By Nadine Kam

Interesting story in the New York Times last Sunday on fashion companies now employing meteorologists to help them track the weather.

They’re trying to stave off losses and get a better idea of how hot or cold winter is going to be each year, and doing things like buying weather insurance to deal with losses from uncooperative seasons.

Hawaii is just a tiny microcosm of the big fashion picture, but this was the first year I felt zero incentive to get out of summer threads because, until the recent spate of rain, it was just as hot in October and November as June.

When it did start raining last week, some people at work were amazed by the change in the casual office uniform, saying, “What’s going on? Everyone looks so nice.”

Nadine Kam photo
Ready for rain.

The rain makes the simplest tasks miserable here, but a lot of people did find an excuse to layer and put on a nice jacket. I could finally wear red plaid I picked up at one of my favorite boutiques — Seaplane — in Portland, Ore., on 23rd St. The sweater is also from a green boutique in the heart of downtown Portland, though its name escapes me.

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Here are a couple more weekend sales events that came in too late to get into yesterday’s paper:
>> Alliway holiday party: Takes place 4 to 9 p.m. tomorrow, Dec. 8, with 25 to 50 percent off Alliway jewelry and 10 to 30 percent off everything else in the store. A purchase of $40 or more will get you a coupon for $20 off Alliway jewelry in January. There will also be a raffle for items worth $100. Alliway is at Ward Warehouse. Call 589-1141.

Pacific fusion at Soleil.

>> Soleil holiday fashion bazaar: Takes place 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at 909 Kapahulu Ave. The event will feature a few local designers such as Roberta Oaks, Keaolpiko, STK Bikini, Cirque, and Lily Lotus, with 20 percent off the entire inventory. There will also be Christmas cookie decorating and a gift-wrap station.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photo

If you have time and the inclination, check out Pantone’s community Web site www.mycolormyidea.com, where you can see designers’ color inspirations, as well as post your own.

The color I chose was Pantone’s 13-1-7 C, a flattering red-orange. The Web site will ask for a photo of you, a photo of your inspiration and a mini bio.

I sent in a photo of a floral arrangement with flowers that look like Chinese paper lanterns.

Many of the featured designers chose a flat yellow, or icy gray. Maybe being in New York has something to do with that, where everywhere you look is concrete, though Ports 1961’s Tia Cibani was inspired by a trip to Iceland. Her collection at September’s Fashion Week was my favorite. It was very cohesive, romantic and beautiful, yet at the same time wearable and practical for real women, not just runway models.

Anyway, it’s a more toned-down version of the silver metallics we’ve been seeing, so makes sense for spring.

Ports 1961 creative director Tia Cibani’s inspiration.

Cynthia Steffe creative director Waleed Khairzada’s inspiration.

Y & Kei’s inspiration.

By Nadine Kam

Perky Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr.

Didn’t intend to watch the Victoria’s Secret fashion show on TV last night, but caught part of it, including the deadly Spice Girls performance. The whole extravaganza was rather ho-hum, looking at fantasy lingerie only a showgirl could wear. There’s only so many ways you can style bra and panties, I’m not interested in looking at models’ bodies, and they’ve already done the wing thing to death, so what’s left?

I do give the company credit, though, for thinking big in terms of turning what is essentially a $10 million advertising opportunity into what some people will mistake for a primetime fashion event.

Too bad some of the best of the New York and Paris runways are not broadcast this way. Even if not mainstream enough for the major networks, you would think something that calls itself the Style network would run some of these shows, but no, there’s very little fashion on that network. Instead there’s stuff like “Dr. 90210,” “Extreme Makeover” and “Clean Sweep.” And how many episodes of “What Not to Wear” and “How Do I Look?” can a person watch before they O.D. on the average Joe makeover?

I don’t know what it would take to get some better fashion-oriented cable programming. How about it Oceanic?

In New York there are something like 800 cable stations and I watched at least two that were broadcasting the spring shows when I was there. It was possible to go to the Miss Sixty and Temperley London shows, go home and watch them the same day, which is the next best thing to being there. Maybe better, because you don’t have to stand in line.

By Nadine Kam

Sad to see that Anné Au has closed her Anné boutique in Kaimuki. She had a sale at thirtyninehotel over the weekend with designs by 3.1 Phillip Lim and Jovovich-Hawk. The sale was to have repeated over the next two weekends but unfortunately, there was too much demand for use of the space for private parties, so the “Naughty or Nice” trunk shows will no longer take place on the 8th and 15th as originally planned.

I was debating whether or not to go. I still felt sick but the lure of first dibs on those designers was enough for me to drag my sorry ass out of the house and even brave the Chinatown road closures for the Honolulu City Lights parade. It was kind of a nightmare getting out of Chinatown, so I was late for my already belated B-day dinner.

Ossie Clark blouse offered on eBay about six months ago. If I don’t win something, I still try to grab a photo so I can keep my own archive for later reference.

In the end, I didn’t need another black top, but I don’t think anyone else carries Jovovich-Hawk here, so I thought it was a good opportunity to pick up a piece. It reminded me of a top that got away from me on eBay, where I somehow developed a fascination with British designers of the ’60s and ’70s. There was this one really cute top by Ossie Clark offered on eBay and I set a limit of $300 to get it. It ended up selling to someone else for $800.

I love vintage and antique clothing, and admit that sometimes I don’t know where to draw the line on owning a piece of clothing history, but then I think am I really going to wear it or just hang it in my closet? Bottom line is I don’t want to be a collector; I only want to own things I use.

By Nadine Kam

Organik Clothing owl design.

The eco-minded are welcome to preview Organik Clothing’s 2008 Collection of eco-friendly, hand-printed shirts tomorrow night, Dec. 4, at the Greendrinks event at E&O Trading, Ward Centre.

The shirts are made of 100 percent organic cotton, bamboo & recycled fabrics by a Kailua-Kona-based company. There’ll be pupu, drink specials and an op to meet and mingle with other people who care about the environment.

Let’s hope they have some healthy smoothies and teas in the mix. I’m recommending that anyone hosting events in coming weeks have healthful fruit juices to help shoppers stave off the sniffles and worse. I mean, just this little bug I caught put me out of commission for 2 weeks when I couldn’t shop, couldn’t go out, couldn’t eat, couldn’t look at stuff. Multiply that by couple thousand people on a weekly basis, and that’s not good for anyone’s business.

On top of that I’ve been having those work dreams again. I was so happy to have “found” a couple of stories in my dreams last night. In one dream I interviewed a Japanese artist who was printing his designs on T-shirts. Very cool. In the second dream I was having lunch with a friend at Pearlridge and happened onto a fashion show there. It seemed that French Connection (maybe because I unearthed a black dress I bought from their Vegas store a couple months ago) had opened and was staging an in-store show for men and women and it was really fun and I took pictures and all and found a lot of Xmas ideas there.

Then there were all these ambulance noises outside and the reality is they had come for one of our neighbors, so that woke me up and I realized the fashion show was just a dream. So no pictures to run in the paper Thursday, but I do remember mod styles with the subtle shimmer of square pailletes around the necklines, and very sunny colors of bright orange and yellow. I was still relieved that I at least had the other story about the Japanese artist, then realized that had been a dream too. Sad.

So, I decided to take a look at the FCUK Web site, and here are some styles that were in the spirit of the show in my dreams:

French Connection Dexy Dress, $198.

French Connection Rita top, $98, and night skirt, $138.

French Connection Janus shirt, $78; Silicon jumper, $88; Kingdom jacket, $168; Sonic trouser, $98; check tie, $48; Prince hat, $44; Arbuckle shoe, 178.