After the original hat ended up crushed on arrival, the designer found himself racing against the clock.
One standout star of the recent presidential inauguration was First Lady Melania Trump’s hat. In the days after the former model made her elegant entrance in a navy silk-and-wool coat and skirt, an ivory blouse, and the striking boater, designer Eric Javits saw a surge in online sales.
The U.S.-born designer, who said he received “a few thousand” inquiries about the custom-made hat, credited his client’s innate sense of style.
“Women who wear hats, they understand the magic of a hat, of putting on the right hat, because it can really bring harmony and balance to your face and transform the way you look,” he said.
Of course, having a refined figure and face helps to pull it off.
“She’s already tall, beautiful, and elegant, and she has this perfect bone structure,” Javits said.
Javits said that when he saw Melania Trump wearing his hat, he experienced a wave of joy—especially since he was not certain she would wear it, given that the weather had caused a venue change.
“I felt really happy she committed to wearing it,” he told The Epoch Times. “I didn’t want to assume anything. The outfit was a very simple visual statement—very sharp, polished, and understated—but that was its strength.”
Javits received a request for a hat from Melania Trump’s stylist, Hervé Pierre, just a few months before the ceremony. The two had first met a few years ago, and Pierre had visited Javits’s former Long Island City atelier in the New York City borough of Queens.
“He knew I had the capability to do what was needed, asked me if I would be interested, and I said, ‘OK, yes, I would,’” Javits said. “It was a surprise because she hadn’t worn one the first time around, in 2017.”
Javits noted that some first ladies have preferred to go hatless during the inauguration ceremony.
“Hillary Clinton wore one the first time Bill Clinton was elected,“ he said. “And then Nancy Reagan wore one also way back when.”
But not since Bill Clinton’s swearing-in, Javits said, has a first lady worn a hat for the inauguration.
It was not Melania Trump’s first introduction to the luxury brand. A few years ago, she purchased one of Javits’s hats, another boater hat called The Gondolier. Like other famous people spotted or photographed in his hats—Ariana Grande, Margot Robbie, and Serena Williams, among others—she recognized the designer’s flair.
Noting that the current president’s wife has been pictured in other boater-inspired hats, Javits said he thinks that that is one of the reasons she chose a similar style for the Jan. 20 ceremony: “She felt comfortable, and it went with the outfit. It’s a traditional, classic shape—you’ve seen it throughout the centuries, you’ve seen it in recent decades. Saint Laurent, Givenchy—so many designers use that shape because it’s so sharp, it’s so chic.”
Javits said “it all worked out perfectly,” but that the completion of the hat was preceded by some drama. Constructing the hat required a degree of improvisation.
There was no time to order a custom wood block (used in the process of shaping and stiffening hat forms), so the hatmaker altered an existing one. He sent Melania Trump a sample hat from his archive for her to try. Then he used this sample and a boater she already owned as a springboard for the new design.
Javits employed a technique he hadn’t used in a long time. He started with a stiff interlining and then upholstered the hat in a wool-silk fabric of the same navy color as her coat. He added an off-white ribbon that matched her silk blouse.
In December, once the finished product was ready, it was shipped to New York City for the final fitting. But a snowstorm delayed the shipment. When the hat did arrive, it was found to have been crushed out of shape. Since it was damaged beyond repair, the designer needed to remake it. He faced a tight deadline.
The second hat took 3 1/2 days to complete, but Javits said it “came out even better than the first one, much sharper.” Only Javits’s hands and eyes were involved in its creation. Before it appeared on the world stage, not a soul saw it except for himself and the stylist.
When the inauguration was broadcast around the globe, much was made of how the hat’s wide brim prevented the then-president-elect from kissing his wife when he entered the ceremony.
“That’s why everyone air kisses when they have hats on, because you don’t want to collide,” Javits said.
The effect of the hat concealing the first lady’s eyes, he added, could have been caused by a combination of photographers taking higher-positioned shots from cameras and the underside of the dark, midnight-navy brim casting a shadow.
“The level at which she wore it, there were a lot of people saying, ‘She did that to hide her eyes,’ but if we were standing right there with her, obviously, everyone could see her eyes,” Javits said. “The slope of the brim maybe came down low … but she was wearing it at the correct level.”
Javits, who has a background in drawing, painting, and sculpture, views the face as a three-dimensional object that can be dramatically enhanced by the right headwear. Just as a hairstyle can bring harmony and balance to a woman’s look, so can a hat.
“Someone with a long, narrow face might want to pull the brim lower to reduce the length,” Javits said. “Or maybe, if they have a wide, round face they might want a taller crown to give some height. There are lots of visual tricks.
“When someone puts on the right hat, they recognize it right away; their face kind of lights up.”
According to Javits, the boater suits many different face shapes and always looks good.
“Back in the ’80s and early ’90s, I did lots,” he said. “It’s just very attractive.”
Credited with bringing hat-wearing to a modern audience, Javits said it is his mission to make his creations wonderfully lightweight, comfortable, packable, and wearable. Stressing the necessity of sun protection, he champions a range of straw hats. He has also designed what he calls “the Rolls Royce of sun visors,” a bestselling line that includes the Champ and Champ II.
Thanks to the enthusiastic reaction to “Melania’s hat,” he said, production is underway for a commercial version at an accessible price point. It is already available for preorder and will be ready in a few months.
While some designers have shunned contributing to the first lady’s wardrobe, Javits sees it as something incredibly special.
In an Instagram post, he wrote: “It was my great honor and privilege to create the hat our First Lady, Melania Trump wore for the inaugural swearing in of our 47th President! She has the inner grace, beauty and presence to transform what was really a very simple, restrained hat style into what became a ‘wow’ moment. The First Lady’s hat was made with love. EJ.”
“I guess I was the right choice at the right time,” Javits said.
When asked if he thinks there will be a resurgence in formal hat-wearing thanks to the first lady, he said: “I hope so, because it’s such a gift to look your best. It’s really a pleasure to see everyone make that effort.”
Channaly Philipp contributed to this report.
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