By Amy Conway
Photographs by Stephanie Zollshan

Karema Almeida made her first hat when she was 14 (a velvet fez), studied fashion design at New York City’s FIT, and worked in the millinery department at the Metropolitan Opera. She is an expert at her craft. And here’s what she wants to tell you: Don’t be afraid of hats.

“So many people come in and say, ‘I don’t look good in hats.’ Or, ‘I can’t wear hats,’” she said. “But they’ve just got to give it a try.” Indeed, her wide-brimmed sun hat and her waxed cotton rain (or shine) hat—two bestsellers—are easy and versatile, minimalist but with attention to detail. Put one on, flip the brim up or down as desired, and you may just realize you are a hat person after all.

Almeida makes hats the old-fashioned way: cutting the fabric herself, handblocking the hats on antique blocks, knitting winter hats, and even making her own trims. The work is done in her home studio in Sandisfield—often with Moose, her Havapoo, on her lap. She and her husband, who have a 12-year-old daughter, bought the house in 2015, but moved up full time during the pandemic. And it’s benefitted her process: “the mental space, the physical space, just the quiet.” While she used to chase down materials in New York, now she’s “working with less and it’s been great. I’m getting creative with what I have access to, rather than spending a lot of time on the subway or in the garment center.” That might mean hand-painting trim for hat bands, for example—for results that are truly one of a kind.

“So many people come in and say, ‘I don’t look good in hats.’ Or, ‘I can’t wear hats,’ but they’ve just got to give it a try.”

Karema Deodato hats are sold at Railroad St. Collective in Great Barrington and North Adams, at karemadeodato.com, and at area makers’ markets.