Season 1, Ep. 4: The Kentucky Derby and Its History of Hats
In this month’s episode, Layla and I have a chat about Frances Glessner Lee, her crime scene dollhouses, and what they did for the field of forensic science.
Show Notes:
References and Links:
Watch By Ilona Millinery on Youtube
See the accompanying photos for this episode on Instagram: @makinghistorypodcast
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Episode Transcript:
MH 3
Hello and welcome to the Making History Podcast. If you're new here, I'm Nikki
of Pin Cut. So Studio, I am joined by my daughter Layla again today.
Hi,
Layla is my. Guest my more routine guest now. She just makes a great guest and she lives here, so it's easy to schedule her to come on.
Today we are going to discuss
the history of hats as it relates to the Kentucky Derby because Layla, what is it in Louisville, Kentucky right now?
It is a holiday. It's a cult.
It's, we don't really know what it is, but it's everywhere. Right now it's Derby season. Oh. Is what I was looking for. But you're right. Like in Louisville,
this is a holiday school is canceled,
like ballet is canceled. My work is canceled. Mm-hmm.
When we first moved here, we thought this was a little bit funny.
We were unprepared. We won't, this is our third
Third derby.
anyway, we've lived here three years in July. So
when we first moved here, me and Layla were shopping in Goodwill,
and this guy comes in like a regular and the.
The employee greeted him with, Hey, happy derby Day.
And that was when I realized that derby is a thing. Mm-hmm. Not just a little thing. It's a big thing.
So we're gonna discuss, but okay. So part of derby is the fashion
and it is wild.
And so this got me thinking about the history of hat making specifically in millinery. It turns out there's a difference between hat making and millinery.
Oh.
I'll educate you. Don't worry. Yeah, yeah. You'll let me know.
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Okay. So Layla,
Molly, let's chat about Derby and its hats. Okay.
Okay. So can you tell the listeners, Layla, what it is like to live in Louisville, Kentucky during derby season?
Um, well,
off, you know it's coming because all of the shops, including thrift stores.
Bring out all the Derby stuff. They've been hoarding in the back somewhere and it all comes out in the Derby glasses
and, oh, tell us about the derby glasses. Okay, so I used to work in estate sales.
Every house had derby glasses, like no matter, it could be like two or it could be like 40.
What is a derby glass? They're like illustrated glasses. Um, like drink wear, not like,
yeah. Eye glasses. Yeah. They're like drinking glasses and they
people collect them. They've been going on for like. The earliest one I've seen is a 59 1, which are really cool.
but so they make one every year and you can get them at like Walmart or stuff, but
Yeah.
But once they're gone, once they're gone, you can't get past ones very easily. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Last year was the hundred and 50th Kentucky Derby, so that was a pretty cool thing. That was too, yeah.
Be part of. So part of what makes this fun in Louisville is because
the Derby itself has become sort of a, uh, rich man's activity.
Mm-hmm. Like it's
very, very expensive. Yeah. And I wish I would've looked up the cost to get like one of the boxes, but I know that just like general admission is hundreds, if not over a thousand dollars. Yeah. Well, my, my boss, he used to work in marketing and advertisement. Mm-hmm.
And he like casually dropped yesterday that he
sat in like the millionaire's row boxes.
Oh, oh my gosh. His like really rich clients. I was like, that's crazy. Did you ask if you wore hats?
No, I didn't. I should have asked. We'll ask him today. We do an art class today. We'll ask.
and, and somewhere around the fifties, the city started to realize that the local people, the louisvillians, were sort of being priced out of derby
and it was not as fun for the community.
And so they started creating a lot of events and festivals around derby season. So usually that kicks off with what we call Thunder over Louisville, which sadly this year was canceled because of the. Flooding downtown. Mm-hmm. But it is a huge festival downtown.
Thousands upon thousands of people go the massive firework show.
Didn't you tell me It's like the biggest firework show in the US or something. I dunno. I'm sure Natalie would know.
Yeah, she would know. Yeah.
And so you don't wanna be downtown that day unless you're there for that purpose.
and then after that, there's like a parade. There's a hot air balloon festival, there's a music festival in the riverfront.
There's like festival after festival, and then also at Churchill Downs,
where they have the Kentucky Derby. You can go what they call dawn at the downs. Layla and I are gonna go tomorrow. Yeah. And between, I think it's eight and 10 in the morning, you can go for free
and all of the horses are
like warming up and practicing and like getting used to the track.
And then last year when we went after
the horses went around and practiced their races or whatever, the jockeys brought them all over. Mm-hmm. And you could see them up close. Yeah. And hear the jockeys chatting. It was really, really fun. It was cool and it was so pretty. 'cause it was.
It was early in the morning.
Yes. It's from like eight to 10 or something. Right at golden hour. So it was so pretty. We had our cameras. We'll have to put some of those pictures on the
Instagram page. Yeah, I was just about to say,
Speaking of the Instagram page,
you can
go to Instagram slash making history podcast and you can see the accompanying photos for this episode.
And there's gonna be some good ones because
this is, I mean, arts and crafts is such a visual topic, so make sure and go there
and follow us at making History podcasts.
Okay, so let me give you a brief history of the Kentucky Derby. It was obviously, it was modeled after European horse races.
This wasn't necessarily a big thing in the US until then.
But there was a guy, a Louisvillian, we call him
the Lous, from Louisville.
his name is Colonel Merriweather Lewis Clark Jr. That's a mouthful. Oh my gosh. And his wife Mary. So they not only founded the Louisville Jockey Club, he actually had Churchill Downs built and he started the whole Kentucky Derby.
Okay. So, okay. The reason it's called Church Hill Downs is because he built it on land that his uncles already owned
and their last name was Churchill.
Oh, kinda a basic reason why it's called Churchill Downs. Yeah. And Churchill Downs now has been added to and added to. Mm-hmm. And actually, those twin spires, those weren't added until later.
So, oh, I think it was originally a mile long racehorse, and now it's a mile, or maybe it was a mile and a half. Now it's a mile and a quarter race. Oh, if memory serves. And so of course. Um, the colonel wanted this to be similar to European races. Mm-hmm. In that he wanted the fashion and he wanted the ladies involved.
Ooh. And so he created it to be what it still is now, which is like a fashion spectacle. That's cool. And there's nothing like. An American fashion spectacle. Mm-hmm. As opposed to like a British fashion event where they're all very like tasteful and demure. Yeah. Like this is a little messy. Yes. Like there's some all out cosplay going on at the derby.
Like people will dress up, like of course, you know the famous scene in. My Fair Lady, the black and white costume. Like people will wear that. Oh. Or the famous hat scene from Hello Dolly in the Hat Shop. Oh yeah. People will copy some of those costumes and it's just really, really fun. Yeah. And then some of the DIY hats, do you remember mm-hmm.
The Awana, I don't know if everyone's familiar with Awana. Can you just explain quickly what it's um, it's like a, it's like a Christian, I wanna say like club for like for kids? Yeah. For kids. Yeah. And there's different ranks, so it's like. Cubbies spark. Yeah. You have your little bon vest and you go and you play games.
Yeah. You go, it's like Girl Scouts, but for Christians at church and you like memorize bible verses and like Right. And you get games and, yeah. Yeah. And they would have crazy hat nights. Remember the crazy hat nights? Yes. Okay. And the hats were Cub Ray, Zeke. Yeah. Some of the derby hats that people, DIY remind me of those hats.
Kind of funny.
Okay, so the hat specifically, they believe, they started to believe that the bigger the hat, the bigger the look. And so if you go now, like these hats are wild. Huge. Yeah. And the difference between hats and fascinators is the fascinator is like clipped on the head. It doesn't necessarily like fit over your scalp, you know, like a hat actually, I think serves more of a purpose.
But a fascinator is mostly decorative. But that's the difference. That makes so much sense. Yeah. So it's kind of like usually a disc shaped base with like ornate details. Yeah. I wore one for Oklahoma. Yes. And I called it a hat. Yes, with an idiot. We DIYed that. You should have saved it. I do for Don at the Downs.
I still have it. Oh funny. People even dress up to go to the free events, Don at the Downs and stuff. Really remember that? Oh yeah. I have a picture of this guy in like, he's in like a tweed blazer. He's got sunglasses and like a. You know those like parlor shop hats? Yes. Those like parlor shop hats and he's taking a picture on his iPhone.
Oh, he's like this. That's really funny. That's funny. I think I remember that picture. Okay, so I actually looked up the Derby, the 2025 Derby fashion or the derby style guide it's called. I guess they put one out every year. And what I noticed was that this isn't really like the place you're gonna wear your flowy boho things too.
They're very, the garments are like very structured, very. Fun colors. Mm-hmm. Not very much fashion. America anymore is very colorful, so I really love all the colors. Mm-hmm. They're wearing like pinks and yellows and things like that. Black and white is always in fashion, they say. Mm-hmm. Pink, of course, is always in fashion because Urby right.
Of the oaks. Yeah. Oaks, that's what it's, so th I'm not sure what Thurby is. There's races that happen on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The Wednesday, they call it Winesday, like WIN. That's fun. Urby we call Thursday. Mm. Urby. And then the oaks is when the ladies race.
Mm-hmm. And so that's on Friday. And then the gentleman horses race on Saturday. And so at the oaks pink is the thing. Yeah. Everybody does pink to go to the oaks. But I noticed a lot of like tailored dresses and looks. Mm. I mean very, what I would consider UK style. Yeah. Like royal event fashion. I also, every time I see pictures of it.
it looks like Easter. Like very much, yes. What colors, like I'm thinking of like specific JC Penney. Kids Easter dresses with like printed flowers on it. They are like that. Like it's that kind of vibe. Yes. Mm-hmm. And there's a lot of like, um, caplets. Yes. A lot of pleats. A lot of plums.
Mm-hmm. And those more structured, you know, darts and pencil skirts. Yeah. I mean there can be like 50 style big skirts too. But in this year's style guide I saw a lot more pencil style. Oh, interesting dresses. Yeah. But I'm sure that changes from ear tier. Yeah. Although not as much as you would think. No.
Probably not. Yeah. And so, Okay. So if you have not noticed, hats in America are not really that much of a thing. Mm-hmm. I mean, we, we wear baseball caps. Yeah. I was wondering when I was studying for this. Do other, because baseball is like the All American Oh thing. Yeah. Do other countries wear baseball caps? Like we wear them. Oh, like we wear them all the time.
For everything. Yeah. All the time. Everybody wears them. So somebody chime in in the comments and tell us our baseball hat's a thing in other countries, other places. Yeah. I keep, when I was studying for this, I was like, man, my UK listeners are gonna be like. They're gonna think we're, this is crazy dumb when it comes to like, hat wearing, because they still wear hats for a lot of things, I think.
Yeah. Well also, like I know a lot of countries, it's for like sun protection, they like, right, like hats or umbrellas or something. Right? Yes. What happened with the umbrellas? The parasols? Well it was because they didn't wanna be tan back then. Oh yeah. Now we do. Now I don't mind to be tan. Yeah, I don't like to tan my face, so that's why I always wear hats.
Oh, really? See. 'cause I like to tan my face. Really? I just want like the sun kiss and then I get out because I'm gonna burn. Okay. Yeah. But you have cute freckles that come out. I do, I do. I just get like sunglasses, raccoon eyes. Oh, okay. Anyway. Anyway. The other thing I think Americans still wear wear hats for is in African American churches.
Mm. I feel like they really dress similarly to how the Kentucky Derby goers dress. You're so right. Tell me if I'm wrong, but this came up in my research and I had already thought of that. Mm. And so I think they still dress to the nines, and there's like stores in the mall that are specifically for like African-American church fashion.
Mm-hmm. Well, there's, and it is a dapper, yeah. Yeah. There's a. an African American church right next to the quills that we go to mm-hmm. After church. And so they're like, they're getting out as we're going to coffee. Yes. And every time they're wearing like hats and they got the cute mm-hmm. Like cardigans and dressed.
Dressed, they look very cute. Dressed up. Yeah. I mean, I was a kid in the eighties and my granny used to wear hats to church and on Easter especially. Mm. I have a picture of my mom as a little girl wearing an Easter hat. And so hats have fallen out of fashion since my mom was a child.
Mm-hmm. And you have Jackie Kennedy to blame. I'll get to that in a minute. What? What? Okay. So before we get into the specifics of hats and hat making and hat history, let's take a quick 📍 break.
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Okay. Because I left you on a cliffhanger about Jackie Kennedy. We will discuss briefly how hat sort of fell out of fashion. And of course, just like other structured and dapper and go looking fashion, the flower children of the sixties and seventies just sort of rebuild, really did rebuild against tradition, but also Jackie Kennedy.
Do you guys, do you know what a pill box hat is? Um, is that the one that's like right on the top of your head and it's like a roll? It's kind of, well, it's like a round, it has a, oh, just like, it looks like a parlor hat. Just without the brim, basically. Just round hat Without a brim? Yes. Oh, okay. And yes, it was supposed to be worn on the front of the forehead.
Mm-hmm. But Jackie Kennedy hated them. She didn't want to wear a hat at all, so she started wearing it back on her head. Oh. To where you couldn't see it as much. Which I understand because hats don't look the same on everybody. No. And it's actually really important when you choose a hat that it. Matches your face shape.
Yeah. Your hairstyle, things like that. It's actually, there's like a whole art to this. Mm-hmm. So I get it. But after that she would go without a hat as much as she could get away with. Mm-hmm. And, and she was such a fashion icon. Yeah. She was very influential. Mm-hmm. And so, that was the point at which hat sort of fell off here in America.
Which is fine. Which is, yeah, but let's go way back. Way back to hats. Okay. Back when they were mostly utilitarian, they have been able to find straw hats that are very, very, very old. Yeah. And of course, back then they were to protect from the sun, or in colder climates, they had wool hats to protect from the cold.
Yeah. So hats are not a new thing. Mm-hmm. Decorative stylish hats kind of are. But they are still very old. Yeah, because let's think about the medieval age. We think hats get pretty wild now, but think about, you know, Maleficent. Yeah. That's modeled after medieval, those two corn, two horned hats that used.
No way. I thought that just grew out of her skull. Oh, Layla, that's. so they, you know, those wild medieval hats, they would be so tall mm-hmm. With two cone shaped things and then like a veil in between them. Like flowing down. Yeah. Like, um, made Marian from Robinhood. Yes. Like made Marian. Yeah. And that like what we call the princess hat Princess.
It has a different name, but I can't remember it. I don't remember Okay, so hats the decorative. Purpose of hats is not that new. Like it goes way back to medieval. And at this point that's because they were able to weave tapestries and weave fabric and prints together and that just like opened up a whole new world of textiles.
Mm-hmm. Why not put them on your head? Yeah. Is also the time period when hats definitely became more of a status symbol because the fancier the hat, obviously the richer you were in certain times in France too, they even had. Laws against the king, made laws against who was allowed to wear certain styles or fabrics.
That's crazy because it was a status symbol. Yeah. So you plabes better not be caught in our silks. Right. My gosh. That was kind of the attitude about it. Dang. So if we think these hats are wild now, like they were wild. Mm-hmm. Also, I cannot imagine how awkward they were to keep on the head. Oh yeah. You know, like they didn't have bobby pins.
I'm sure Well, they have like hat pins and stuff. Oh. But when I talk about how they make hats, it will make more sense how they might have clipped them on. Mm. But this sort of segued into, um, like French provincial hairstyles. Mm. So then they were making head pieces out of their hair a lot of the times.
Yeah. You know, the opening scene of the Live Action Beauty and the Beast. Those crazy powdered wigs. Oh yeah. They would make a cage to put inside of the hair and probably, I assume add hair. Yeah. To it also. I, I would think so. It was like a ha a hat, but it was made of hair. That's cool. And then they would decorate it, of course, with silk flowers and all of that stuff.
And then of course we get into the regency era with the bonnets and we've all seen the Jane Austen movies when they're going mm-hmm. And picking out new trimmings for their hats, which economically makes so much sense to have like a straw bonnet. Mm-hmm. And then switch out the accessories.
Yeah. And that'd be so fun. That would be fun. I'm sure that the wealthier people were, getting a new hat for every occasion. Yeah. But the average people were probably just switching out their flowers. Flowers and trimmings. Oh, and then, during the Gilded Age mm-hmm. I was, I don't watch the show, the Gilded Age, but there is a show called The Gilded Age.
Yeah. And a clip on Instagram came across my feed last week. I think I sent it to you. Well, I sent it to the making history thing. Oh, okay. So you'll have to put it in the stories because they were walking into church in their Easter. Bonnets. Oh. And they were the most colorful, wild, floral, feathery things.
Like, they look like confections, like somebody would decorate a cake now. They were crazy. So we'll put that clip in the making history, podcast stories. So hats have always been just a way for people to express themselves. And of course, they're still utilitarian in a lot of ways too. Mm-hmm. But. For derby at least they don't really serve much purpose other than to stand out.
Yeah. Right. And luck and for luck. The bigger the hat, the bigger the luck. Yes. Okay. Lemme make sure I'm not missing anything. The bigger the hat, the closer to the Lord. Okay. So I thought when I started looking into how hats were made, I was watching a bunch of videos. There's this one Milliner on YouTube called her YouTube channel is by Elona Milliary.
Buy alone millinery. And we will link to that because I was watching her make. Hats. And the also the difference between hats and millinery is that hats became more of the men's thing. millinery was the women's thing. They sort of no way separated off. Once women started wearing decorative hats, I would've thought the opposite.
So hat making men's hats, millinery women's hats. Okay. And I was so. Surprised how hats are made because I'm a sewer. Mm-hmm. And I thought hats were mostly a sewing skill. But you, Layla are an artist. Yeah. Hat making is definitely more of an artist's skill. Interesting. And here's why. Okay. Because the way they're made is more sculpting skills than anything.
And they're mostly hand sewn together. So I, I feel like. I can't even think of an element that would be machine zone because they're like molded onto what they call a hat. Um,
mold. Is it called a mold? I feel like most things that you mold onto Yeah. Are a mold. Yeah. So a milliner will have like several different hat molds and they look like they're made of wood, but then I saw them pinning into them, so they must be some kind of. Foam. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't find like how are the molds made themselves.
But anyway, they'll have several sizes and shapes and when you go in to get a hat made, they consider not only your face shape, they consider the outfit you're going to be wearing. They, they can match the dress for you Exactly if you want to. That's so cool. With all of the dyes that they have. So color theory comes into play big time.
Layla's really good at mixing colors. Thank you. Even when she was little, she'd have her palette out. Yeah. And mix all these colors. Mm-hmm. She would say, oh, this one needs more red or, yeah, you have to have an eye for color though. Mm-hmm. There's something in the rods and cones in people's eyes that some people can see undertones and some people cannot. Oh my gosh.
There's a shrimp at the bottom of the ocean. I will forever be jealous of the shrimp that can apparently see more colors. I am jealous. Like if I could pick a superpower, I would wanna see more colors. I just read an article yesterday. Well, I read the headline to be fair. Okay. About them finding a new color.
Oh, OE or something by shining a laser into people's eyes. Mm-hmm. So I don't know if I'm willing to sacrifice an eye for that. Yeah. I don't know either. But then they said it's like a deep green blue color, and I was like, well, if you can describe it. How is it new? Well, yeah, they showed it, it's like a turquoise, it's like a neon turquoise that every 13-year-old painted their room at some point.
You know, but how is it a new color if we can see it? Well, that's what everyone on TikTok was like, this is stupid. This is bold. But I guess it's like only certain people can see it. I wanna go see, which I'm like, but how do you know this? Yeah, this sounds like a giant hoax. It does like complete and utter.
Who's making money off this? Follow the money. Literally follow the money. Okay. That was kind of a side tangent. But anyway, both of you and I have a good sense of undertones and colors and things, but in order to be a milliner a good one, you would have to have that skill in order to match colors to people's dresses.
The other. The thing that struck me was the patience that it takes to make these hats, because Oh, they use like, okay. So some of the materials they use are of course, silk, linen, natural fibers, and, um, a material called Sinemet that is taken from some kind of banana palm tree. Interesting. And it's like woven.
So, okay. the ones that they're stretching over to make the base of a hat that they're stretching over a mold. Mm-hmm. A hat mold, that's what it's called. Sure. Um, or like a loosely woven natural fiber fabric. Mm-hmm. And they need to be natural fibers because they use a lot of steam Oh. In order to mold them.
So they have a steamer. And it's almost like, have you seen people putting fondant over a cake? Yeah. Without any wrinkles at all. Mm-hmm. They're putting a square flat piece of fabric over a round hat mold, and it takes a lot of steam to get it there. Yeah. But once it's steamed. It stays. Yeah. And then they use a lot of pins on the underside and a lot of hand sewing.
And next time you see a hat. Layla and I were at the thrift store the other day and they had all their derby hats out. Yeah. And there was one that I said, that's an expensive hat. Mm-hmm. The rest of these were probably a DIY situation. But that one looks expensive and you can tell because the flowers are silk, they're well molded, it's held at shape over time.
It's nicely lined with that, um, grow grain on the inside, I assume. Yeah.
So other things that they use, there's some hats made of felt like felted wool because you can also steam that really well and it takes dye. Another thing, you might not know this if you don't sew, but um, synthetic fabrics, you can't dye very easily. Mm-hmm. Because they're plastic, you know? Yeah. You can dye natural fibers and so the flowers and things are still made from silk and linens and things like that.
Mm-hmm. Now let's discuss feathers. This is some tea. Ooh, some tea in the hat industry. Okay. Feathers became a big to-do in hats. Mm-hmm. And it was a problem. Uhoh. Do you wanna guess why it was a problem? Because they were running out of chickens and ostriches and feathered animals. I don't think they were using chicken feathers.
Oh. But they did use ostrich feathers. Wow. Eg. Grit feathers. Peacock. Peacock, of course. Mm-hmm. But also just any colorful feather. And what were they doing to obtain these feathers? They were killing poor ostriches. They were killing birds. Yeah. Do we have ostriches in the us? I don't think that's a, there's one at the Louisville Zoo.
You can cut it, of course, at the zoo, but there is one bird that is the only US native or the only native. To the US parrot species. How do you say that? The only parrot species? Native to the us. To us, yep. Called the Carolina Parakeet. Oh, the Carolina Parakeet. Okay. Cute. And it's colorful. It was abundant.
Oh, at the time, late 18 hundreds is what we're talking. And women would just go out and shoot these birds and take their feathers, not just parakeets. This was also happening to beavers. Surprisingly. Beaver fur was a big hat making supply also. Oh my gosh. So some fancy ladies started noticing that this is a problem and one of them hosted a big tea party and said, we gotta do something y'all.
And so this is when the fancy ladies having tea really came in. For a good purpose. Okay. Because they actually started lobbying for some laws against killing native birds that weren't game birds. So you were still allowed to kill game birds. Yeah. Chickens, yeah. Turkeys, things like that. But you were no longer, they did finally get the law passed.
You're no longer allowed to kill. Birds for hat making good. And now the Carolina parakeet is extinct. No way. Someone, um, I think it was in the 1920s. I don't know. Someone finally spotted the last one, immediately shot it and stuffed it, and you can go to the Filson house downtown and see it. Oh. Mom display.
That's what I thought. I was like, wow. So this bird is extinct. Instead of trying to find its mate, you're just gonna kill it. It's mean. Right. That is crazy. Also, the sentence the girlies went out to shot to to shoot the birds for their hats. There is old illustrations of them with their arrows. That's insane.
Bow arrows, maybe. I can't remember now, but I'll have to find that illustration again. Yeah. But what happened was. This is how the National Autobahn Society was formed. Okay, so a positive out of a negative. Yes. Here we are. And I had no idea that was the history of the Audubon Society was because they were killing birds for Derby hats.
Interesting, huh? Okay. Yeah. And the Audubon Society still does a lot of good in the US also. Did you know it is illegal to even bring a feather from one of these birds into your home, even if you just find it on the ground. No way. All of these bird species are now protected and you cannot own a feather or an egg or anything, even if you didn't even see the bird that it came off of.
That's crazy. It is a crime. Well, fun fact. Should I say this or no? You can always edit it out. When I worked at the zoo, um, Layla had a lot of interesting jobs. Yes, I have. My boss asked me if I was 18 or 50 the other day. When I brought up a new job. So, but there, it would be springtime and all the geese would come out, you know, and they would, they would do their thing and then lay their eggs.
And I got told by my manager, he was like, so whenever you see a, like a goose sitting on its eggs, you have to tell somebody because geese eggs are considered rodents and you have to crush them like you have to kill them. Oh wow. Okay. So I'm taking that to mean that the goose is a game bird. Yes. I think, well, no, like you can't, like once they're out of the egg, like you can't kill, you kill, can't do anything about that be, but because they're like so invasive and everywhere and everyone feeds them popcorn so they get fat so they can't move.
They're mean too. They're scary. They're mean. Yeah. And when they can't fly 'cause they've eaten too much popcorn. Yeah. That's sad. They can't, it's sad. Yeah. It doesn't matter. They're living it up there at the zoo. Oh yeah. They're hissing at people. They're scaring little toddlers. They're scaring me. I feel like it's part of the experience.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, a block. It's called a block. A hat block. I wonder if that's where, um, blocking came from. In knitting when you wet a knitting item and like stretch it out over a, like a foam panel to block it. Yeah. And it turns out bigger or smaller, you can reshape it. Yeah. Oh, speaking of, so I have this amazing, beautiful hat that dad got me.
Yeah. When the Army sent him to Scotland, he even had a woman in the store try it on's and it is so cute. Made of wool felt, but it's too small for my head. I have a big head. You have a big head. Too much brain. And I've kept it. Mm-hmm. I think it's been like seven years now and I love it. Yeah. And I was like, well just keep it.
But now I know you can. You can actually get those hats, reblock, maybe at that shop? Downtown. Downtown, yes. Okay. The perk of living in Louisville is that you can get a hat. Hat can get a hat. Yep. Maybe not in all seasons, but right now you can. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Super easy. Yeah. The Derby hat season, there's this company downtown called The Hat Girls, and they are like, I don't know if Ann Official or the official.
millinery of the Derby this year. That's cool. And the last few years I think. But they, they said their season usually gets pretty busy in like January. No way. Yeah. Derby first year, they said this year it sort of started more in December. That's crazy. Yeah. For derby, people gotta get their orders in. Yeah.
And also May, I was thinking too, because. January, February. Kind of like depressing months. Yeah. Derby sort of adds something really exciting to look forward to. Mm-hmm. So people start like planning their outfits and the weather's nice in Louisville for derby. Yeah. So I think that's probably why. Mm-hmm.
But also, you don't wanna miss the boat if you need a hat made. Oh, you need a hat made. Yeah. Before this is over, I need to Google how much a hat will cost if you wanna get that made. Do you want me to Google it? I was also gonna Google how much Churchill Downs makes off derby every year because Oh, okay.
It's a lot. Okay, so Layla is on right now, the hat girls.com. She's gonna tell us how much it costs. Okay. To get a hat, so this one called z Bella Bell. Ooh, it's fancy.
Let me describe it. Okay. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Okay. It's brown. It looks like it's made outta that cinnamon material. Mm-hmm. It's a fascinator. It has a giant like. Plume plume. Well, like pedal thing, like shaped in waves, like a big circular thing with a bunch of feathers coming outta the middle. Mm-hmm. It's about three times our head size.
Yeah, it is $420. Okay, so that's for a pre-made hat. This is, oh my gosh, what? Four 30? Four 60? Let's see, four 70. Did you think they were gonna be less Layla? Yeah, Layla. So imagine. Imagine a custom hat. Crazy where crazy where they to die and design probably goes double. Oh yeah, yeah. Like crazy amounts. Yeah.
Our art teacher, Layla's boss, Seth, just got a hat made by a hat place downtown. It's like a, is it a cowboy hat style or fedora? It's like a cowboy hat without the di in the middle. Oh, speaking of, I learned that you're not, you know, most people put their hat on and off by grabbing that, that divot in the front.
You're not supposed to do that. 'cause over time it wears down and cracks the Oh, interesting. So, yeah, you're not, you're supposed to just grab it on both sides by the brim and gently take it off. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Yeah. You should tell all the Cowboys ever. Yeah. Although he, my boss got, he got a Rhino head and stuck it on his wall to hang his hat on.
That's, it's hilarious. It's gonna get a dividend. It, yeah, because he's hanging it on the horn. He needs a, um, hat, what's it called again? Block. Block. I was gonna say Wool Darn it. Hat Block. Okay. I have the number up for Churchill Downs. Okay. We'll tell you that at the end. Okay. It's, it's astounding. It's crazy.
Churchill Downs is adding more stuff onto it this year too. Really? They're always spending like billions. Last year they made the paddocks, the new paddocks, where they parade the horses out after the race. It's beautiful. It's really nice. Yeah. Churchill Downs is beautiful. And also one of the best museums in Louisville is the Derby Museum.
Very, very, very well done. Super cool. Yeah, very fun. Moving right along. now that I've told you kind of how hats are made, although there's so many different kinds of hats mm-hmm. But mostly they're made of natural materials like felt straw.
Fabric, linen, cotton, that kind of stuff. Mm-hmm. And they're stretched and molded and steamed to be a certain shape. Mm. And they can be remolded and steamed, and then they make the flowers the same way. I watch them. And actually, I had this book really long time ago that taught me how to make fabric flowers.
And you would fuse a piece of fabric to either side of like a leaf shape or a pedal shape with like, um, fusible interfacing. And then you iron the crap out of it, steam iron, and then you can bend it. And hold it in place, like twist it and once it cools down, it stays. Like that's and cool. That's exactly how they make those like twisted petals and stuff for these hats.
That's so cool. Yeah. It makes me wanna try it because , I feel like you could make a really cool like fabric flower bouquet. Yeah. That's so cute. These ladies have like fancy steamers. I do have a fabric steamer, but I would burn myself for sure. Oh yeah. When I was doing it, I remember wearing my little gloves.
Okay, so now my question was how do these hats, the fascinators, stay on people's heads and this is how? Mm-hmm. A lot of times they're made with like a wire frame headband that disappears into your hair. Oh, because I was thinking like French combs. Some of them also have a French comb, so some of them will have like a French comb right in the middle.
Mm-hmm. So and and the headband wire frame. Yeah. Some of them, the smaller fascinators are just like a clip. Yeah. That's how my Oklahoma one was. Yeah. Big clip on the bottom. Yes. And those stay in that way. Also, your hairstyle can help keep it steady and when you're choosing a hat or when you're having a hat designed for you.
They try to sometimes mimic the lines of the dress you're wearing. So, oh, cute. If you're him, like, is asymmetrical, they're, they'll do some kind of asymmetrical thing in your That's cute. And sometimes they have a veil, you know, we call it, I think like a blusher, but they just call it a veil. Hmm. One famous hat maker John Boyd, said The veil is like eye shadow.
That's cute. And you're never supposed to have the hat like obscure your eyes. Mm. The hat is supposed to sort of frame your eyes and draw. The eye to your eyes. Mm. So the tilt of it is important. The shape of it, the color of it. Yeah. If you can't exactly match the color of your dress, then you should consider getting a contrasting color instead.
Mm. So. Like Alona the hat. The Milliner girl? Yeah. She was critiquing coronation outfits. Oh, that's funny. That's fun. Yeah. So this one lady, I didn't know who any of the people were except for like Pippa Middleton, whose outfit she liked by the way. Oh, good. But a lot of them were matched. Exactly. But there was one lady who was wearing like an orange dress and she just hadn't quite matched the hat.
Oh. So it was like a red orange and it did kind of clash. I could see what she was saying. So then she like. AI generated like a different, like a blue. Yeah, it was like a Bronco blue hat. Mm-hmm. With bro Bronco blue heels and purse. Yeah. And then she, on her partner that was with her, she put a tie, a blue tie.
Mm. So that was the other thing too, is that a lot of derby fashions, you're supposed to try to coordinate with your partner, kind like prom. So it's all a very much a science, huh. But they do try to, um, match the style of hat to the. Outfit that you're wearing. Yeah, I think it'd be so fun. That would be fun.
I'd be good at that person. I'd be good at that. You would be good at that. You can make the hats. Um, I'll design the outfits. It sounds like a sweaty job. Too much steam of all the steam. Yeah. I just, for me, it'd be the hand sewing. There's like, and the patience. Yeah. I, I will never be able to go to the derby myself, I don't think, unless I make some wealthy friends and they invite me and pay, but I would love to one day be fun. Yeah. I do know that the general admission is, and probably also the fancy areas mm-hmm. Is just a lot of people getting drunk in the middle of the day.
Yeah. Like, it sounds like Coachella. I don't really wanna do that. Yeah. Coachella, but fancy. Yeah. At least it's not in the desert. Oh, that's interesting. 'cause like I was totally unfamiliar with Coachella until it started coming up on Instagram this last week, and the outfits are insane. Well, yeah, it's like, I, I would argue that like Coachella is the derby of the West.
It's crazy. The derby of the, um, of the influencers, how do I say it? Nice. I mean the out the outfits are bad. Layla. , you can barely call them outfits as what I'm gonna say. Well, they're, well, it's for like the annoying thing is it's for Instagram pictures and then I'm convinced most people change.
I feel like you go to Coachella to be seen in the most skimpy thing you can possibly wear, and then you just put your shorts and t-shirt on to enjoy the music. Yeah. 'cause also like it's in the desert. You can't tell me you're like little thong bikini, and. Chain mail crop top is more comfortable. Or your leather vest.
I was seeing people with leather vests. Like your latex booty shorts. Like no, no. Like get a pair of linen pants and a t-shirt tank top. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. Okay. Wow. We are good at the rabbit trails today. We are good at the rabbit trails. It's nine in the morning. Yeah. I wish more people actually knew about natural fibers.
I know. 'cause I'm like, guys, yeah. My vegan leather vest. I'm like vegan. That leather is plastic. Yeah. Guys. Also, I've had to tell a few friends. One friend visited me in Hawaii and she was sweating to death, and I was like, well, you are wearing a polyester dress. Yeah, girl. And the same thing.
Our friend in Utah, like she was having a Christmas party and we were all over there. She's like, I am so hot. I'm like, sweating to death. And I'm like, well, you're wearing a polyester sweater. Sweater. She goes, sweater. Is that why? Oh, that's so funny. People don't know that their plastic clothes are making them uncomfortable.
No. They do not. I think maybe the tides are turning and people are starting to understand. Hopefully one millinery video I watched, this girl was very careful to try to convince us that they were making hats in a sustainable way by saying, we get our natural materials from the food industry. Oh. And I was like, wait, what?
Like corn husks and things like that. I don't know. I don't think she quite got there for me anyway. Um, yeah. Wouldn't those For some things you just have to have natural materials. Yeah. Wouldn't those fair game birds be pecking at your corn hat? Like your corn, your corn hat? Yeah. Your corn house hat. Oh my gosh.
Like a scarecrow. Yeah. Just put a face on it. Speaking of faces, okay, let's talk about some of the derby hats that I have seen. Wow, that was a really good like segue. Yeah. Yeah. Wrap back around. So the American Kentucky Derby, you guys can tell me if people do this at other derbies around the world, the hats.
Like I can't get this one hat outta my mind from one of those Awana crazy hat nights that somebody made, like it was a pink cowgirl hat and she put two trolls on the top troll dolls. This is when I was a kid. Yeah. And it won that night, of course. Mm-hmm. But it was so wild. And that's what people do for the Derby.
Like a lot of them will make an actual race track out of their hat and put that's little horses on it. Somebody like somebody had on an actual Churchill Downs hat, like the, they're so literal sometimes. Yeah. Like the Wisconsin cheese hats. Yes. That's hilarious. But it was Churchill Downs and it, it is like, kind of like the cake making industry.
Mm-hmm. Like you make these. Crazy things and then wear them on your head. There's one guy that's in the pictures in the news every year because he's gone to every derby and he has, you can get pins. You know how when you go to Disney World and you can get pins? Mm-hmm. Or the Olympics. Yeah. They have derby pins also.
Yeah. So he has the derby pins on his really worn out brown leather Oh hat that he has decorated with all kinds of feathers and things. That's cool. He has all these pins on his hat. Mm-hmm. So people get a little bit crazy and it's not all as fancy. Mm. As you might imagine. Do you think people like, you know, um, I feel like when I, I volunteered for the Nutcracker Gift Shop.
There was a Nutcracker, I'm sorry, another playlist shop. I'm so sorry. Um, I like, there was this big Nutcracker and I feel like it had like, was it like a train or like a ballerina that spun around the rim of it? Like do you think anybody, like does like a horse that moves around? That would be amazing. The brim.
And if anybody could make that hat, it would be you. Oh my gosh, I should try. You've always been good at that kind of stuff. I could like, oh wait, if I like, okay, wait, hear me out. You know those train track like mm-hmm. Things. If I put one of those on the brim of the hat and then take the train car bottom, uh, and put horses on top of it, and then they'll spin around.
Yeah. And then disguise the track somehow. Yeah. And then I'll just shove the battery in my head. I was gonna say, where you gonna put the battery pack? That would be epic. That would be really cool. Okay. When you have kids and take them to Awana, your kids are gonna win. Oh my gosh. They're gonna win everything Okay, so we're done talking about hats, but let us give you one closing note. I was curious last year on how much money Churchill Downs makes because also it's a big gambling event. Don't forget. Yeah. And I was wondering how do they afford these billion dollar projects every year? Mm-hmm. To. Expand and improve Churchill Downs.
So Layla has the number. Okay. How much per derby does Churchill Downs make? Okay. Churchill Downs Inc. Posted a record of more than $890 million in net revenue for the second quarter of the year after the historical success of the hundred and 50th Kentucky Derby. Wow. $890 million. That's insane. Most of that is gambling money.
Yeah. If I had that much money, I would like. Solve world hunger or something, would you? I wouldn't build a paddock. I'd pay off my house. I wonder if they donate to the Audubon Society. They should. They should. They should donate to things. Oh, I also looked up, do they still use real feathers in dirty hats?
And they do from yeast. What are they? They import them. That's crazy because we're only not allowed to use American bird feathers. Oh, oh my gosh. Oh America sometimes. That's so funny. That's hilarious. Okay, well, Layla, thanks for the chat about Louisville. Thanks for chatting with me. This was fun. Make sure you guys give this podcast a five star rating and a really nice review.
'cause we love those and we read them all. If you're watching on YouTube, leave us a comment and let's discuss, especially if you live in one of the. Countries where derby and or hats are a thing are big, tell us how different they are from ours. Mm-hmm. And we'll see y'all later. Bye bye.