It moved through hoods, beanies and "Cat in the Hat" hats on to baseball caps first turned sideways and then with a flat brim (the polar opposite of the redneck and preppy artfully turned trend) and the current reinvented trend for "the bucket, " preferably from Louis Vuitton or Ralph Lauren.

WSJ: Tina Gaudoin on Style: The Hat Is On | The Top Winter Accessories

The crew is also responsible for keeping the ice litter-free, the most common projectiles being hats tossed onto the rink after a player scores a hat trick a third goal in the same game.

WSJ: Ralph Gardner Jr.: The Sport of Zamboni

Ms. Kiely started out in millinery in 1992, but stopped making her simple hat designs after her father pointed out that nobody seemed to be wearing hats anymore.

WSJ: The Pluck of the Irish | Designer Orla Kiely's Global Ambition

It means e-mailing photographs and mailing swatches of outfits to match the hats, hours of chatting on the phone and even using software to "try on" a hat (a feature Siverson's website offers) or a virtual "sitting room" with everything from a "millinery mugshot" to photos of the hat in progress on Conti's site.

CNN: Crowning glory: The art of Kentucky Derby hats