Window Shopping

Hat tricks

By Brittany Kress

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WILL SHILLING PHOTO

When derby season rolls around in the spring, there's no such thing as too over-the-top.

The incessant calls for "bigger, bigger, bigger" during Amy Hamilton's key sales season has the hat maker under pressure to take her crisp and stunning wide-brimmed, floral-themed designs to another level.

"I don't want women to feel like they're wearing their grandmother's hat," said Hamilton, whose Granville Millinery Company line of wedding-, derby- and special-event-appropriate hats has been featured in O Home magazine. "I want them to look fresh. I don't want them to look like they just pulled them out of an attic."

During a recent visit to Hamilton's stable-turned-studio, Alive took a look at her latest batch of springtime hats. We saw stunning, wide-brimmed shapes, sharp black and pretty pink woven designs, casual caps and delicate headpieces, most brimming with blooms large and small.

Each collection — spring/summer and fall/winter — aims to put a fresh, updated look on classic shapes, Hamilton said. Her signature designs include a turned-down brim and neutral colors like black, white, chocolate and tan. The "Mad Hatter" shape looks good on everybody, she added.

For women, wearing hats is "becoming more popular in the last year, even," said Hamilton, whose sales are strongest in the spring and fall. "There's some hats I've been making for years and I just change the flowers or decoration on it, kind of keep it fresh."

WILL SHILLING PHOTO

Hamilton made her first foray into the craft as a student at Columbus College of Art & Design, when she designed elaborate hats to match her garments for her senior fashion show.

After launching a web outlet for her work in 2002, a majority of her orders come through the website. You can also order by mail, phone or by appointment at her Granville studio, which is currently filled with one-of-a-kind designs in preparation for an upcoming derby trunk show.

An asymmetrical crown look is popular right now, which prompted Hamilton to "improvise" by fitting a small plate at an angle atop a standard hat block.

"I'm inspired by a lot of different textures and colors," said Hamilton, whose windowed studio overlooks her home's two-acre backyard and pond. "Or sometimes I'm inspired by a new hat block that I find."

March 20, 2008

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