Kelly Christy is a milliner based in New York City. She began offering women's hats in 1996 and has since added a ready to wear line of hats for men that can be found at New York retailers such as Barney’s, Seize Sur Vingt, and Stackhouse. But for me her appeal is that she also makes custom hats.
I met Kelly last month at the Collection of Sartorial Excellence in New York where she was showing ready to wear examples of what she can do. One of her straws caught my eye - a short brimmed pork pie hat with a black edge that was a bit too much for me. But we talked, and she showed me how she could give me an edge that blended in. I was hooked.
Working with Kelly is similar to working with a bespoke tailor - she can make just about anything but has a definite house style that influences the finished product. In her case, the house style is what I'd describe as hipster. Her top hat and bowler models, for example, pay homage to the past but are definitely not part of it. By dialing her style all the way back the result is something that a London hatmaker might not make but shouldn't have nightmares over either. I like it.
For an appointment with Kelly, contact her at 212 965-0686 or drop by her studio at 453 Broome Street Tuesday through Friday from 12 to 6 or on Saturdays from 12 to 5.
I met Kelly last month at the Collection of Sartorial Excellence in New York where she was showing ready to wear examples of what she can do. One of her straws caught my eye - a short brimmed pork pie hat with a black edge that was a bit too much for me. But we talked, and she showed me how she could give me an edge that blended in. I was hooked.
Working with Kelly is similar to working with a bespoke tailor - she can make just about anything but has a definite house style that influences the finished product. In her case, the house style is what I'd describe as hipster. Her top hat and bowler models, for example, pay homage to the past but are definitely not part of it. By dialing her style all the way back the result is something that a London hatmaker might not make but shouldn't have nightmares over either. I like it.
For an appointment with Kelly, contact her at 212 965-0686 or drop by her studio at 453 Broome Street Tuesday through Friday from 12 to 6 or on Saturdays from 12 to 5.
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4 comments:
Will,
I have followed your comments on other blogs and have recently started to follow your blog. Its very enjoyable & informative..great job!
I have a question though about Kelly Christy's designs: I feel that the basic shape is identical not matter the fabric. In other words they all look like the "pork pie" shape. Further, I don't like the banding(?) used around the edge of the brim.
Still, I don't want to seem rude: I commend her efforts and style.
Thank you again for your comments and efforts maintaining this blog.
MAL
Congratulations on the new Panama, Will. I'm getting a Panama this year myself.
Hi Will and thank you for your continued blog. I am not really sure how I got signed up to get the daily reports of it but I have enjoyed them.
We started a public hat forum a few years ago to promote hatters first and hats secondly and then the hat wearers. Needless to say that not any of them are very content with this process as it seeminly does not allow anyone a monopoly on it and instead has worked out almost like a blog of our own but we remain hopeful that it will take off more. We remain convinced however that quality will dominate over quantity.
Where anyone cares for your hat or not is really a personal preference thing. Edge binding is not a new thing for straw hats and we have bound high end MC hats from years ago.
I would like to comment however that while stlye and much more is a personal think that workmanship should have some bounderies.
This hat is not well made at all and has no defined brim break and while it may be considered a men's hat, it clearly is that of a milliner with milliner liberties and not made to a hatters standards.
Hope to see you and all on the SBS. www.gladhatter.com/forum
All very interesting. I know less about hats by far than I do of any type of clothing, and it appears that my deficiency will soon be corrected. Thanks!
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