When “Alice in Wonderland” came out this year, a number of folks asked us about Johnny Depp’s top hat. He played the Mad Hatter, and there’s a lot of customizing he and Tim Burton did to his topper. We don’t have anything quite like it, but we do have some good hats to serve as a base for your own custom creations.

The “Mad Hatter Top Hat” in black or grey is a good starting place, as its top is wider than its base. It comes with a wide grosgrain dress band, but if you wanted to wrap it in a wider swath of cloth, it can be gently pinned into place over the hat without damaging the hat. Martha Stewart customized this very hat in the Halloween issue of her magazine in 2009. She even bought the hat from us!

In case you were wondering why Lewis Carroll wrote about a lunatic hatter or how the phrase “mad as a hatter” came about, we found the answer on www.phrases.org.uk: “Mercury used to be used in the making of hats. This was known to have affected the nervous systems of hatters, causing them to tremble and appear insane.”

Mercury poisoning can also cause aggressiveness, mood swings and anti-social behavior. Thank goodness hats aren’t made with mercury anymore!