Melania Trump’s Hat Maker Eric Javits Faced a ‘Bit of a Cliffhanger’
It is safe to say that no one in the world was more pleased – or relieved – to see Melania Trump wearing a hat to this morning’s swearing-in ceremony than Eric Javits. After all, he designed it.
The American milliner wasn’t taking anything for granted last week, when he told WWD, “Of course, until the hat goes on her head, there’s no proof that she’s going to wear it. I know she likes what I made, but you never know.”
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Javits did not immediately acknowledge a text seeking his reaction to seeing Trump Monday morning.
It’s been a stretch since a first lady wore one for her husband’s swearing-in ceremony. In 1993, Hillary Clinton bundled up with a navy one to match her coat. The unofficial First Ladies’ Hat Club includes Nancy Reagan for her electric blue Adolfo-designed Breton hat from 1989, Patricia Nixon for her black fur hat from 1969, Jackie Kennedy for her Halston-designed pillbox hat from 1961 and Lady Bird Johnson’s red-brimmed hat for her husband’s second taking of the oath in 1965. Trump has donned them on occasion too, including one worn with what some considered to be a Princess Diana-inspired ensemble for a 2019 visit with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
But back to Javits, who is known for packable sun hats with UPF protection and rarely accepts custom orders. He was swayed after Trump’s stylist Herve Pierre reached out about the prospect of the inauguration and told him that Trump already owned one of his hats. In the lead-up, Javits never met with Trump, and coordinated everything with Pierre, who explained what type of hat she liked, conferred with Trump and offered him feedback. “That guided me through the design process,” Javits explained.
(The low-key designer only mentioned in passing his connection to another well-known New York politician, the late New York state senator Jacob Javits was his uncle.)
The designer also sent a hat from his archives for Trump to try on for size, which enabled Javits to re-proportion a winter style using the same navy silk wool for the hat that Adam Lippes used for Trump’s inaugural outfit. Using couture techniques – invisible minuscule hand-sewn stitches, Javits said that only about eight percent of the hat’s stitching was machine sewn.
As is often the case in fashion, when shipments are a factor, not everything works out according to plan. After the Miami-based milliner sent the finished product to New York last month for what was supposed to be Trump’s final fitting, it was delayed by a day or two due to a snowstorm. “I guess the hat arrived all crushed. It looked like it had been sitting in snow drifts for about a week. Obviously, I had to scramble to redo it,” he said. “It couldn’t really be repaired, because of the construction of it. It was a little bit of a cliffhanger.”
Although he had to start again from scratch, he made it work. Having first learned woodworking in sixth grade, Javits tweaked existing wooden blocks for the crown and brim to make the custom looks. The second hat was then finessed and shipped within four days. After Trump requested that the band for the hat be changed slightly, Pierre paid Javits a visit in his studio, and then took the hat back to Trump, who was then in Palm Beach. “He had a driver, and Herve took it back to her by hand to minimize any other disasters that could possibly happen,” Javits said with a laugh.
Javits managed to keep his involvement clandestine. “No other hands touched, nor did any other eyes see the hat, prior to Herve and the first lady receiving it,” Javits said, adding that he had relocated his office from New York only recently to be closer to his parents.
As for whether Trump’s hat could cause a resurgence, Javits said, “I don’t know. Say the first lady decides to wear more hats for lots of different occasions that could inspire people. Over in the U.K., Kate [Middleton, the Princess of Wales] inspires people to dress up a little bit more. But everyone is so into leggings, yoga pants and sneakers.” He noted that his own online offerings are geared for casual dressing “for people, who want sun protection or to cover bad hair or whatever.”
It’s been decades since Javits created such a labor-intensive hat. In 1978, he created the first one for his friend Mimi Fery and it helped them be plucked from the waiting line outside of Studio 54. Javits used the drawing, painting, and sculpture skills he learned in art school to get into hats. At Fery’s suggestion, Javits decided to try to sell them at Bonwit Teller. He said, “Bonwit Teller was very high-end, maybe slightly more than Bergdorf Goodman is. They would have live modeling on Fridays. You would see these models dressed up walking through the store, trying to get people to look at whatever they were showing,” he said.
After Fery suggested Javits try to sell the hats – she and his sister had plenty by that point. He said, “They were really cocktail confections. Mimi said, ‘Just put them in a garbage bag and take them over to the store.’ I had called Bonwit Teller and the buyer had actually answered. There wasn’t voicemail in those days. I was a block away at Mimi’s apartment and the buyer said, ‘Well, come on over.’”
Coincidentally, Bonwit Teller was located where Trump Tower now stands on Fifth Avenue. In 1979, Donald Trump bought the Art Deco property and tore it down to build the 58-flooor mixed-use midtown building.
Although Javits “wasn’t dressed very nicely,” he went to see the Bonwit Teller buyer. “I had never been in the store. Why would I? It was funny, On the main floor, I bumped into my aunt Marian, the late senator’s wife. She was looking at things, and said, ‘What are you doing in here with a garbage bag?’ I said, ‘No, no, I can’t talk. I have an appointment upstairs [laughing,]’”Javits said. “I mean that was the last person I wanted to run into.”
But the buyer liked what she saw and took all of Javits’ 24 designs “then and there.” Within two weeks, the hats sold out and more were reordered, he said. After starting out in business with Elliott Whitall, Javits ventured out on his own in 1985. Javits’ signature designs are tested on a UV 1000F Ultraviolet Transmittance Analyzer machine, which measures the spectral transmittance of the Squishee® straw or visor brim. The data from that test is used to determine the material’s protection level. Javits now uses the Squishee® concept for other accessories and footwear, as well as men’s hats.
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