A playful tiger-faced hat has turned a young designer from Central China's Hunan province into an unexpected ambassador for one of the country's oldest embroidery traditions.
The traditional hand-embroidered tiger motif found on children's clothing among the Miao people of the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture is usually fierce and imposing. Passed down through generations, the design is believed to ward off evil and protect the child who wears it.
But Li Wen, a 23-year-old designer from the region, decided to give the centuries-old motif a fresh look.
Last year, she created a hat featuring a much friendlier tiger face: the tiger playfully sticks out its tongue, revealing its six pearl-strung teeth, while floral patterns sit beneath its wide, expressive eyes.
On May 14, this hat was seen inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, worn by the 6-year-old son of Elon Musk. Within hours, videos of the boy in the traditional Chinese outfit spread rapidly across social media, drawing attention from around the world.
The hat had been purchased from the Remote Mountain Bazaar, a Beijing-based platform that helps traditional artisans in remote regions bring their handicrafts to market.
On a day after the video went viral, more than 1,000 orders poured in via the platform to Shibadong village in Xiangxi, where local embroiderers make the hats by hand.
Like many others, Li first learned about the attention through news reports. The experience reinforced her belief in the potential reach of Miao embroidery.
"I never imagined I would be connected in any way to the world's richest man," she says with a laugh.
Every detail on the tiger-faced hat carries meaning and blessings, Li explains.
The tiger's face is made of six half-circle pieces sewn together, creating a fuller, rounder appearance than the traditional flat design. Along the edge runs a row of "dog-tooth stitches" — a classic Miao embroidery technique believed to protect children from harm. The ears feature pomegranate patterns symbolizing blessings and family prosperity. Beneath the eyes, dahlia flowers represent good fortune and abundance, while a lotus on the tongue conveys purity and grace.
Li adapted the centuries-old pattern and infused it with her own aesthetic sensibility.
"The traditional tiger face in Miao embroidery is flat, dark and serious," Li says. "This one is cuter and friendlier."
She softened the lines, rounded the contours, and replaced the heavy colors with a lighter palette of blue and purple.
"That's always been my design style," she says.
"I like beautiful, cute things. My work reflects a bit of that — a bit of me."
Growing up in Luxi county, Xiangxi, Li spent much of her childhood watching her mother embroider shoe insoles and headscarves. Flowers, fish and birds gradually emerged beneath her mother's needle.
"I followed her and learned embroidery from a very young age," Li says.
