By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
It rained confetti and streamers yesterday at a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of Ala Moana Center’s opening. The Brothers Cazimero did the honor of singing Happy Birthday and a cake was wheeled on stage, and the streamers fell after representatives from 11 original remaining stores in the center blew out candles on the cake.

Ala Moana Center marked its 50th anniversary yesterday with ceremonies at CenterStage and a private reception to mark the opening of the celebratory exhibition, “Fifty Years of Fashion in Hawai’i.”

Anyone who doesn’t believe fashion can exist in Hawaii need only walk through the doors to step into a colorful past when Hawaii was on top of the resortwear world. The Golden Era for Hawaii’s manufacturers was from the mid-1930s through 1970s, when the rest of the world caught up to what we were doing and took casual and resort style corporate and global, making competition tougher.

The exhibition is a good reminder of what came before and what to strive for. It features more than 50 garments from the historic Costume Collection at University of Hawaii-Manoa, presented by Hawaii Fashion Incubator (Hifi).

Some of the creations are so stunning, they begged to be touched. Signs tell visitors not to touch the fragile pieces, of course, but shopaholics are so accustomed to browsing racks that one fashionista confessed, “Oops, I touched one of them!”

The opening-night fashion crowd were wowed by this gown.

HiFi co-founder Melissa May White was there and asked which was my favorite piece, which was hard to determine. They were all so wonderful in their own way. But we all agreed that this gown was one of the most fabulous in the exhibition, looking totally 2009 red-carpet ready. I also liked a blue 1950s swimsuit with pockets, picture further down this post, as well as a casual 1980s dress by Geoffrey Beene, also pictured later. I almost missed the Beene dress because it looks so contemporary, but I liked that look of ease and comfort suggested in use of lightweight, body-skimming nylon knit.

Some of the center’s luxury retailers also got involved, contributing pieces for the exhibition, including classic Gucci purses, a Dior saddlebag design, and Louis Vuitton’s Hawaii Regional VP Dale Ruff was there for a peek at a window showcasing satin sandals with orchid detail, created by Marc Jacobs exclusively for the Hawaii market in 2007.

Pieces by Alfred Shaheen in front of a colorful newspaper advertisement from McInerny. The white room, formerly home to a Japan-based jewelry boutique, was perfect for the display and I thought if would be a great idea if the center could make room for a permanent museum for a rotating display of garments from the UH collection. Fifty is not nearly enough to include a true picture of who’s who in Hawaii fashion. I may be wrong, but I didn’t see anything from Crazy Shirts, for example, which probably had the biggest impact on the way we dress today—not just in Hawaii.

The school’s 20,000-plus piece collection is certainly the most extensive archive of Polynesian-Hawaiian style, and Melissa mentioned that having a permanent home would encourage more people to donate pieces if they know they will be cared for, displayed and enjoyed.

A museum might also be able to charge a small admission that could be divided by the center and the school, toward better maintenance and cataloging.

From the center’s stance, General Growth is not doing so hot these days, so they need the site to pay for itself and there is already a tenant coming into the space, but the idea has been noted, and a person with the center said it might be possible to stage an annual exhibition, should a space come available.

For now, it’s a very nice addition and you can see the exhibition through Aug. 31 on the third level of the Nordstrom Wing, in a storefront between Express and Nordstrom.

Love these vintage swimsuits, especially the one on the left, which has pockets!

HiFi co-founder Melissa May White, who helped make the exhibition possible, stands at one of the displays. To the right of her is a 1950s piece by Ethel Shiraki de Saussure, who I wrote about in the Star-Bulletin here. You’ll see a photo of the designer wearing one of the tiny brocade dresses in the exhibition.

One of the things you’ll notice as you go through the exhibition is how tiny some of the pieces are. I get so tired of people complaining how models are too thin, but that is what normal young bodies looked like before the pumped-up ’80s. Designers have simply been decreasing sizing numbers to make people think they’re smaller than they are, but anyone who wears vintage is well aware that a 1970s size 8 is the equivalent of a contemporary size 2. The truth is, models are not too thin; the rest of us are just adjusted to seeing fat.

UH sports fans once cheered the Rainbows on in shirts like this one at center.

1960s evening dress and coat by Pauline Trigere, who won the Coty Award in 1952 and designed for the Duchess of Wales.

Part disco, part swim. You might have worn this to a pool party in the 1970s.

A 2008 evening dress from Louis Vuitton.

The 1980s nylon knit Geoffrey Beene dress is something that would easily fit wardrobes today.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Vintage, the way we wear, International fashion, inspiration, Beautiful objects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.