Hi,
Oh yes! The mysterious little man in the hat band!!! Hurrah! How nice to see him up close like that! I have only 1 hat with him, and my little guy has lost most of his glitz and he is quite worn.
Back in 1990 I became good friends with the women who had long been the head of the Millinery Information Bureau in NYC (now that org has a different name if it is even still in existence). Casey and I had many discussions about milliners and their trademarks and secrets, but I did not take notes. Stupid on my part. I recall her telling me who did the little man, (Halston could be a right guess, but I think he was no longer working anonymous by the late 50's...) but I forgot all about it until years later I found a hat with him inside the band. Now, I am useless to recall, but I will make it my mission to figure this one out.
Just a guess off the top of my head, would maybe (just a guess) be Mr Frederic of the famous team of John-Frederics. When Fred and John (Mr. John) split up, Fred continued with the JF labeled line of hats, but Fred also had a number of pseudo names he used on labels such as Mr. Fred and other names I cannot recall right now. He had a lot of labels and no one knew it was him designing. But he did sew jewels inside of some of his hats, often sewn on ladies faces embroidered on the label.
One thing....Jonathan, your hat looks like it dates to more the late 1950s. I am dating it not just by the style but more by the type of felt which was used on the hat, and the color. Of course, I am not sure 100% on this.
Sher Katz, you say your hat has a I. Magnin label from the late 1940's? I cannot imagine that this little man sewn to the inside was around from the late 1940s to around 1960. Whoever the designer was, I doubt he would have used an anonymous signature for that long, at least it seems odd. I suspect your hat might be 1950's. Can you show the entire hat, and also show the label? This might help us all to narrow down the years "he" was working, and where the hats were sold.
Maybe Sue Langley will chime in. Oh SOOO-OOOO!
Sorry I cannot be of more help right now. But I loved seeing him again!
Barbara