A ‘humble hat' comes to life: Meet the man who designed Melania Trump's inauguration hat

Melania Trump clutched her hat as the winds from the Biden’s departing military helicopter threatened to remove it.  

“She almost blew away,” Donald Trump later joked during his post-inauguration speech. “She was being elevated off the ground.”

The hat — and the First Lady — was not going anywhere. The designer of the wide-brimmed, wool boater-style hat Trump wore on Inauguration Day made sure of that.

“I know it was secured very nicely to her head because I sort of engineered a little invisible elastic in the back,” Eric Javits, a milliner who hand crafted Trump’s hat, told NBC Local after Monday’s inauguration ceremony. “And there were some loops towards the front where more pins could be applied. And it wasn’t such a huge brim that would fly off her head.”

First lady Melania Trump looks on as her husband U.S. President Donald Trump addresses guests after his inauguration at the U.S Capitol on January 20, 2025.

Seeing the hat securely atop Trump’s head as her husband was being sworn in as the president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol on Monday was a proud moment for Javits, a native New Yorker who recently relocated to Florida.

“It’s definitely a huge highlight of my career,” he said. “So, it’s so funny because, in my hands, it looked like a very sort of humble hat. It didn’t look like much. And yet, when I saw it on her, it just really came to life and looked beautiful on her.”

Trump paired a navy silk wool coat with a navy skirt and an ivory silk crepe blouse underneath, all by independent American designer Adam Lippes. The hat, navy with a simple white band, shielded Trump’s eyes.

So much so that when President Trump greeted her on stage ahead of his swearing-in, he was unable to navigate his way around the hat’s wide brim to plant a kiss on his wife’s cheek, resulting in an inaugural air kiss.

“I know there will be plenty of kissing later,” Javits joked.

President Donald Trump kisses First Lady Melania Trump during the 60th presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It was a unique accessory choice for Inauguration Day, with the most recent First Lady to wear a hat for the swearing-in ceremony being Hillary Clinton in 1993.

Well prior to Monday’s ceremony, Javits was contacted by Trump’s stylist and designer Hervé Pierre to discuss the First Lady’s vision of her inaugural headwear.  

He had no direct communication with Trump during the design process, corresponding exclusively with Pierre, but she had already been an existing customer. A few summers ago, she purchased a gondolier-style hat off Javits’ website.

“Then I sent another style from my archive for her to try on that I thought would be very becoming, and she liked that,” he said. “And those two styles basically became the springboard to develop what she ended up wearing for the inauguration.”

With the design process well underway, he said he did not receive the fabric to begin constructing the hat until just before Christmas. The hat’s crown and brim is crafted on wooden blocks — with Javits having first learned woodworking in grade school. 

“And then, from the block, I created the paper pattern for the fabric panels, and I had to block the interlining and from there, you know, put it all together,” he said.

But even packages delivered to the First Lady can get damaged during shipping.

Trump’s original Inauguration Day hat that Javits designed and shipped from Miami to New York arrived crushed. So, at the drop of a hat, Javits scrambled to make another.

“It did arrive damaged,” he said. “And, I was texted a photograph right away and I could see that I had to do another one. So, I started on the next one right away.”

Much of the work was already done, so the new hat was completed within days and hand-delivered to Pierre to avoid any potential shipping mishaps. The next time Javits saw the hat was when Trump wore it during the ceremony.

President Donald Trump takes the oath of office as Melania Trump looks on during inauguration ceremonies in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025. (Photo by CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“It just really speaks to her grace and beauty and presence, that it was such a such a powerful visual statement for the country to see,” he said.

Some loved the inaugural fashion statement, some turned it into memes — likening Trump’s look to everything from Carmen Sandiego to the McDonald’s villain the Hamburglar.

Either way, fashionistas and social media critics will agree, the hat is one of a kind. Other iterations, however, could take shape and be made available for purchase should the inaugural fashion trend catch on.

That, of course, would be a tip of the hat to Trump and Javits.

“Since the beginning of my career, I’ve really focused on making women look their best,” Javits said. “And I’ve tried to come up with shapes that had universal appeal that would flatter even the most challenged faces. And, of course, you know, Mrs. Trump is perfect. She has the ideal bone structure and beauty. So, it didn’t take much work to make this all happen.”

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