Photos by Nadine Kam Makana Esthetics Director of Education Malia Sanchez, left, with former classmate, the Star-Bulletin’s Rose Bernardo.
With the growing interest in the spa industry and physical well-being, Malia Sanchez and Christine Hall saw a need for advanced esthetician training for those aspiring to work in high-end resort spas or medi spas, and created the Makana Esthetics Wellness Academy, an accredited Esthetics Certified training program that celebrated its grand opening May 29.
Melissa Samiano was one of the beneficiaries of her sister Melanie’s hand and arm massages.
Those who attended were able to walk through the treatment rooms, enjoy hand massages, sample the lines of Peter Thomas Roth Clinical Skin Care and June Jacobs Spa Collection carried by the school, as well as enjoy food, including shrimp scampi and spicy ahi on tortilla chips, catered by Pearl Kai’s newest restaurant Off the Wall.
The school’s Core Esthetics Course consists of an intensive 15-week curriculum designed to help students pass the Hawaii State Licensing examination. Summer courses open for registration start up July 14 and Aug. 25. Call 591-6090 or visit www.MakanaAcademy.com for more information.
Model Karen Vance showed up with her fringy dog-shaped purse from Anteprima Plastiq.
Where there are students, there’s a need for guinea pigs, and what that means for you is the availability of facials running $35 to $45, with add-ons such as a single microdermabrasion treatment for $25, or single glycolic treatment for $25.
They’re at 1168 Waimanu St., across from the Ko’olani condominium. Park on the street.
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Among restaurateurs in attendance were Ed Kenney (Town, Downtown), Donato Loperfido (Pasta & Basta, Elua), Philippe Padovani (Elua) and Henry Adaniya (Hank’s Haute Dogs). The room was so packed it was hard to back up far enough to get a photo, and the only reason this one was possible is because these party guys were among the last to leave.
After dropping in on the Makana Esthetics Wellness Academy, it was off to Waikiki for Nobu Waikiki’s one-year anniversary. I couldn’t believe a year has flown by, but so it has.
In a small room in the back of the restaurant, the fashionable — including a bunch of magazine eds., party girls and a contingent from Louis Vuitton — mixed with the foodies. It was near impossible to back up for a photograph, and among the restaurateurs able to take a break from their own kitchens to congratulate Nobu were Henry Adaniya, Kevin Aoki (Doraku Sushi), Ed Kenney, Donato Loperfido, George Mavrothalassitis (Chef Mavro), Philippe Padovani, and Ana and Tushar Dubey of Hokulani Bake Shop.
Wine and lychee martinis flowed, and waiters made the rounds with trays of lamb chops, Nobu’s famous black cod, temaki rolls, seabass and jalapeno-topped hamachi, one of my favorite dishes.
The party didn’t end after it was over, as many just took their celebration to the sushi counter or to the bar.
Hope you have a chance to read my story in today’s paper about the Bon Ton, one of the first department stores in Honolulu, which opened in the early 1930s and closed during World War II.
The story grew out of one of my blog entries, when Gayle Ozawa, reading about Jane Lyman’s birthday, contacted me regarding a gathering of the Bon Ton Girls, including Jane.
Their story showed how, even at the worst of times — the Great Depression — people made the most of what they had and still had an appreciation for fashion.
Considering that in the early ’30s, a Bon Ton salesgirl made $1 an hour, and a dress at Bon Ton sold for $1.99, she’d have to work two days for that dress. Today, a person making $10 an hour working two days would have $160 less taxes for a dress.
It’s heartening for me, because when you consider all the things people have to worry about these days, writing about fashion would appear to a lot of people to be one of the more frivolous subjects.
Le Palais-Royal, one of the stage sets that form the exhibition “Théâtre de la Mode,” which was shown at the University of Hawaii Art Gallery in Fall 2001. The collection comprised 27-inch mannequins dressed in the 1946 spring/summer collections from 54 of Paris’s haute couture houses.
To that I would say, here’s a link to a story http://starbulletin.com/2001/10/02/features/story1.html I wrote in 2001, that shows the lengths post-World War II Paris designers went through to demonstrate that the war’s devastation of Europe could not dampen their creative spirit or the will of a society to survive. It says everything I want to say at this point in time. The intent of the exhibition means more to me today than I realized at the time, now that we are feeling some of that era’s fear and uncertainty, many of us for the first time.
Timed to the “Lost” season finale, Benny and Rafi Fine have posted the finale for their parody of the series as well, this time with a guest appearance by Indiana Jones. You can see it on YouTube, where the series has drawn 3.5 million views over the season.
YouTube has made it OK for any boy to play with dolls! … even if they still insist on calling them “action figures.”
Diorshow Artist Thuy Pham, who visited Hawaii twice during spring to show Dior’s latest makeup tips, tricks and trends, is featured in the June issue of Elle magazine, demonstrating how to “indulge your inner diva” with Diorshow products.
Of interest to beauty junkies is Dior’s, Elle’s and Macy’s invitation to be an Artist in Action, featured in the January 2009 issue of the magazine.
Give it a try by grabbing a friend and digital camera and heading to a Macy’s Dior counter. Make over your friend using Dior products and snap a photo of your work. Email the photo to ArtistinAction@Elle.com. The deadline to enter is Sept. 15, 2008. You’re limited to one entry per person or email address. Full details are available at Elle.com/Promotions/ArtistinAction
Set your fashion, friend, skate, surf photos — anything you can think of — to music on video. I tried Animoto with some travel photos.
If you have a handful of photos, no video editing skills whatsoever and about an hour, Animoto.com can create an instant video clip for you. Tried the service yesterday as soon as I read about it in the Sunday NY Times. Sounded like something fun and easy.
I uploaded 30 photos of a trip I took to Vancouver, B.C., Canada in 2006, which took some time because I had to downsize them to upload quickly. As it happens, instead of shuffling them around, Animoto simply uses them in the order that you enter the photos. After you upload them, you can shuffle them around yourself.
Being something of a control freak, it was difficult for me to accept what they do, and I wanted it to end on a particular photo. You never know exactly how many photos are going to be used, but for a 30-second free video clip, it’s about 6 or 8. (Thirty seconds is really short, but afterward, you have to start paying somehow.) I ended up mashing it up about 10 times, and I don’t 100 percent love the final result, but it’s certainly easier than doing all that work of setting your photos to music (you choose from a handful of their clips), provided you even have all the video-editing tools available to these guys.
Afterward, it’s easy to post to YouTube or FaceBook, which are linked to Animoto.
Try it now that you have a day off to play. Use my referral code — ejqnplmd — to get $5 off an all-access pass and help me get free access :)!
Jay McCarroll with his illustrations for “Transport,” his Spring 2007 collection, based on the work of Archigram, a group of 1960s architects who envisioned living spaces full of hot-air balloons, flying cars and moving streets and other contemporary cityscapes.
“Eleven Minutes”
Part of the HGLCF Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival
Screening 2 p.m. Saturday, May 24 at the Doris Duke Theatre at Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Admission is $12
If you get a chance to see “Eleven Minutes,” part of the Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Cultural Foundation’s Rainbow Film Festival Saturday, go.
The documentary film by Michael Selditch and Rob Tate tracks Jay McCarroll’s journey from “reality to real-life designer” as he tries to live up to the “Project Runway” premise of becoming the “next great American designer.” The tone of the piece is bittersweet as he scoffs at the title, yet it’s made so clear he has bought into the idea. Considering the amount of wit, confidence and bravado he presented on the show, he’s only human and the criticism he received after the show in failing to become an overnight sensation, takes its toll on his psyche.
Considering his desire to parlay his 15 minutes of fame into a career, they could have called it “15 Minutes,” but I believe the title, reflecting the length of a fashion show that takes six months to a year to plan, might have been inspired by “Onze Minutos, “a 2003 novel by Paulo Coelho based on a young Brazilian prostitute who seeks a better life in Switzerland, only to find that reality is harsher than expected.
For anyone in the creative arts, it is mesmerizing to watch, but in the end rather depressing to see so little payoff, in spite of McCarroll’s very real talent. It’s tragic, to me, when celebs lacking any fashion cred can suddenly call themselves “designers” by capitalizing on the work of hundreds of people like McCarroll, who don’t have the finances to break out of their sweat-shop roles.
Images of hot-air balloons cover this outfit.
My feeling is that McCarroll has been the most talented and original of the parade of designers in all four seasons of the Bravo series. But, as the first season winner, he was the one most closely scrutinized and reviled after failing to produce. He famously rejected the program’s prize of $100,000, reporting that acceptance would have meant 10 percent of his brand would be forever owned by the Weinstein Co.
He’s grateful for the opportunity that “Project Runway” presented, saying, “I can’t imagine having no notoriety and trying to do what I’m doing,” but faces the realization that talent is 10 percent of the success equation. What’s also needed is business acumen, good advice, sweat equity, luck and money. It’s the reason stars with no design skills, taste or originality whatsovever are able to produce and market their own lines, while many individuals like McCarroll, who can design, make a pattern and sew, are forced to toil behind the scenes, with no recognition of their own.
Although people assumed he had help from the show’s producers, that is not their focus. Their job is to entertain. Period. If anything, they tend to exploit talent to increase their own market share. After the show stopped airing, like McCarroll says, “The cord was cut and it was done. Ten percent of it is opportunity, 90 percent was mt hard work and that was unnoticed, until now.”
The feeling conveyed is that this runway show and documentary are his last hope of making it on his own.
He won “Project Runway” in Feb. 2004 and filming started in February 2006 in advance of preparation for a Sept. 2006 New York Fashion Week presentation for the Spring 2007 season. In his view, it was his last shot at being recognized for his talent. “I’ve been trying for … two seasons now to get this show on the road. I have a shelf life so if I don’t show this coming season, people aren’t going to care anymore … If I f*** this one up, I may have to reconsider some things.”
Mentioned the Memorial Day weekend as also being the start of end of spring sales. Add these to your shopping list:
>> The Butik: Take 15 percent off your entire purchase, including sale items. For special shoppers in possession of The Butik tote bag, bring it in to get 20 percent off your purchase. The Butik is at 1067 Kapiolani Blvd. Ste. A-3. Call 593-4484. Hours will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 23 and 24, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday.
>> Cinnamon Girl: Take 20 to 75 percent off newly reduced merch, plus buy two camisoles and get one free at all its locations: Ward Warehouse, Ala Moana Center, Pearlridge Center, Moana Surfrider, Windward Mall, Kahala Mall, King Shops Waikoloa and Whaler’s Village Maui.
>> Fighting Eel: For your summer shopping convenience, Fighting Eel Headquarters will now be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays starting this weekend. It’s upstairs at 47 N. Hotel St. Call
524-1472.
>> Max & Co: The Spring/Summer 2008 collection (select styles excluded) is on sale at 30 to 50 percent off.
>> Alliway: “Gotta Have It Thursday” runs 4 to 8 p.m. May 29, with pupu, drinks and shopping deals like 30 percent off Alliway jewelry, 25 percent off the wall of handbags, 20 percent off Blue Wild Indigo jewelry and Stephanie B apparel, and an additional 15 percent off the Cheap Thrills section that includes items already marked down 40 to 80 percent. Alliway is at Ward Warehouse, 1050 Ward Warehouse, 1050 Ala Moana Blvd. Call 589-1141.
>> Shasa Emporium: Get 20 percent off regular price tops, dresses, watches, sunglasses and exclusive Majenty perfume oils. Take another 25 percent off all markdown merchandise, and receive a free Shasa Eco bag with purchases over $150. What’s new at the boutique is a shipment of Yummie Tummie tanks that allow you to say goodbye muffin top and hello slim you (as long as you keep your top on). The Yummie Tummie tank is a body-contouring shaper that slims your midsection, just in time for summer weather. Unlike other slimmers, these are intended to be seen, come in 10 bright colors, and are among Oprah Winfrey’s picks for summer. They retail for $62 to $72. Call 523-3578.
>> Theory, Ala Moana: Shop from 6 to 9 p.m. for 10 percent off on your purchases, while enjoying wine and hors d’oeuvres. Ten percent of sales will also benefit Hawaii Fashion Incubator. Call 942-4870 to RSVP or email alamoana@theory.com.
I’ll list more when I have some time. For now have to work on another post. Ciao!
High school marked the end of my tanning ways. I had a sense adults were right and it would only lead to dark spots, wrinkles and skin cancer, but the challenge of being as dark as a surfer — had to try! Naturally, I was always out there during summer, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the worst times of the day people said. These days, any time in the sun is a bad time. Bleached hillsides attest to that.
After that I started covering up so that beach picnics meant combat fatigues, including the hat and Jackie O size sunglasses. I’m finding now that my skin is paying the price for essentially, only two years of aggressive burning.
A few years ago I was carrying an umbrella and wearing a hat when walking from my car to the office, but gave up after deciding the rays were probably bouncing off the pavement anyway. Better to walk very fast. For a long time, I lived three blocks from the beach in Kailua, and wouldn’t go there until 5 or 6 p.m., just before the sun went down. I wasn’t as bad as the mom of one of our summer interns, who made special sleeves that she wore to cover her arms when she was driving, and also placed a towel across her lap.
Now that it’s becoming hotter, I think people are wising up to UVA/UVB hazards. Even so, I don’t think Americans are quite ready for the burqini, as available at www.ahiida.com. The company sells “dynamic swimwear and sportswear for today’s Muslim female.”
The suits make it look as if the women are wearing full-body condoms. That’s some powerful sun protection. They come in slim, modest and active fits, and sell Down Under for AUD$230. This is not something you’d see as a photo spread in the daily, unless it somehow becomes a trend. Beach fatigues might at least look edgier.
Dolce & Gabbana dress at Sak’s Off Fifth. I’m not certain, but it may have been reduced to something like $1,280 or $1,680. I didn’t study it too closely because it’s a size 10, not even a possibility.
The change of seasons means one thing to fashion lovers, and that is, SALE time! On Sunday I headed to Waikele Premium Outlets because I’m always curious as to what they might have. The Sak’s Off Fifth hasn’t had great things in a while but I thought I’d check it out and they do have a lot of stuff fresh off the spring racks like one of the Diane Von Furstenberg shirtdresses I kinda, sorta wanted but never had time to try on during the regular season.
Well, I tried it on and determined the reason it didn’t sell is because it gaps too much at the chest. Whew. It’s kind of a relief when things don’t fit.
Retro mini from Milly looks perfect for Hawaii.
They also had a lot of Elie Tahari, plus lots of sunny, summer-ready dresses from Milly and high-end pieces from Marni and Dolce & Gabbana.
Sadly, between a late lunch at The Contemporary Museum ending at 2, and the mom wanting to eat early as mom’s often do, at 5 p.m., and running into a couple of friends at the store, I only had 1 hour to look around. So I never left Sak’s and never found anything.
There may be a better sale coming up over Memorial Day weekend though, which starts Friday the 23rd. As always, don’t get in my way.
Typically, we get a flow of stores moving East to West, but for once, Honolulu has exported a successful boutique.
Aloha Rag has opened an outpost in NYC at 505 Greenwich St., and it’s already gotten a rave review by Fashionindie.com founder Daniel Saynt, who posted today, “I’m as giddy as a school girl on prom night. The new Aloha Rag store rocks out with it’s Hawaiian cock out at its new Greenwich Street outpost. This is one retailer I do adamantly hope sticks around cause the pretentiously ill spots like 7 are getting so tiring to shop at lately.”
Wish I was there to check it out firsthand, but I always try to stop into Aloha Rag while I’m waiting to get into Gyu-kaku.
