THE MILLINERS GUILD CELEBRATES ST. CATHERINE’S DAY ON THE STREETS OF MANHATTAN

The Milliners Guild, a group of hatters from in and around New York, spent St. Catherine’s Day (November 18th) parading up the streets of NYC. They not only wore their favorite hats, but were photographed by the New York Times and put in the Style Section of the paper.

The fashionista hatters met for the St. Catherine’s Day Fete at a new hot spot (The Haven) for drinks and finger food. In the article, that took up half a page, The Hat Shop owner Linda Pagan (and Milliners Guild founder) was quoted in the article printed below.

The Milliners Guild was founded last year in response to the closing of Manny’s Millinery in NYC. “We never thought our business would be threatened from the supply side. The demand increased and the suppliers contracted and decided we had to get together,” said Linda Pagan, owner of The Hat Shop in Soho.

There are 38 milliners in the group and their purpose is - Community, Resource sharing (world-wide), Promoting hat wearing, information and Education. Contact Monica or Linda Pagan at millinersguild.org or PR@millinersguild.org.

THE ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES IS BELOW:

CROWING ACHEIVEMENTS

“IF you get more than two women in a hat, it’s a party,” Linda Pagan likes to say. If you get more than 10, it’s a parade.

Ms. Pagan, who designs vivacious little cocktail hats in downtown Manhattan, organized a party of fellow milliners last week, which quickly swelled to pageant-like proportions. Dozens of eccentric hatters marched along Fifth Avenue and around Rockefeller Center, showing off chapeaus bedecked in ribbons, plumes and lace. Some were the crème of the milliner’s art; others could have passed as nesting stations for the pigeons overhead. And, like Tziporah Salamon’s Lincolnesque topper (left), most were conversation starters.

As Ms. Pagan observed, “When you want to meet new people, you can get a puppy or a hat.” The hat, in her mind, clearly has the edge. “You don’t need to walk it at 6 a.m.”