Chaba, from Beautiful Hibiscuses to Dramatic Sun Hat

I love hibiscuses. They keep me close to white sands, beautiful beaches, soaking monsoon and hot,humid air. I love to wear them on my hair, decorate my house with them, paint and draw them. Now I am inspired by them to create a wearable art work, a fabulous sun hat which I call Chaba Hat. Chaba means hibiscus in Thai.

Chaba Drawing : by Pui

The taste of sunburn is not sweet. It HURTS!!...You will look like a steamed lobster, act like a confusing dog - ready to bite when you are patted, and later, your skin looks like snake skin.


"I told you not to forget wearing a wide brim sun hat. Now you are happy with your nasty skin, aren't you?" The usual greeting from my aunt as soon as she saw my snake-like skin when I walked into the house after getting back from the island trip. My aunt is very conscious of the sun. She never leave the house without an umbrella and she has been telling me to be careful with the sun since I was three year-old. Do I listen? Now, I totally regret ignoring her words - I am paying a prize with a lot of sun spots on my face and have to live with uneven skin colors on my back.

Summer is approaching with strong sun, and it just reminds me of my last sunburn - it was three years ago. I hopped on my friend's boat for a boat trip around the island with my bare skin because he was in hurry.

He made a short stop-by at the beach which I was having breakfast, calling me from his boat. Without thinking of anything I jumped from the restaurant's balcony hopped on to his boat with a tube top and a pair of light linen pants. By the end of the day, when we got back to the beach I was already a steamed lobster, a confusing dog waiting to turn into a snake four days later. My friend helped me rubbed my "well done" skin with a cool gel of fresh aloe plant until the burn was cooled down.

That is the reason I designed this dramatic sun hat - Chaba - a wide brim, soft hat with permanent turned-up brims, made with medium weight 100% linen. The brims are wide enough to cover the neck and shoulder area. The crown is higher than a usual hat styled by extra darts to the crown. The brims and crown are hand-fringed. The permanent turned-up brims give you a peace of annoying habit to keep turn the brim up every times the wind blow.

I love the look of this fabulous hat.
It's unique to itself and it will make whoever wear it looks unique and stylish as well. It's truly one of a kind, and another piece of my wearable art work. I made one for myself and one for whoever loves the wearable art work that will continues to inspire .