Fashion Friday: Carrolan's millinery at Telluride's Two Skirts

09 Dec Fashion Friday: Carrolan's millinery at Telluride's Two Skirts

[click “Play”, Susan Carrolan talks with Susan about her hats]

Hats for winter? In Telluride, that’s a giant DUH. 

But we are not talking the knitted or shearling numbers that help you retain body heat for winter warmth. This is Fashion Friday and the subject is millinery by Susan Carrolan.

Carrolan’s hats crown the heads of the crowned heads of society and the word of entertainment: in her last Vegas revu, Bette Midler wore a hat Carrolan built with a team, and the swells at the Kentucky Derby and Ascot wear original Carrolans. In other words, a Carrolan is a top hat. We mean that in the best of the best sense, not the magician’s variety. Though Susan Carrolan is something of a millinery magician.

Carrolan produces hand-made women’s and men’s hats in styles that harken back to the 1920s, styles which frame the face beautifully. Her favorites are fedoras, homburgs, cloches, even traditional Westerns that incorporate leather, feathers, beads, even flowers to update the classics. To fashion her hats, Carrolan uses traditional millinery techniques, shaping the crowns with rope and steam on mostly antique blocks. The milliner designs two lines each year: fall/winter and spring/summer.

Carrolan’s hats were first shown in Colorado at Hildegard’s in Aspen. Today, they are sold at select specialty retailers such as Telluride’s Two Skirts, where Carrolan’s finest velour felt creations are now featured.