Artist demonstrates hats as a tool to celebrate individuality

Hazel Hoffman, Contributing Writer

Hat makers gathered at The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design on Sunday, March 10 for a “Design it Yourself” workshop for a few hours of crafting and turning vintage hats into feathered, colorful and extravagant headpieces. 

Starting with a hat, a glue gun, a table of oddities, ribbons and fabrics of every color and texture, participants worked together, chatted and laughed while creating statement hats brimming with  personality and celebrating the creativity of the process.

Michelle Sandler, leader of the workshop and founder of My Alternative Hats, has been making hats for over a decade, she said. 

Sandler started the hobby making hats for a fundraiser, but her hats soon bloomed into a business by popular demand, she said.

Hats are a way people can express themselves without words and bring a unique energy and expression to your life, especially for women, Sandler said.

Hats are a form of silent expression, Sandler said.

“It’s just satisfying — it brings the inner you — whatever you’re feeling that day,” Sandler said.

Sandler’s hats are helping their wearers celebrate their own history and find their voice through creative expression, she said. Many of her pieces include pieces of her own history, notably pieces of her mother’s jewelry.

Sandler’s alternative hats are made of party favors, found objects, old ballet costumes and anything else that she or her customers can envision, Sandler said. 

“It tells a story — it tells a story of you instead of tossing it out, because that’s what happens when you go to a thrift store,” Sandler said. “You see all these things — you’re like, oh this was from someone’s memory of something and they cleaned out — you know you can save your pieces; part of your history.”

Sandler has even made hats with real oyster shells and says one of her most inventive hats was a ‘Death by Chocolate’ hat that sported chocolate cleavers dripping fake blood, she said.

“You never know what it’s going to turn out,” Sandler said. “I’ve had hats that I’ve taken months to create because I just can’t find that one piece and then all of a sudden, you find it and it just clicks.”

She hopes that attendees will take home not just a creative hat and good memories but also a lesson in how to be a little more silly and to help them find a creative outlet away from the many worries of the world, Sandler said.

While this is the first hat making workshop held at the Branch, the museum is no stranger to fun and extravagant hats because of the Branch’s annual fundraiser, “The Mad Hatter Garden Party and Design Auction,” according to Lucy Northup, the marketing director at the Branch.

“The Mad Hatter Garden Party and Design Auction” supports the Branch, as well as local artists and designers within the Richmond and Virginia area, many of them women, and encourages attendees to bring their most creative headpieces to the celebration of design and creative thinking, Northup said.

Today, it’s rare to see hats of these more ornate styles, but the Branch is aiming to bring awareness to the possibilities of design in everyday life and fashion is a great place to start, Northup said.

Fashion is an easy way for people to get involved in design in their personal lives, Northup said. A hands-on workshop that gets people thinking about and involved with design in fashion is something the Branch hopes will influence participants to have a deeper understanding of what design means and its impact on everyday life.

The event drew folks interested in making hats for all sorts of occasions, from Easter, “The Mad Hatter Garden Party” and even to sport at church. 

Crystal and Joanne Sygeel said they came for a mother-daughter date and left with a delightful Easter bonnet and a red hat for church with hidden fairy lights gleaming from behind the ribbon and flowers.

Participant of the workshop, Daji Dvalishvilli, rarely gets to be very crafty or hands-on and enjoyed working to arrange flowers and vines in the band of her hat, she said. She is considering showcasing her hat at the “Mad Hatter Garden Party and Design Auction” event in May. 

Daniela Holcombe is a veteran hat maker who came well-prepared with bags of supplies and set to work right away building an elaborate hat for the upcoming Easter parade, she said.
 “Elaborate hats are something missing in today’s culture,” Holcombe said as she arranged a colorful spring bouquet bursting from the top of her chosen hat. “I enjoy wearing them out whenever and wherever I can.”