Sheena Norman poses for dad.

Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer

When Paul Norman examines a woman from head to toe, it is not likely to be for the usual reasons. The 43-year-old assistant sales and marketing manager is also a milliner - a seller and designer of gorgeous hats that often leave hat-lovers giddy with desire. It's a sideline which contrasts oddly with his weekday occupation.

Norman's normal work-day world is the place where visitors to Jamaica will find that there is much more to do than relaxing on the beach in the days and soaking up music and pina coladas at night.

Instead, the marketing rep of Chukka Caribbean Adventure has been inciting visitors, to live dangerously. At Chukka Blue, visitors and locals alike go river tubing over White Water rapids, do canopy tours in which they rappel hundreds of feet above ground - Tarzan-like - over north coast rain forests. They also ride and swim with horses in the ocean and participate in jeep safari tours.

At James Bond Beach in St. Mary, there is also 'Sting Ray City' where holidayers discover that they can kiss the creatures.

But, when he is away from the job, Norman leads a life defined not by a craving for adventure, but by a passion for music, for church and for fashion; in that order.

Hat making, he states, was a career he 'came upon' shortly after his honeymoon.

A special hat for a new outfit

"In 1987," he recalls, " I had just got married to my wife Sheila and I wanted a special hat for a new outfit for her. She loves hats because she grew up in the Pentecostal church where they are always worn."

What she finally got was one which Norman decorated himself - a stunning creation of royal blue.

He notes: "The ladies at our church all wear hats. The Pentecostals wear no bracelets, no chains. Instead, the hat is used as the accessory to make a statement."

His church was a captive market and, soon enough, his skill at finding the right hat was in demand. At his church - Calvary Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church in St. Ann's Bay - there is always an event - crusades, conventions, weddings - and so his hats are always needed.

Norman sets himself to sourcing, buying and even decorating them himself. A business was born.

Later, he discovered that his great-grandmother and grandfather from St. Elizabeth were milliners too. After creating a hat for his aunt to wear to her 50th wedding anniversary celebrations, she told him that it was good that he was continuing the family tradition. His great-grandparents were milliners who worked with jippy jappa (a type of straw), his aunt told him.

Today, Norman says, "I will take up a hat and right away I know what should go on it."

When he began his business, he recalls that local hats were very basic with little style or flair. "The hats (available) were not hats that I would have bought to give my wife as a gift."

So, he turned his hand to designing them himself. Memorable pieces, he recalls, include one black with a gold band and another cream affair accented with gold and a large, cream rose. Yet another was a red had with a rolled rim and a large red rose.

"Those were out of my first collection and they were the best. They were different from what was in the stores. I was not into copying."

For five years, Norman's first store was located in St. Ann's Bay at 64 Main Street before moving to Ocho Rios. The store is now located in Island Plaza in that town.

Flair for the dramatic

Norman often goes for the dramatic in his creations. He believes, however, that his most outstanding design was a gold hat done for a Justice of the Peace. It was flamboyant and turned her into the 'belle of the ball'.

Instinctively, he knows which hat will make every one look at a woman twice. "The face, the height and shape, in addition to the personality determine the kind of hat which suits you.

"The hat never goes out of fashion," he declares.

In addition to following fashion, Paul Norman loves to read, going out and interacting. He also loves singing and is a lead singer at church.

Paul Norman was the son of Ann Norman and Robert Norman, a pastor (deceased) of the Wesleyan Holiness church. His love of music, he said, is what lead him to the Pentecostal church. Schooled in St. Elizabeth, he recalls that he always loved to look at art and had many friends who were artists. "I would create things for decorating the house. In primary school, I collected pencil shaving and used them to make pictures of birds and other images."

In choosing a career, Norman has always trusted his instincts and they have never lead him astray. He started in the tourist industry as a tour-desk agent at Sandals and in a few months he was the leading sales agent in the entire chain. He left the resort as a marketing manager to work in his current post as assistant marketing manager at Chukka Caribbean Adventure where his quiet enthusiasm has been used to increase the profile of that organisation's adventure tours.

At home, he is still creative and his wife loves when he cooks. Sheila and Paul Norman are parents of Sheena, 18 and St. Paul 10.

Exotique Hats is now a family affair. Today, Norman travels abroad to buy hats several times a year and does design on request. His wife manages the business which was renamed Exotique by his daughter Sheena.

How far will he go with his hats? "Your attitude determines your altitude," he answers simply: "I am open for any opportunities that will come my way."

Hats remain an adventure. Who knows where it might lead?