Hat designer Lola Ehrlich opens the door of Lola Millinery in New York City at 2 East 17th Street wearing a simple brown dress and sturdy brown Oxford shoes, a far cry from the previous evening when she is spotted at the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) awards ceremony in a gown by her friend designer Roland Nivelais of heavy champagne silk with an overlay of black Chantilly lace, sheer black opera-length gloves, and black feathers attached to a comb spraying out from her short black hair.

Lola's colorful, stylish, touched-with-humor hats are sold in her shop and in high-end specialty stores around the world. Her small atelier is a whimsical mix of black chandeliers, black and white striped hat boxes, pink and orange walls, blue and white striped curtains, tall spindly black hat stands displaying her designs, and velvet chairs.

One chair has been pulled forward to prop my tape recorder upon but the instrument keeps tipping over so Lola jumps up and returns with four pearl-tipped hat pins which she jams into the chair to stand the recorder upright. "There is nothing a milliner can't do," says Lola in a French accent which completes the mise en scène.