away from making coats and other clothes and instead steer towards hats.
"I started making hats after I got married and had moved out to Los Angeles with my new husband." She explains. "I got a job at a dress studio making bridal headpieces for weddings... and we would have these women that would come into to the studio, like the different mothers of the brides... and they would tell me that they we're having these Garden parties and wanted to know if could I make these big fancy garden hats. "So I started making them what's called "cut and sew" hats. And the more I got into it the more I wanted to learn how to make more sophisticated and classic-styled hats like they made in London using (hat) blocks." She continues as she pours me a delightful cup of English tea into one of her delicate, rose floral teacups. "One day, a friend of mine told me about this lady named Wilma Gordon who had a school that taught people how to make high-end Couture hats." Smith recalls. "So I called her up to enquire about Millinery lessons, but was crushed to learn that she was having trouble and was just about to close her studio and school. Sensing the distress and disappointment in my voice, she agreed to at least stop by my studio and take a look at my work. And the day she finally came over she was so amazed by what I had been creating that she took me under her wing and completely mentored me."
Gordon eventually pushed Smith to go study abroad in London where the
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