Popular Hat Designer Teressa Foglia and Ty Hays Flee the Malibu Fires With Their Baby, Rally Others To Help In Fort Worth

The warning came at 3 am, giving celebrated hat designer Teressa Foglia, her husband artist Ty Hays and their 9-month-old daughter 20 minutes to evacuate their Malibu home. That was three weeks ago and since that time they have been sheltering with the family of Ethan Wayne (son of the late actor John Wayne) in Fort Worth where they have a special exhibition at the Fort Worth Stockyards.

“We are blessed to have a deep friendship with the Wayne family,” Foglia tells PaperCity in a phone call from Fort Worth. “It goes back many years,”

Beyond their business interests, the couple has launched a grass roots effort to provide aid to those who have lost everything in the Southern California  fires.

Hat maker Foglia’s recent newsletter to her contacts invited friends and customers to contribute necessities for those who have been left homeless. The message provided a number of locations where specifically “clothing for all ages, canned food, bottled water, towels, blankets, baby formula, etc” can be dropped off. Included in the donation sites is Teressa Foglia’s namesake boutique in Houston’s River Oaks District.

Donations can be made at the Houston shop during the regular store hours of 11 am to 7 pm Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 6 pm on Sundays.

“Our house is still standing but our entire neighborhood is gone, every single house in front of us around us, behind us,” Foglia says, fighting back tears. “We were hit the day it (Pacific Palisades fire) started.”

Even though their house was saved, Foglia writes in her newsletter: “Like so many others, we’re grappling with profound uncertainty, and we don’t know how to begin moving forward whenever this settles.”

Although under mandatory closure, Teressa Foglia in Malibu was, as of Sunday, untouched by the fires. But with strong winds forecast to rise again on Tuesday and Wednesday, and only 14 percent of the Palisades fire under control, nothing is certain.

“I just think everyone is in a state of shock right now and everyone is trying to figure out what to do,” Foglia says. “As a community, OK, people need things. They left in the middle of the night. And I know that feeling because I left at 3 o’clock in the morning three weeks ago.”

On her Instagram post updating her 145,000 followers, the talented milliner asked for support for the entire Southern California community, revealing that she and Hays will be hosting a fundraiser at the Fort Worth Stockyards on Friday from 4 pm to 6 pm  in the John Wayne: An American Experience museum. Further details will follow on her Instagram.

“I have an amazing running list right now of parents in need and parents that have things to give, trying to do that as direct contacts,” Foglia says. “People can connect directly one-on-one. For the shops, we are hoping for just the basic and essentials. I mean people don’t have underwear with them. I have friends that are buying underwear online and shipping it directly to the (Laguna Beach) store. A lot of people are cleaning out their closets for clothes to donate.”

Foglia’s mantra is “Anything that anyone can do, anything that anyone can give.”

Hays and Foglia, who are popular throughout Texas, will once again be in Round Top next week from January 23 to January 26 for the Winter Antiques Show. But their thoughts will continue to be back home in Southern California, with their devastated neighbors and so many others.