Butterfly couture

Summer’s long days and leisurely sensibility unleash the desire to break out of four walls and experience the freedom of the outdoors. To enhance that carefree spirit of going with the flow, there’s nothing more liberating than a dress that is cas­ual and pretty by day, then sensual and stylish when the mercury dips at sunset.

The looks here, pulled from Pearlridge Center shops, offer a range of sunshine orange and fruity hues to cool ocean and earthen tones with the flutter of a butterfly-motif scarf in keeping with the mall’s summer exhibition, "Flutter: A Green Experience."

We started our photo shoot in the tented Butterfly Pavilion at 7:30 in the morning, when the butterflies promised to be at their most docile, not yet hungry and not fully awakened by the sunlight filtering through the mall.

Approximately 125 monarch, rare white monarch and citrus swallowtail butterflies are housed in the pavilion, and families can observe their life cycle from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis, until their final transformation into a beautiful, fragile-looking winged creature.

The exhibition continues through July 14. The display includes free eco-friendly, hands-on educational workshops and a keiki Exploration Station.

Creative RT, based in Michigan, created the exhibition in collaboration with a handful of local butterfly enthusiasts like Dancetta Feary, for whom the insects have been a healing presence at her Kaneohe home.

Feary started raising monarchs in 2005 after suffering three losses, starting with the death of her brother, musician Mackey Feary.

"I wanted to bring light and bright into my life. I always wanted to have butterflies in my yard and found that it helped in my healing," she said.

Exhibition developer Tom Cleavinger said the event offers an enchanting educational experience for families.

"People love butterflies. They like learning about their life cycle and think it’s a great way to spend a day with their kids," he said. "Where else can you go, bring the family and spend less than $10?"

Researchers have found that Hawaii’s monarch butterfly population has plummeted since the 1960s due to urbanization, weather changes, widespread use of weedkillers and the introduction of predator bulbul birds. Other butterfly threats include wasps, ants, geckos, spiders and ladybugs, which consume their eggs.

"Only 1 out of every 100 eggs makes it to the butterfly stage," said Feary, who has been dubbed the "Butterfly Realtor" for helping nature along and encouraging others to plant crown flower in their yards as a source of sustenance for the caterpillars.

"People don’t plant crown flower anymore. Before, it was a popular lei flower, but now people just go to the store to buy leis."

She’s also helping to breed rare white monarchs that she has named Mackey’s Monarchs, after her late brother.

Right now Feary is keeping busy supplying butterflies for the exhibit because local monarchs generally live for only two weeks. Hawaii’s warm weather speeds up their life cycle, while on the mainland they might live up to six weeks. Butterflies born in September and October that migrate to warmer climates in California and Mexico live for six to eight months in order to complete their life cycle of mating and laying eggs.

Within the exhibition, families can watch the butterflies being fed three times a day. In the wild they would be drinking plant nectar, but in the exhibition their diet is supplemented with orange slices, Gatorade and a mix of mashed apples and bananas served in mesh bags hanging from the ceiling.

Patience is required when visiting with the butterflies, and Cleavinger suggested adopting a Zen mentality when walking into the pavilion. When the butterflies are stressed, they show it by landing and fluttering their wings.

"It’s like a nervous twitch," he said. "Their stress level goes up when there are too many people, so when we see that, we’ll give them a 30-minute break. It’s all about the energy people reflect, so we try to set a lower tone. The kids understand so they become quiet, and the parents tell us, ‘I wish they were like this the whole day.’"