DANA PINKHAM IS GIVEN ACCOLADES BY THE PRESS

Hats off to Pinkham Millinery

Portland hat shop owner Dayna Pinkham offers great craftsmanship and fabulous designs

Step inside the quaint hat shop known as Pinkham Millinery located on Southwest Broadway and you are instantly transformed to a time of classic style oozing substance.

I thought of '50s Manhattan, or even turn-of-the-century Paris, but then again, I am a lover of hats. But according to Dayna Pinkham, the owner of Pinkham Millinery, I am not the only one.

"This generation has no stigma of hats, it's not something they have to do, as it used to be seen," Pinkham said.

And the hype is definitely catching on, with Pinkham at the reel.

Last year, Pinkham was approached by the ex-president of Barney's New York, a ritzy department store with locations in Manhattan, Chicago and San Francisco. Taken with Pinkham's hats, the ex-president forwarded a letter to the current president, and now Pinkham has nine styles in stores on each coast, displaying her great craftsmanship, expertise of material and fabulous designs.

"It's really given me the credentials," Pinkham said of the high-class clientele. "It's shown my achievement in the fashion world."

Millinery has other benefits too. Along with Pinkham having a leg up on the hat trade in larger cities, she owns the only operating millinery in Portland. She is also being a part of the Millinery Artisan's Guild, a group of about 75 milliners on the West Coast that get together to talk hat shop.

However, Pinkham is the only milliner in the group of 75 to offer custom orders, making her Portland store a novelty in an already exclusive market.

And the hats, by the way, are incredible. Made mostly with felt or straw, they are designed on a block, and then fitted to the person, if custom ordered, with attention to detail, sewing, adornments and overall placement on the head.

"It's really important if you are going to do anything to do it well," Pinkham said.

Designs for men and women include the simple beret, to the statement fedora, and my personal favorite, the lace up cloche, which looks like it has been taken straight out of the roaring '20s.

To be clear, most students cannot afford to purchase a hat from Pinkham Millinery. In most cases, non-custom ordered pieces are between $245 and $395.

Alas, great style comes with great cost. These are unique pieces, something you will keep as an heirloom and come to cherish for decades. The price is merely a monetary value to how much dedication, time, expertise and beauty Pinkham brings to each piece.

"I make you look good in hats," she explained, and then chose three styles that would best fit with my drab outfit (it was raining hard, people!), hairstyle and face shape. All her choices subsequently made me want to throw out my wardrobe and replace it with clothing that would emphasize and complement the hat on my head. Yes, they were that nice.

A wise person once said, "Fashion is a kind of communication. It's a language without words. A great hat speaks for itself." To let your hat do the talking, look no further than Pinkham Millinery.

By Carly Nairn