Photos by Craig Currie

Kentucky Derby Museum recently selected Dianne Isbell of Hats by Di-Anne as a 2021 featured milliner/hat designer for the Kentucky Derby Hat Museum Gift Shop and special events hosted by the Museum throughout the year. Isbell is a Metro-St. Louis resident, a national award winning hat designer, and a 2019-2020 In-Resident Designer at the Saint Louis Fashion Fund.

Isbell will have her designs in the Museum’s Kick Off Event for the Season – A Fashion Show and Brunch at Churchill Downs on Sunday, April 11, 2021. Her designs will be available for purchase at this event and in the gift shop starting on that date. Tickets for this event are available through the Museum’s website.

Isbell recently added new designs to her collection which feature facial coverings to complement her hat designs.

Isbell has been designing her one-of-a-kind creations for more than ten years out of her studio inside her home in Belleville, Illinois. Not only a New York Fashion Week designer winner, her designs have been consistent winners at St. Louis’ Forest Park Forever’s Annual Hat Luncheon (only 16 to 20 out of over 1,000 hats are selected each year).

One of Isbell’s designs was selected as “Best Hat” at the Naples, Florida, Botanical Gardens Charity Luncheon in 2018 and Honorable Mention via virtual competition in 2020 (three selected out of over 500 attendees each year). Two of her designs have been selected for year long display at the Kentucky Derby Hat Museum – 2018 and 2020 (only 20 selected each year)

Dianne has designed for Lady Gaga and the President George H. W. Bush family. Her designs have been worn at the Ascot Races in the United Kingdom and for special events all over the world.

Dianne donated more than 900 handmade safety approved masks from March 2020 to present to health care workers, at-risk individuals, all over the country, and continues to donate to those in need.