I create ladies’ custom hats for all kinds of equine sporting events: the Derby, Royal Ascot, polo matches and steeplechase. For years I have been dying to create a collection of carriage driving hats; stylish chapeaux for women to wear for their carriage driving competitions in a uniquely MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® style!
As luck would have it, this spring a woman named Lynda St. Andre from Norwood, MA contacted me and asked if I would create two carriage driving hats for her upcoming country pleasure driving events.
Photo courtesy of Lynda St. Andre
Lynda owns a striking 6-year old American Saddlebred gelding named Attache’s Chocolate Thunder. She needed the perfect chapeaux to suit her sense of style and also to match her horse’s chestnut coloring.
I was in heaven as Lynda and I together brainstormed on the designs for her two hats. Finally, we arrived at a custom version of the “Meg” chapeau and the Dianne’s Chelsea. The hats turned out wonderfully, and Lynda and Thunder have already won two Reserve Champion ribbons this season!
After all these years, Lynda has inspired me to put together a collection of hats specifically created for carriage driving. Function and fashion go hand in hand with carriage driving hats. Special consideration needs to be given to designs that are comfortable, can withstand considerable wear and tear as well as wind, and yet are stylish and elegant. In the new Collection you’ll find hats with wide brims…
Short brims…
Hats with simple trims and hats with more detail in a wide variety of colors and fabrics that will work for every season!
And the Carriage Driving Collection will keep growing, as all MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® collections do, with new hats being added as I experiment with designs and receive valuable feedback from customers and supporters alike. I do hope you enjoy the following slideshow of some of the new hats, and I invite you to visit the actual Carriage Driving Hats webpage to see the entire collection.
Once again, thank you for visiting Hats and Horses!
Sally
Hats and Horses 
Well, Sally, you did it again!!!!! These are GREAT!!!!!
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Aw, thank you, Connie, I had such a great time getting the new Collection together! 🙂
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Your collaboration with the client was a huge success; she looks wonderful in both of her carriage driving hats. Beautiful collection, too. Brava, Sally! 🙂
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Thank you so much, Celine! I have been so excited o debut the new Collection, glad you like it! 🙂
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These are gorgeous hats!
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Laurie thank you SO much! I love your blog too, so inspiring and such lovely images. Welcome to my little blog, and I’m already looking forward to your next post!
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