy getting to know – and transform – their customers.

“I love making someone happy,” Jones said. “I love when someone loves their hat.”

For more information, visit maxwellcourttextilestudios.com.

Contact Towns Correspondent Dianne Reber Hart at sonomatowns@gmail.com.