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Pieces With Taste And History.

Mela Hoyt-Heydon, owner and designer for Atelier Mela, is a union costume designer who has been designing and making hats for the entertainment industry since 1982.

In the past, between designing for the entertainment industry and being the head of the costume department at Fullerton College in California, Mela had only made her hats available to the public at Costume College and a few other select venues. The opening of Atelier Mela in Fullerton, CA in 2016, allowed Mela's creations to be enjoyed by a more diverse clientele while allowing Mela to design and create a much wider range of head wear including vintage inspired hats, historical reproductions, whimsical Disney Bound hats, romantic bridal confections, modern fascinators, raceway hats, floral fantasy wreaths and headpieces, along with a wide range of men's head-wear. The majority of our hats are created in-house, by hand, using traditional techniques. These techniques include hand blocking, hand rolled edges, custom dyed or vintage trimmings and handmade flowers, helping to insure that each hat is one of a kind.

In February of 2020, the Fullerton store was closed in preparation of moving the company to Salem, Oregon. On October 1, 2021, we opened a new store front inside the Willamette Heritage Center, 1313 Mill St., Salem Oregon. We are proud to announce that we are once again open to the public along with taking private commissions.

You can contact us at ateliermela@gmail.com and we can arrange to discuss your design via Zoom, email, phone or in person.

What We Do

Atelier Mela creates custom head pieces and hats both small and large scale. For those in need of a custom designed hat to add the finishing touch for any time period gown, themed wedding or modern racing ensemble, design appointments can be made to discuss your needs.

Atelier Mela continues to service the entertainment industry creating hand made, custom hats for television, film, theatre and theme parks. Atelier Mela hats can be made to match a particular design/sketch, period accurate reproductions, or originals designed by our in house designer.

As of February 2020, the Fullerton store closed as we moved the business from Fullerton, CA to Salem, Oregon. On October 1, 2021, we were pleased to open our new store front inside the Willamette Heritage Center at 1313 Mill Street, Salem Oregon. The store is open Tuesday thru Saturday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm but we can schedule appointments outside of those hours to met your needs.

We are once again, taking custom orders again via email, Zoom, phone and in person by appointment. Each week we post on Instagram (atelier_mela_hats) a new hat or two that has been made for the shop, sometimes modern and sometimes of reflective of an historical time period. We never post custom hats designs until after a client has made their debut with their hat or headpiece!

Please email ateliermela@gmail.com with questions or for requests for particular hats you would like to see for sale in our shop or if you wish to commission a custom design.

Designer Profile: Miss Mela

Mela's training in millinery started with an apprenticeship during graduate studies at the University of California at Irvine with Los Angeles milliner Lloyd Lambert and continued as she passed on her skills teaching millinery workshops and classes across the United States. While working as an union costume designer, Mela's love of Victorian clothing led her to research historical millinery techniques, pouring over rare manuscripts and vintage teaching manuals. At every opportunity, Mela used these techniques to create period reproductions for theatre, film, theme parks, cruise lines and re-enactors. This, in turn, led to her study bespoke millinery in London, England with Rose Cory, milliner to the late Queen Mum along with assisting London theatrical milliner, Jane Smith. Mela has been a practicing milliner since 1982.