September 2026

By Michele Miller
What’s What New Port Richey

milliner – noun – mil·​li·​ner ˈmi-lə-nər 

: a person who designs, makes, trims, or sells women’s hats

Miriam Websters Dictionary

That downtown New Port Richey could boast its very own milliner is one of those secrets that’s best not kept, but all too often is. So, it might come as a surprise for some to learn that one of our own – local business owner Lisa Maltese of Julep Hat Designs – has been selected as one of ten area designers to have their artistry featured at Tampa Bay Fashion Week 2026 (September 23 – 26).

It’s been a busy time for Lisa. Since June, she has been working on six designs for the annual event while delving into a more “fashion-forward genre” than she is used to.

Lisa’s forte is in making showy fascinators that are a tradition for women attending the Kentucky Derby, which is held the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs, as well as for premier events such as the Kentucky Oaks Pink Out for Breast Cancer leading up to the horse race that’s been dubbed “the most exciting two minutes in sports”.

“Kentucky Derby is a little bit different than Fashion Week. Lots of feathers. Bigger. More fun,” she said.

Typically, business picks up in the months before the Derby, after the winter holidays, when thoughts turn to spring and how to top that outfit with something fetchingly feathery.

News organizations covering the event from the fashion angle often come calling, and so Lisa and her fascinators have been featured locally on Fox 13 and NBC WFLA Daytime. Her curated designs have also been seen on News Nation and touted by local media in Kentucky, where Lisa started her millinery business out of her former shop – The Pink Julep Boutique – after relocating there for 14 years from New Port Richey.

The Pink Julep Boutique was primarily a gift and fashion shop, Lisa said of her transition into hat making. “But at Derby time everyone wanted Derby wear, so I brought in other milliners into the shop and started learning about it. Then I started designing.”

“A lot of it is trial and error and learning as you go,” she said, adding that she has now been designing for eight years and still hones her skills through online classes. “You have to have an artful eye when you’re putting it together. To know when something’s missing.”

Lisa, who takes inspiration from Australian Milliners – some who have designed for the likes of Lady Gaga and other celebrities – moved much of the business online, continuing to tend to it remotely after the family moved back to New Port Richey.

“This was always our hometown,” said Lisa, adding that she and her husband, Dan, graduated from Ridgewood High School – now Wendell Krin Technical School. The couple even opted to maintain their New Port Richey home when her husband’s career took them to Kentucky, returning for visits during the summer months.

“A friend told me that I should make designs in Florida,” she said. “I laughed and said, ‘No one’s going to want these in Florida.’

“Boy was I wrong.”

While Lisa’s works mostly out of her home studio, she maintains an office and smaller workspace in the historic Pasco Building on Grand Boulevard above Ella’s Greek Restaurant and just down the hall from the Pink Brick Boutique, where customers can find and purchase some of her creations.

Some clients meet her at the office. She consults with most virtually, using Sherwin-Williams paint samples to help them with their color and material selections – sinamay, netting, Silk Abaca, quills, crinoline, goose and pheasant feathers – noting that having a contrasting fascinator rather than something that is an exact match is something that should be considered when planning a Derby Day outfit. Her custom designs run about $400.

“I’m not just a milliner who designs. I am also a stylist,” Lisa said.

“Clients reach out. I always start a design with a video call if they are not local and present them with some drafts of the material I have. I come up with a game plan. Send snapshots along the way. I try to walk them along so they have a vision, but sometimes they just have to trust me. At the end, I send them their final draft, and usually it’s pretty good. I allow one edit for each custom design, and charge $25 per edit after that, but honestly, I’ve never made it to that extra edit.”

It’s often tedious, painstaking work, but the finished product is well worth it.

“I love taking someone’s vision and bringing it to life.”

If custom-made isn’t your thing, there are hundreds of one-of-a-kind ready-made designs on the website that clients can choose from at a lower price point.

“They are all unique. I can’t even replicate one if I wanted to because it’s like art.”

Lisa has expanded the business, teaching basic classes. She also offers a mobile “Hat Bar” service where she brings all the elements needed to make a basic fascinator to events such as weddings and bachelorette parties.

If You Go

Tampa Bay Fashion Week will be held September 23 – 26 at Shear Media Studios, 12100 28th Street N, St. Petersburg, Florida. For information and tickets, visit www.fashionweektampabay.com

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