WHAT the fashionable will be wearing tomorrow in the Easter parade in London, Paris or New York doesn't fit here. Hats aren't a part of everyday culture. But, if a pair of Floras have their way, what's on your head may change as well as what's in it. Flora Chong-Leen creates hats to go with the clothes she designs for fashion shows. But the ballerina-turned-businesswoman doesn't touch the retail hat market even though she is a died-in-the-straw/felt/foam/wool hat-wearer. Any of the 50 she owns goes to a Dior lunch, a BBC interview, to work. A sailor's cap is de rigueur on a boat ride. Escape? Split-personality? ''I just love fantasy.'' Flora Chung has other ideas. The spunky owner of Fashion Straws, a milliner's treasure trove on the second floor of Melbourne Plaza in Central, designs hats for everyday occasions and everyday people. But a phone call from a movie costume designer, a Chinese opera company or a Canto-pop icon sends the former accountant to her sketch pad. Snapshots of the famous are kept in a album. Vital statistics about Jackie Chan's head size or trivia like the coarseness of his hair, she tosses out like tips on Wednesday nights at Happy Valley. The 10 hats she owns rarely see daylight. One exception is the denim cap. Work keeps her and her staff of three going, sometimes until midnight. January to June is the busy season, all those brides and wedding guests. Most orders are filled within three days. A current project - a little number for a Chinese opera company, a scuplture-like hat of tigers' teeth and feathers - requires seven days. Her annual production hovers around 1,000 pieces a year, not bad for a five-year-old company. Wearing a hat requires a level of self-confidence, both Floras agree. But if you pick the right one for your face and head shape, the confidence jumps a notch or two. ''There's a style that's right for every face and occasion,'' says Chung. ''When a woman picks the right one, she feels better about herself.'' Chong-Leen believes there is a connection between improved self-confidence and the greater number of hats walking around Central these days. ''Twenty years ago mothers and grandmothers played a supportive role in the family. Now, women are more independent, they're successful on their own.'' The Chinese culture does have some restraining effect. ''Chinese are afraid to stand out,'' Chong-Leen continues. ''A hat makes a woman feel too obvious. They will wear one only to an occasion - a wedding, horse races, a formal event. But never just to lunch.'' The hat boxes in Chong-Leen's wardrobe hold memories. So do the shelves. There are the two pith helmets from Nairobi. It doesn't matter that her husband won't wear his. The straw boater with the navy and red grosgrain ribbon was bought in London by the then 21-year old to celebrate graduation from ballet school. One crumpled suitcase survivor is a straw sun hat from Mexico. ''That was a great holiday,'' she recalled, punching the crown back into shape. Hats run in her family. Her grandmother and mother in Shanghai were primary role models. And, to this day, hats are a bond between her and her sister who lives in Paris. Though she designs hats for runway shows only, she has yet to venture into the retail market. ''Maybe, someday.'' The future of hats in Hongkong? Children, says Elias Ben-Avi, owner of Mon Chapeau in Repulse Bay. ''Chinese mothers more readily put hats on their kids than on their own heads,'' explains the designer. ''They're not part of the Chinese culture.'' Fifteen per cent of his business is children - from infants to early teens. Boys go for baseball caps; women and girls, for anything silly and decorative. Women say they don't like hats because they never find one that's right for their face. The minute a woman in Hongkong puts a hat on her head, she's asking to be noticed. ''She will get glances. But if she was in England, probably not. Everyone wears them. ''Hats have an effect. You stand up straighter, feel more sexy. You just feel different. If a woman doesn't want to be in the limelight, that's okay. I don't blame her. ''In that case, she just wears something more subdued.''
