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Hailey A. Coles
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Paula Singleton used to think hats were just for sun protection in the summer and warmth in the winter. Then in 2004, she purchased a platter-shaped fascinator at the Ann Arbor Art Fair and put it on.
“I had so many compliments,” she recalls. “That made me think, This is fun. We should all be wearing more hats.”
That experience spurred her to make her own hat for Halloween: a costumey wool platter-shaped headpiece with a bird’s nest, a bird, leaves and beads. It came naturally, as her hobbies already involved needlework — embroidery, crocheting, knitting, quilting and sewing. She developed a passion for crafting hats.
“[It’s] taking something from the pile of materials and then turning it into something functional you could wear or enjoy in another way,” Singleton says.
To make showstopping, intricate hats, she needed more technical skills, so she studied millinery at Virginia Marti College of Art and Design.
In 2006, she opened her store, What a Great Hat, which is now located in the Fairlawn Town Centre plaza. Shop from a large assortment of her designs, like wide-brimmed sun hats, bridal fascinators, casual slouchy berets and grandiose Derby hats — some of which have been exhibited in the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville.
An ombre straw hat teeming with silk roses and feathers, her first creation displayed in the museum, won a Judges’ Choice Award in 2010. “I love feathers,” Singleton says. “They give the head a bit of movement and whimsy.”
Singleton handmakes each hat from start to finish. She starts by sculpting and blocking felt or straw over a wooden mold. Then she embellishes it with objects she finds in vintage stores — fabric, buttons, beads, feathers. For example, she made a custom Derby hat match a pear-colored skirt with a jockey on it by dying straw the same color and topping it with a green and terra-cotta ribbon and a black-and-white-striped silk band, along with a frilly arrangement of netting, feathers and dotted ribbon.
While decorative hats aren’t mainstream like they once were, many locals and online customers turn to Singleton for Derby and bridal hats as well as practical but stylish winter hats. Personally, Singleton often goes with a slim-fitting ‘20s-style cloche hat. While she most frequently wears her creations at formal occasions, she says with the right attitude, you can pull off her hats at casual dinner parties too.
“It does take a bit of confidence,” she says. “It’s fun to wear a hat because you get a different level of attention. People will smile or compliment you. It does make you feel good.”
Shop in-person by appointment and online, 2855 W. Market St., Suite 202, Fairlawn, 330-592-2295, whatagreathat.com
