Isle style
LIana Green wears a design by Ida Teiti of Tiare Teiti.
Hawaii Fashion Week event sets out to prove aloha wear can be hip and sexy, as seen in the Missing Polynesia design.
For Ralph Malani and Cliff Duldulao, a one-evening "Hawaii Fashion Week — Polynesia Style," is just the start in promoting Hawaii-Polynesia beauty, talent and fashion.
"This is a preview of what we plan to do next year. We plan on a whole week of fashion and entertainment for Hawaii Fashion Week 2011," said Malani, who hit on a winning formula when he started the Hawaii-Polynesia Modeling & Talent Agency in 2008, with its focus on Pacific islander beauty. Since then, he said his models have appeared "on every movie and television series that has filmed in the islands in the past two years."
FASHION WEEK POLYNESIAN STYLE » Place: Level 4, Royal Hawaiian Center |
Now, he aims to push Hawaii-Polynesia designers into the mainstream as well. The Hawaii Fashion Week runway show at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Level 4 at the Royal Hawaiian Center will feature five designers: Le Apia, Estelle Green, Missing Polynesia, Kololo Samoa and featured designer Tiare Teiti.
The event will start with boutique sales from 4 p.m., and fashion show segments will be interspersed with Polynesian entertainment.
"The designers I’ve chosen have a modern, more hip view of island apparel. I call it ‘the new look of aloha wear,’" he said.
Malani said he’s grown concerned that "any time you go to a function, you see that young people don’t wear aloha wear. The traditional aloha wear is cut so boxy and square that it makes people look bigger than they are, and who wants that?"
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Designers such as Missing Polynesia and Tiare Teiti make use of bold prints and silhouettes that are contemporary and youthful and made of lightweight silks, cotton-rayon blends or jersey. Many of the silhouettes, though loose and billowy, manage to be simultaneously sexy and can be worn comfortably by just about any woman.
To prove this point, Malani will be using models "anywhere from size 2 to 24. The clothes are cut to flatter all body shapes."
Most of the designers currently sell via websites and word-of-mouth, he said. "I’m hoping boutique buyers will come out to see their lines. Our dream is to have people from all over the Pacific, including Japan, the Philippines and Australia, participate next year."
