Who are Nic & Maude?
Hi! We are Lia LaRue (left) and Nicole Johnson (right), hat makers and owners of Nic & Maude. We have been dear friends for over seventeen years, living a lot of life together as artists, musicians, mothers, and travelers. Some of the most memorable trips we’ve taken together have been out West, (Marfa, TX, Jackson Hole, WY, and White Fish, MT to name a few), where we fell in love with the landscapes and grit of the people that lived among its wild nature. Out West is where our love for hats became more than just an accessory to our wardrobe.
We have both always been avid hat wearers, but had trouble finding what we were ultimately looking for. So out of a desire to create high-quality unique hats for ourselves, we dove into the world of learning traditional millinery. Through the generous help of our friend and local hat maker Jacob Hillenbrand, hours of videos, and months of good old-fashioned trial and error, our hat-making hobby quickly evolved into a passionate business.
Why the name Nic & Maude?
In keeping with tradition, milliners name their companies after themselves and their family names. Nic is short for Nicole, and Maude is Lia’s Great Great Aunt Maude, who was a milliner back in the 1940’s and 50’s. Aunt Maude was a beautiful, free spirited, self-made woman who, despite many setbacks in her personal life, founded a successful hat shop in downtown Detroit. She is talked about by relatives in the highest regard and remembrance. So, in passing down a family name and tradition, and essence of all we stand for and believe in, we established our company name, Nic and Maude.
Since the beginning, our goal has been to bring individuality and romance to each hat, creating a fashion statement to adorn your head, while also echoing the sentiments and beauty of the untamed West.
Every hat we make begins with top of the line, high quality materials.
We use premium leather sourced from small businesses across the country, and a variety of embellishments like silk, vintage ribbons and bandanas, wild turkey feathers (100% ethically sourced), patches, vintage pins, vintage playing cards, and empty bullet casings. We even burn custom details onto the hat, adding a personal, unique touch to the finished product.
We buy our raw hat bodies only from the top U.S. distributors, to make sure each Nic & Maude hat meets the western weight standard.
We take pride in curating eclectic western-inspired fashion to craft each of our hats, knowing that there will never be another one exactly the same.
Contact us directly, if you’d like us to start work on your custom Nic & Maude hat.
