Ep. 7: Millinery in the Modern Age with Jenny Pfanenstiel

Master Milliner Jenny Pfanenstiel joins Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Blot for a conversation on her journey from making hats in her basement as a hobby to founding her couture shop Formé Millinery in Louisville, Kentucky, and acquiring supply companies that provide materials for other milliners and help ensure that the craft of millinery continues to thrive. Jenny is a world-renowned milliner awarded for her skill of creating and sculpting hats by hand using the highest quality and rare materials from across the globe.

The art of millinery is a technique that dates back centuries through molding straw and wool over wooden hat forms. Taking from traditional millinery techniques, Jenny is known throughout the world for her unique process of sculpting hats on a braid machine from the 1800s. She is a five-time Featured Milliner of the Kentucky Derby. In 2019, she was 1 of 50 women entrepreneurs selected as a Tory Burch Fellow through the Tory Burch Foundation. She has three co-branded hat patterns through McCall Patterns, and leads hat-making workshops for all levels. Jenny is the author of the book The Making of a Milliner and has collaborated with exciting brands and dignitaries such as Woodford Reserve, Vineyard Vines, J Peterman, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Madonna, and Barbara Cochran, to name a few. She and her husband Bart own four hat companies and just celebrated opening their third hat shop in Kentucky.

Learn more about Jenny Pfanenstiel:

Forme Millinery Website

Hat Box USA Website

Judith M Supply Website

The Hat Shoppe Louisville Website

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Forme Millinery Instagram

The Hat Shoppe Louisville Instagram

Judith M Supply Instagram