It started with a hat

A FORMER reporter with Channel 3’s “Khao Sam Miti” programme, Khunteera “Mind” Pachimsawat has always had a thing for hats. But it wasn’t until she spied a natty bowler in a film and failed to find its twin in a shop that she decided to make her own and signed up for a millinery course at the prestigious London College of Fashion to make sure she got it right.

Already the owner of a small boutique on Soi Thonglor, she moved into the major league last month by opening Thailand’s first ever hat studio at Central Embassy. Mind Millinery, as the store is called, sits comfortably alongside the big-name international brands and offers the discerning dresser a limited edition of extravagant chapeaux with a classic English twist. 

“It’s hard to believe that it all started with a hat in a movie but that’s exactly what happened,” she giggles. “I looked into the history of hats on the Internet and discovered millinery started in France but became very popular in the UK after the World War I with wearing always pairing their outfits with a beautiful hat and gloves. They looked so dignified,” Khunteera says. 

“Hats have become more trendy with Thai fashionistas in recent years as they make a statement about who a woman is and what she likes. When I returned to Bangkok after finishing the course, I continued creating fascinators in different designs and uploading photos of them to Facebook as well as wearing them to parties. Before long, my friends wanted one too.”

In 2012, egged on by a commercial attache in Singapore, she launched her first collection, selling the hats through Vivo City and Shore House in the City State.

Designers and celebrities learned about her headgear through Facebook and Instagram and soon she was collaborating with Jaspal, Workshop and Exact too.

Last November, she opened her first boutique at Market Place on Soi Thonglor and is pleased with its success.

The Central Embassy branch, while small, is beginning to take off. Customers can admire more than 300 designs in stock and make their order from a catalogue of many more.

Khunteera imports wooden moulds from the UK to ensure her hats are a standard size and uses three main material: straw for summer, wool for winter and banana stalk, which can be adapted into several shapes and is imported from the US, the UK, Hong Kong and China.

Highlights include an Oversized Gaucho that’s a hybrid of gaucho and floppy, a Fascinator that can be attached with a comb or headband and a classic soft felt Fedora with a medium brim.

She also offers cloches, a bell-shaped hat that was popular in the roaring ’20s and the Pillbox, which was made famous by former First Lady Jackie Kennedy 

“My latest collection is inspired by three fashion icons – Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly,” she says.

 

 

TOPPED OFF

>>Mind Millinery is on the third floor of Central Embassy and is open daily from |10 to 10. Call (094) 402 5999 or visit Mind Millinery on Facebook.