While Tony Higdon, a Lexington artist, entrepreneur and recently deputed milliner, has always considered himself a “hat person,” the hat-making vocation is something he fell into somewhat unintentionally.
“I’ve always wore hats,” said Higdon, who remembers getting his first — a cowboy hat, with boots to match — when he was 6 or 7 years old. “My dad and I used to watch Westerns together, and I always wanted to be a cowboy… That’s probably an early influence.”
A longtime sculptor and metal worker who has experience in construction and development, Higdon recently opened a downtown showroom/studio where he makes and sells his own custom hats. Though T. Higdon Studio centers on creating individualized hats for clients, the idea originated from a personal endeavor: an online search a few years ago for a new hat for himself. That search led him “down a rabbit hole” to an array of quality hat makers and hats he liked, but the main takeaway was the intrigue it ignited in him about the overall millinery process.
“I Googled ‘custom hats’ or something, and all these crazy cool hats showed up,” he explained. The hat makers he encountered ran the gamut from the classic and traditional to folks making “really interesting, creative, kind of wild stuff.” The more Higdon looked, the more his interest was piqued.
“I thought ‘well, why would I buy one, when I could just make my own?’” he said.
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Higdon shapes his hat bodies after classic hat models, such as fedoras, wide-brim or cowboy hats, or creates his own hybrid body style, combining elements of each. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Higdon shapes his hat bodies after classic hat models, such as fedoras, wide-brim or cowboy hats, or creates his own hybrid body style, combining elements of each. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Higdon shapes his hat bodies after classic hat models, such as fedoras, wide-brim or cowboy hats, or creates his own hybrid body style, combining elements of each. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Higdon shapes his hat bodies after classic hat models, such as fedoras, wide-brim or cowboy hats, or creates his own hybrid body style, combining elements of each. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Higdon shapes his hat bodies after classic hat models, such as fedoras, wide-brim or cowboy hats, or creates his own hybrid body style, combining elements of each. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
To learn more about how hats were constructed, Higdon took one of his own hats, disassembled it and put it back together. He then bought a few cheap secondhand hats and “reverse engineered” them, as well. After familiarizing himself with the various parts that make up a hat — the crown, brim, sweatband, lining — and how they worked together, he ordered some felt hat bodies and took a stab at shaping and constructing his own.
“I did it for quite a while and didn’t tell anyone,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I was good enough at it. I wasn’t just going to start running around making something I didn’t feel was good.”
Eventually, after getting positive feedback from other hat makers around the country with whom he had connected, he felt confident enough to put some of his hats out in the world. Quality is a priority, and Higdon only works with high-quality, beaver-fur felt hat bodies, customizing every detail from the crease to the brim width to the lining. His hats typically range from $400-$1,000.
“You can buy cheaper quality felts, but I would rather make higher quality hats,” he said.
As for its style — traditional versus wild — Higdon’s work, much like his personal style, tends to encapsulate both ends of the spectrum. He shapes his hat bodies after classic hat models, such as fedoras, wide-brim or cowboy hats, or creates his own hybrid body style, combining elements of each. Then comes the fun part: adorning the hats with a variety of creative, handmade embellishments. For the bands, lining and trim, Higdon incorporates elements ranging from leather, feathers and vintage fabric to cowhide, antlers or even copper or other types of metal.
Higdon has found that his sculpture background has carried over into the hat-making process quite a bit. Much like metal sculptures, hats are shaped by heat, using a combination of specialized tools and handwork. Both processes also call on a certain degree of technical expertise, though Higdon’s background in the arts is something he said he feels sets him apart from many traditional hat makers, who often focus heavily on the technical aspects and less on the creative elements of the craft.
“You can do whatever you want,” he said. “That’s what’s so much fun about it.”
Another aspect of the hat making that has drawn in Higdon is the history behind the craft. He uses a variety of antique tools, including sewing machines that are no longer in production and wooden hat blocks that have been used to shape hats for over a century.
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Starting with a high-quality felt base made of beaver fur, Higdon shapes his custom hats to size and style using antique wooden hat blocks. He then adds his unique adornments, using feathers, leather, metal, vintage fabric and other materials. Each hat is one-of-a-kind. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Starting with a high-quality felt base made of beaver fur, Higdon shapes his custom hats to size and style using antique wooden hat blocks. He then adds his unique adornments, using feathers, leather, metal, vintage fabric and other materials. Each hat is one-of-a-kind. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Starting with a high-quality felt base made of beaver fur, Higdon shapes his custom hats to size and style using antique wooden hat blocks. He then adds his unique adornments, using feathers, leather, metal, vintage fabric and other materials. Each hat is one-of-a-kind. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Starting with a high-quality felt base made of beaver fur, Higdon shapes his custom hats to size and style using antique wooden hat blocks. He then adds his unique adornments, using feathers, leather, metal, vintage fabric and other materials. Each hat is one-of-a-kind. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Starting with a high-quality felt base made of beaver fur, Higdon shapes his custom hats to size and style using antique wooden hat blocks. He then adds his unique adornments, using feathers, leather, metal, vintage fabric and other materials. Each hat is one-of-a-kind. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
“It’s neat to find 100-year-old tools and to be making hats on them still,” he said. “Relative to other hat makers, I’m definitely new, but there’s a lot of history with hat making. The technique is an old technique that’s been passed on.”
Situated on the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Second Street, Higdon’s studio and showroom, which opened in December, formerly served as a lobby for the adjacent auto shop. He has transformed the space — which was a gray, cinder block room when he took it over — into a cozy and inviting salon, with warm lighting and stylish vintage furniture and accent pieces. His favorite music is always playing, and a vintage Frigidaire full of Country Boy beer (he’s friends with the guys at the brewery) sits next to a bar cart stocked with James E. Pepper bourbon (he’s part owner of the Distillery District building that houses that distillery). From top to bottom, the space is a personal reflection of its proprietor. Higdon did the entire remodel himself, from the wood paneling on the walls to the custom-built counter adorned with hand-etched leather panels.
“I wanted to create a comfortable space where people could hang out,” he said, noting he sometimes spends hours with his clients, getting to know them before he starts designing their hats. (The studio is also available to rent for small events.)
The personal nature of the millinery craft is not something that’s lost on Higdon, who has incorporated family rings, forged nails from a family barn, hand-etched wedding dates or even the lyrics of a favorite song or poem into his hats. Hats can be a big statement, he points out, and require a certain type of confidence to pull off — they also have the ability to make someone feel special or different in a way that’s unique among clothing and accessories. Working one on one with clients to create a piece that’s such a significant personal statement can be challenging, Higdon admitted, but it’s also one of the biggest rewards of the trade.
“It’s satisfying to make something that makes someone happy, that they feel good in,” he said. “It’s pretty awesome to be a part of that.”
T. Higdon Studio is located at 218 N. Martin Luther King Blvd., facing the auto shop parking lot on Second Street. Appointments can be made by calling Higdon, who is currently booked about a month and a half out, at (859) 312-3525.
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Higdon renovated and outfitted his showroom, a former auto shop lobby, himself. He wanted the room to be a comfortable space where he could get to know his clients. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Higdon renovated and outfitted his showroom, a former auto shop lobby, himself. He wanted the room to be a comfortable space where he could get to know his clients. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Higdon renovated and outfitted his showroom, a former auto shop lobby, himself. He wanted the room to be a comfortable space where he could get to know his clients. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Higdon renovated and outfitted his showroom, a former auto shop lobby, himself. He wanted the room to be a comfortable space where he could get to know his clients. Photo by Emily Giancarlo