After three years and eight months, Ronnie Chameau has decided to hang up her hat.

Her banana leaf one, that is.

She and fellow artist Donna Pink collaborated in 2014 on an exhibit of 28 hats made from natural materials including Ms Chameau’s signature banana leaves. Their second show, Foliage to Fashion opens on Friday. The pair have immortalised the exhibitions in a coffee-table book: Our History In Hats: Foliage To Fashion.

“We had such a good response from our first show saying it shouldn’t be taken down, but we couldn’t find anywhere to put it,” said Ms Chameau. “Donna had the idea to do the coffee book.”

The “labour of love” took eight months. They collected photos and artists’ renditions of Bermuda’s hat-wearing women from the 1700s to the 1960s and made them into posters to represent each era.

The friends then created their interpretations of each hat.

“The 28 hats gave a unique look at Bermuda’s history from the perspective of fashion,” the women said.

“It was designed to demonstrate how simple, organic materials, not normally considered beautiful, could be used creatively to achieve fashionable looks worn by women throughout the ages.”

Ms Pink received basic millinery training while studying fashion design at Sheridan College of Applied Arts in Canada.

One of her hats won Best in Show at the 2013 Ag Show. The accolade inspired her to create an array of hat styles worn by local women through the ages.

“To make the exhibit more local and artistically challenging, all of the hats would be made from natural materials such as palmetto and coconut palms and banana leaves,” Ms Chameau said.

“The embellishments are all sorts of skeleton leaves, seed pods and bending paper — an organic paper we bought from Gorham’s.”

Ms Chameau had been making hats for her famous banana leaf dolls since 1986 but was uncertain how to create them for adults.

“[When Donna approached me] I said, ‘I’ve never made a hat before’ and she said, ‘Well, you make them for your dolls, just make them bigger’.

“That was the beginning. Donna made 14 hats and I made 14 hats.

“We collected pictures from private collectives of all Bermuda women and the archives. [Historian] John Cox helped us a lot. We had these beautiful posters made from 1700 to the 1960s.

“We really enjoy creating and we really surprised ourselves. And this beautiful book to preserve history — it’s a wonderful book.”

Thirty-three of their hats will be available for sale when the exhibition opens on Friday along with shoes and handbags.

The women will also sign copies of Our History In Hats: Foliage To Fashion at the launch.

The 62-page book is available for $33. It features 39 hats, a list of the materials used and detailed explanations of how they were made.

The pair have held hat-making workshops to pass on the craft.

Ms Chameau said she was surprised to find “a call for that”.

“We don’t have many collectors but I saw someone wearing one the other day. People are wearing them.”

Foliage to Fashion will be on exhibit at the Bermuda Society of Arts until November 14.

For more information, contact Ronnie Chameau at mchameau@ibl.bm and Donna Pink at dpink@northrock.bm.