Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/283499
4.14 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 9 9 Chapeau artisans Sarah Havens (far lef) and Abbie Dwelle (next page) are bringing fourishes of past decades — and even centuries — to today's hat buyers. L ouisville honors its history: Our cast- iron-fronted buildings, Twin Spires and riverboats infuence our culture and style. Like hats at the Derby, we wear our past proudly. Louisville is also at the forefront of a design movement that takes artisanal methods of a bygone era and redesigns them for a more sustainable now. From printing presses to chicken coops, this is the new prospect — that if we go backward just a bit, we may be able to bridge a gap between past and future to create (like our forefathers) a catalog of handmade goods that will last a lifetime. Te words "milliner" and "haberdasher" feel ancient on the tongue. Tese days, the words may even need defning. Traditionally, a milliner is someone who designs and makes hats primarily for ladies; a haberdasher does the same for men. Louisville has two of the top hat makers in the United States. One is a local woman, infuenced by her hometown, the other a recent émigré attracted by the city's developing design aesthetic who wants to be part of its cultural renaissance. Both are historians and artisans, and both are taking the city into a new, old future. SARAH HAVENS, milliner Havens, 42, can almost always be seen wearing a hat of her own creation and considers herself "her best marketing tool." As she explains: "I will wear a new design and see if I get compliments or if I am looked at strangely. Either way, I know if I am on the right track." She came into the business through the theater, specializing in costume design, and has worked nationally in such venues as the Met and Santa Fe Opera House and locally at Actors Teatre and the Louisville Ballet. Havens found that headwear was always an afterthought, made poorly and with little respect. She wanted hats better constructed and studied the craft of millinery and its history, the coalition between hat and class structure. "Te higher the hat, the farther up the social ladder you would be, and I found that fascinating," she says. Having worked in the theater and in craft shops, Havens began making hats for herself and her friends about 20 years ago. A Louisvillian since age six, Havens wondered if she could WEAR A HAT! 101 TIP 98-111.indd 99 3/19/14 5:35 PM