“It’s good that I work out,” said Prashe Shah, whose impressionist-inspired hat was a standout at the Mad Hatter’s Tea gala on April 24, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
“I think it weighs 15 pounds,” said Prashe Shah, balancing what appeared to be a small boutique on her head: sprays of real roses and hydrangeas, a painter’s palette with brushes, dried flowers and fake wisteria, not to mention a gold-framed painting of Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies.
“It’s good that I work out,” said Shah, a luxury wedding designer, as she hoisted a small support beam on one side of the hat to steady it and keep the weight off her neck. “And I had some champagne.”
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Welcome to the 2026 Mad Hatter’s Tea, one of the spring’s most anticipated galas and a dazzling display of what Dallas women can accomplish when armed with inspiration, the crafts section at Michaels and a hot glue gun. “Art in the Garden” was this year’s theme, which took place Friday, April 24, and the crowd of about 500 tipped their hats to the masters: Van Gogh, Degas, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo.
Attendees at the Mad Hatter’s Tea, a fundraiser for the Women’s Council of the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Mad Hatter’s is a fundraiser thrown by the Women’s Council of the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden, the city’s crown jewel where the event takes place, but it’s also a contest, both in the sense of a multicategory hat competition and more informally, in the way women strive to out-peacock each other and themselves from year to year, resulting in gloriously over-the-top contraptions.
Salvador Dalí on rotation
“Do you want this to go faster?” asked Elizabeth Smith, wearing a giant top hat whose rotating centerpiece was the face of Salvador Dalí. She turned around to reveal a small dial in back, hidden under fake butterflies, and when I cranked the knob to the right, the handlebar-mustached artist rising from her head quickened his pace, making a soft whir.
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Elizabeth Smith made a rotating hat with Salvador Dali’s face topped with a rose, inspired by his painting “Meditative Rose.”
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Smith, who works in medical device sales, made the show-stopper herself, using a spinning jewelry display case and objects from thrift stores and Amazon. One delight of Mad Hatter’s is the sheer ingenuity of its creations. Lampshades and feather boas and random artifacts from the garage get repurposed into statement fashion with the finesse of Scarlett O’Hara ripping down her green velvet curtains to make a dress.
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“These are corn husks,” said Kunthear Mam-Douglas, pointing to a row on the bottom of her strapless gown, when I met her before the event to discuss her outfit. Mam-Douglas, whose family came to the United States from Cambodia when she was in elementary school, has become such a grande dame of Mad Hatter’s that she got a lifetime achievement award in 2023. She doesn’t enter the contests anymore, but she still goes all-out and this year constructed a head-to-toe look using mostly recycled materials. She made her tiara from those plastic rings that hold soda cans or bottles of olive oil.
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“This is my brain. This is my heart,” she said, waving a hand down the train of her dress, a canvas of personal meaning that included hand-painted landscapes and pictures of two friends who died this year, including Carole Ann Brown, the doyenne of Mad Hatter’s who chaired the inaugural bash in 1989. It’s one of many small reminders of Brown’s absence, including the introduction of a “best in show” category named after her.
Kunthear Mam-Douglas, left, and Debbie Murray in a hat designed by Shane Walker, right.
Kunthear Mam-Douglas, left, and Debbie Murray in a hat designed by Shane Walker, right.
Not everyone makes their own hat, of course, which has been a boon for local florists and creatives. Shane Walker, who calls himself the Mad Hatter of Dallas, has designed more winning entries than anyone in event history. “Thirty-five and counting,” he told me, when I called him before the event. The hats cost anywhere from $300 to $3,000.
“These ladies have become very competitive, which stepped up the game,” said Walker, who began making hats for Mad Hatter’s more than 20 years ago, when the looks were whimsical but nothing like the elaborate showpieces they’ve become. This year his entries included a Renaissance-inspired top hat worn by Debbie Murray that features scenes from the Sistine Chapel.
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“I try to outdo myself every year,” he said. “I want these ladies to win!”
Cinderella in the garden
The fashion show portion of Mad Hatter’s is normally held inside, but this year, the crowd was corralled toward an outdoor garden. This was a bold move given the rainy week leading into Friday, but event chairs Reagan Pace and Sheridan Reeder stuck to their guns, the blue sky cooperated, and the visuals were stunning, as models traipsed past rows of purple and yellow flowers, a panoramic view of downtown Dallas in the distance.
Esé Azénabor’s runway show was held outdoors at the Dallas Arboretum as part of the Mad Hatter’s Tea.
Sarah Hepola
The runway collection was by Esé Azénabor, a Dallas talent whose dresses could have stepped out of a fairytale. Azénabor has made gowns for Tyra Banks and Taraji P. Henson, and she’s one of the city’s most in-demand bridal designers. Her 2026 collection, which showed earlier this year at New York Fashion Week, throbbed with romance, all dreamy flutter and elegant drape and Cinderella sparkle.
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Confession: I find most runway shows a bit snoozy, but this one was a knockout.
Who won?
Shane Walker, the Mad Hatter of Dallas, can now claim 36 wins, since his Renaissance top hat for Debbie Murray nabbed that category. Other winners were Sarah Ring (rococo), Erin Jett (pop art), Allison Brodnax’s group (cubism) and Katie Kennemer’s group (the impressionists).
“My category is surrealism, and our winner made it extra easy for us,” said judge Sharon Lee Clark, the designer behind Krane Home, standing on an elevated podium as hundreds gathered below. “Congratulations, Elizabeth Smith.”
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I scanned the crowd, a sea of saucer brims piled with flowers and flouncy feathers and gauzy ribbon, and watched as a spinning Dalí contraption emerged. Smith may have won her category handily, but walking up to accept the award was trickier. Have you ever climbed steps while balancing the equivalent of a rotating wedding cake on your head? It’s a feat of feminine grace akin to bench-pressing 300 pounds.
(From left) Prashe Shah in her winning hat and Martha Cox in a pop art-inspired hat at the Mad Hatter’s Tea, on Friday, April 24, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
The astonishing balancing act of Mad Hatter’s strikes me as a handy metaphor for Dallas women, who have long had a reputation for bigger hair, higher heels and shinier diamonds. What this focus on appearance ignores is that they pull this off while maintaining the state’s reputation for get-’er-done: These women are entrepreneurs and mothers and lawyers and teachers. The ladies of the Women’s Council are plate-spinners who can host the perfect tea party and raise money to help the Arboretum thrive and keep their makeup on-point. The toughness of Texas has a particular strain in Big D, where bravado meets the beauty counter.
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The last award was best in show. A whoop went through the crowd after Prashe Shah’s name was announced, and I watched the masses part as a woman of modest stature with a 15-pound treasure chest of creativity on her head made her way to the podium without a wobble. Do you have any idea how many side planks and squats this requires? I don’t either, but I know Shah walked up those steps, pivoted toward the cameras with a smile, and she made it all look so easy.