By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
At the Chanel Waikiki boutique, a guest poses for a photograph in front of one of Robert Kobayashi’s paintings on metal. He also created the bust from strips of scrap metal secured with hundreds of nails.

Luxury Row’s high-end boutiques became home to art lovers Thursday night with the opening of the “Hawaii’s Modern Masters” exhibition, presented by Cedar Street Galleries, that continues through the end of November.

Nine artists were paired with seven boutiques, with Chanel hosting the largest exhibition marking a reunion of artists Satoru Abe, Harry Tsuchidana and Robert Kobayashi, friends who studied and worked in New York in the 1950s. Abe and Tsuchidana returned home to continue their careers, while Kobayashi remained in New York. So this show also marks the largest display of Kobayashi’s works in his hometown.

At Chanel, I ran into next-generation artist Kamea Hadar, who has his own show of oils on canvas, “Voluptuous Lines” up at Pacific Guardian Center on Bishop Street through January 2010. He put me on the spot by asking which of the works was my favorite, which he said he likes to do because the answers can be so revealing. He got that right. That would be getting inside someone’s head in a way much more revealing than words and clothing could ever be. Words and the way you dress, if you’re aware of their connotations, can be controlled. Gut reactions to art can’t, revealing levels of education, intellect, visual sophistication, temperament and other aspects of personality. While thinking all these thoughts, I promptly forgot to ask him what HIS favorite piece was, or maybe I did and he coyly evaded the question.

Meanwhile, Harry, Sandy Pohl and I talked about staging a drawing show together next year. I can’t draw that well so it’ll be interesting. My art philosophy anyway is to get back to the point of being as fearless as a child unfettered by rules of technically sound drawing. Given that mindset, I gravitated to Daven Hee’s cheerful, exuberant, and rather voluptuous yellow ceramic submarines over at Hugo Boss, below.

From Chanel, I worked my way back to Tiffany, where Rick Mills showed his glass and mixed media sculptures, and guests sipped blue martinis served with Tiffany blue paper parasols.

At Coach, Ron Smith’s wood and metal sculptures stood amidst a colorful collection of sequined and feathered handbag for the holidays. Scott Fitzel’s paintings looked at home in Gucci, while Tod’s showcased wood sculptures by Aaron Padilla, and at YSL, artist Jaisy Hanlon was looking so chic that people thought she was employed there. I thought she was a YSL manager as well, until I figured out she had a circle of admirers because she was the artist.

Her work is an intriguing blend of yin and yang, with soft pastels that serve as a backdrop to dark metal silhouettes, which has to make you wonder what’s going on in her head. She grew up in Idaho and moved to New York before getting tired of the cold and moving to Maui, where she also teaches at Hui Noeau. The New York connection might explain her fashion sense, because artists there are some of the best-dressed people. Check out Robert Kobayashi in the photo below, in classic black and white.

That’s one thing I don’t understand about Hawaii artists. Very few of them ever dress up. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it seems that people with an innate visual sense would want to put in as much effort in presenting themselves as they would a canvas. The Luxury Row art opening drew the fashion set, but the typical art reception would be so much more interesting if people dressed. Maybe the artists just don’t want to compete with their canvases.

The artists, from left, Harry Tsuchidana, Robert Kobayashi and Satoru Abe in front of one of Tsuchidana’s paintings.

Aaron Padilla showed his wood sculptures at Tod’s. He’s sitting behind a piece entitled “Little Sense.”

Artist Jaisy Hanlon, in black, with Masako Nashimoto, who was admiring her mixed media, “Animal Vegetable Mineral #2.”

I noticed Jaisy’s bold and unusual jewelry right away, and it turns out her metalsmithing isn’t restricted to walls. She made her ring with epoxy and minerals on metal.

At Gucci, I spotted denim designer Allison Izu with Julie Aragaki and Stacey Makiya, in front of one of Scott Fitzel’s paintings.
(more…)

By Nadine Kam

Just yesterday, in talking about the opening of the film, “Coco Before Chanel,” I mentioned how Chanel “had to be tough and smart to make it in a man’s world when, to this day, all the major French couture houses bear the names of their male creators.”

So just today, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about the resurrection of the house of Vionnet, founded by designer Madeleine Vionnet in 1939.

But, just as Karl Lagerfeld serves as designer for Chanel today, design duties at the revived Vionnet have been assigned to a man, Rodolfo Paglialunga.

You can read the story at http://www.hsblinks.com/18v

>>>><<<<

One of Andy Warhol’s depictions of Chanel No. 5.

Chanel fans will also have another peek into the designer’s life next year via a film adaptation of Chris Greenlagh’s novel, “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (Riverhead TPK Original). The book is due for release next month, with the film — that closed the Cannes Film Festival this year — scheduled for U.S. release in January 2010.

The two works present the brief, fiery and little-known affair between Chanel and the legendary composer, that is said to have inspired both, leading his music in a new direction, and to her creation of the legendary perfume, Chanel No. 5.

By Nadine Kam

Sample entries at www.jimmychoo72.com.

Hey shoe lovers, put your head to work and you may win seven pairs of shoes and two handbags from Jimmy Choo.

The shoe company has partnered its Project PEP with the Elton John AIDS Foundation to support funding of the Simelela Rape Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, which provides victims of abuse with the HIV preventative PEP
medication (Post Exposure Prophylaxis) as well as other medical, counseling and legal support.

Proceeds raised by sales of a Jimmy Choo Project PEP capsule collection with punk rock print will enable the clinic to stay open day and night providing 24/7 access to treatment.

Sample entry by Tigzy.

To build awareness for the project, the public is being invited to submit photographs reflecting the PEP campaign slogan, “You, Your Shoes and 72.” The number reflects the time frame for administering the life-saving treatment, which must take place withing 72 hours of exposure to HIV.

Visit www.jimmychoo72.com to see more entries and enter. The deadline is Dec. 7, 2009.

Here’s a look at one possible grand prize, for encouragement. The overall winner will be given the ultimate Jimmy Choo VIP experience that includes a visit to the VIP Room at Jimmy Choo Headquarters to select seven pairs of shoes and two handbags of your choice. (Note that choices may be restricted due to availability and this offer does not include exotic skins or jeweled items.)

There will be 11 other place winners, with the second place winner receiving the medium sized Project PEP capsule collection Stevie bag below, valued at $795. One hundred runners up will receive a Project PEP Eco bag.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photo
A model and photographer from the Open Air 8X10 Fashion Show bring pedestrians into the fashion picture.

I received an email from the Extremely Hungary organization that jogged another N.Y. memory. The pro-Hungarian group hosted a fashion/art project on 6th Avenue, between 42nd and 43rd streets, bringing the fashion shoot to the street by photographing passersby with models dressed in creations by Hungarian designers in an event called the “Open Air 8X10 Fashion Show.” You can see some of the resulting images by visiting their Flickr stream.

Open Air photos

I’m afraid I got caught up in the moment and was one of those who posed for them, but had the sense of mind not to sign the release form that would have allowed the photo to be unleashed who knows where around the world. I did give them my email address to receive the photo, but didn’t think they’d be organized enough to figure out which email went with which photo.

It was a fun idea that brought a lot of people not normally interested in fashion into the picture.

Nadine Kam photos
Polaroid images of some of those who stopped to pose on the street.

Here’s a DIY idea for updating your old shoes. One of the models was wearing a pair of black slingback wedges dressed up with various pieces of colored leather and fabric.

By Nadine Kam

Courtesy photo
Betsey Johnson signs her T-shirt at the Sharpie Bar inside the tents at Bryant Park on Sept. 14.

One of the perks at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week was the appearance of Betsey Johnson 2 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Sharpie Bar inside the tents, along with a giveaway of T-shirts she designed, to be colored in with various hues of Sharpie markers, also given away by the handfuls for the DIY projects.

I missed her appearance because all my IMG updates were going into my Star-Bulletin spam filter, and I didn’t check it until the day after her appearance. (The other giveaway I missed was for YSL tote bags.) The T-shirt giveaways were continuing through Wednesday though, so I was able to pick up a T-shirt and skinny white tie. Betsey and Sharpie were also giving away headbands and white sunglasses to personalize with the markers.

During her appearance, Betsey — a breast cancer survivor — customized one of her T-shirts to benefit City of Hope Breast Cancer Research Center.

The event gave me a feeling of déjà vu because when she was here after the opening of the Ala Moana store I had brought along a plain white tee for her to sign, which she happily filled with lips and kisses in the form of x’s and o’s. Plain white made sense to me because her designs are usually so full of splashy colors and patterns that a signature would get lost. Boutique manager Marilee Mattson always reminds me that set off an avalanche of signings that night.

Here’s a Sharpie video of Betsey at the Sharpie Bar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoE1ZEagR1s

By Nadine Kam

Donna Kato at home in her Colorado studio with some of her polymer clay creations.

If you want to tone up, just try working with polymer clay. I was in Donna Kato’s weekend workshop at the Linekona Art Center, presented by the Hawaii Stitchery and Fibre Arts Guild. Kato is a nationally known artist, author and teacher, who works in the polymer clay medium, i.e. Fimo, Sculpy and her own branded Kato Polyclay, a collaboration with Van Aken International.

What I was doing there I don’t know. I’m not particularly good with my hands, having been put on earth to appreciate artists of all stripes, from fashion and jewelry designers to visual artists. I always liked working with clay, though, both handbuilding and on a pottery wheel, so I thought it might be fun to explore a variation of the medium. I was also told that it helps to master polymer clay skills before tackling silver clay.

Sending white sheets of polymer clay through the pasta machine left me with a desire to make my own pasta.

During my interview with Donna, she kept referring to her pasta machine as key to working with her clay, and once I started working with it, I could see why. There’s no other way to pound it into submission. You have to flex, knead and roll it to get it into a thin enough sheet to fit through the pasta machine, and my abs and arms felt pretty toned after two days of working the clay. It was pretty slow going because we had to do a lot of conditioning of the clay, to get it into a factory-fresh pliable consistency, before even dreaming of shaping it into jewelry and other pieces.

At top are pieces made by Donna that would comprise the pin at top left. The pieces started with toner transfers from Xeroxed clip art. Above, once the pieces were cured once, the impressions left by the toner created images that could be inked over. Ele Clere applies ink to her pieces with her fingertips. Coincidentally, the colors and patterns she chose matched what she was wearing!

It’s an interesting medium because you can use several techniques to get it to mimic such raw materials as ceramic ware, bone, stone, ebony, ivory, glass and more.

Borrowing the glasswork idea of creating canes to replicate patterns, we created striped canes that would embellish bangle bracelets we were making. Once you start working with the polymer clay, you start seeing so many possibilities, but it probably does require a workspace that allows you to set up a pasta machine and dedicated toaster oven for curing small pieces.

My bracelet’s border cane. Layering the various colors of clay was like making maki sushi.

Here’s the way the cane looks when sliced thin and molded to black and giraffe-colored bangles, sitting on my Fighting Eel dress.

It’s pretty embarrassing to compare my bangles to hers, but hey, it’s years of experience vs. a two-day amateur. We only had time to make one bangle on the second day, but I noticed a woman wearing glasses that had a giraffe pattern on the arms, and I liked the color combinations, so hastily created that bracelet. Only, I didn’t have enough yellow clay after I finished making an orange-and-red cane, so my second batch of orange turned out more salmon color, which didn’t have enough contrast to make the brown giraffe spots stand out.

One of Donna Kato’s Art Nouveau pendants.

On my initial black bangle, I had a tribal pattern affixed in class but didn’t have time to let it bake. Once I got home, I decided I liked the plain, glossy black, which reminded me of the glosssy black-on-black work of the Martinez clan of New Mexico. So I removed the pattern and let it stand.

I love traveling in New Mexico and have quite a bit of the various pueblos’ pottery. I also love the red, shimmery mica clay there, and I guess those preferences and influences stay with a person, because the orange bracelet, with a touch of gold polymer clay, turned out to look a lot like the clay of Taos Pueblo.

Kato’s music pins, which we tried duplicating on Day One.

Only afterward, I noticed that the bangles were also perfect match for one of my Fighting Eel dresses, and the pattern on the black bangle would have matched the dress perfectly if I had left it in place. Oh well! I could add it back, but somehow, without the camaraderie of a class, it seems a much more daunting a task.

To find out more about the Hawaii Stitchery and Fibre Arts Guild, that doesn’t limit itself to fiber arts, write P.O. Box 235673 / Honolulu, HI 96822.

By Nadine Kam

Polyvore.com collage built around 3.1 Philip Lim’s draped neck T-shirt. Click on the box to be directed toward the items.

Let’s say you’ve had to slash your spending to pay off past bills. There is a way to shop around without spending, and get almost as much satisfaction.

I’ve been watching Polyvore.com for a while, but was too busy to try it out. Well, a run through Neiman Marcus last week gave me incentive to try it out.

During the Last Call presale I noticed a Marni flower necklace I had admired since spring was still available. I actually wanted the pink, but that was gone, so I had to settle for the blue — it’s more versatile after all — at a third off its original $695 price tag. Yay!

But it’s always one of those restrictive deals. That meant I would have to postpone any current season buys, so bye-bye 3.1 Phillip Lim black-and-gray striped T-shirt. I notice a lot of designers have been addressing the economy by offering more affordable creations, affordable for Philip being $195.

Polyvore.com allows you to put your artistry at work, creating collages of things you want but can’t afford. It’s also a fun way of putting your styling skills to work on paper, in building fantasy collections. It’s the contemporary equivalent of playing with collage or paper dolls and will help build your artistic skills as well.

My boyfriend took a look at my first collage, and when I told him, I can’t afford any of this, he said, “That’s good,” because it was a little to rock ‘n’ roll costumey for his taste. Not that I’d wear it public, but it’s fun to imagine. I think any collage I put together will always have high heels, for instance, but I avoid them in real life. Too painful. I long ago crossed over the threshold from where people believe you must suffer for fashion. I like being comfortable.

I built my second collection around the Philip Lim shirt. Polyvore allows you to pull images off shopping Web sites across the Internet. They also provide a few essentials in various categores: bags, shirts, dresses, jeans, accessories, etc., for those who don’t have time to go searching all over. The idea being, if you like something you see, clicking on the object will take you to the home site where you can make your purchase.

Unfortunately, the T-shirt was the least expensive item in my collection, so I can only gaze at the Lanvin purse and Fendi platform shoes. But at least I can see how they might go together.

By Nadine Kam

Kate Spade
Kate Spade inspirations scroll by at http://www.katespade.info/ Go to “Things We Love.”

While working on a story about the Kate Spade Ala Moana Center opening a few weeks ago, I was also milling around on the company’s Web site, double-checking prices.

One of the features of the site is an invitation to go “Behind the Curtain,” which leads to projects and a slew of “Things We Love.” If you have time to explore, clicking on any of the dozens of images will lead you to artists’ Web sites and some goofy stuff, like hundreds of line drawings of sheep. Moving your cursor over an image at their site will tell you what you’re looking at so you can decide whether or not to spend a few more seconds actually opening the page.

The image at top right in this box led me to http://www.moleskine.com, where myMoleskine Artwork allows artists around the globe to share the work contained in their Moleskines as displayed in thumbnails below:

This image led me to the work of Filip Pagowski, whose textile designs collaboration graced the Comme des Garçons runway:

I also liked theblog.weemade.com/ which allows parents to posts works created by their young Picassos. In my studies of art, the aim is to return to the freedom of expression of unschooled innocence. It’s so hard to do. A decade ago, we presented monthly children’s art contests in the paper, and we’d see this phenomenon over and over. The most expressive works came from children in grade 4 and younger. By the 6th grade their technical skills became stronger, but with that, the work became tighter, more constricted. It is so important to learn the “rules,” but it can take a lifetime to then learn to break them.

By Nadine Kam

Michelle Ramos photos
From left, Lindsey Kemp, Samantha Silverberg and Christine Pagano dressed for Hippie Holiday tonight.

Revisit the summer of love during the first Hippie Holiday event taking place in the Honolulu Arts District from 5 to 10 p.m. today.

I was trekking through Chinatown today after lunch and ran into Lindsey Kemp (@lindseak), who, with Samantha Silverberg and Christine Pagano, was getting a headstart on the gallery stroll featuring 1960’s-inspired art and music, highlighted by the screening of “Playing for Change” — Mark Johnson’s film that starts with street musician Roger Ridley playing for change in Santa Monica — at 8 pm. at NextDoor on Hotel Street. For all the info, check out John Berger’s story in today’s HiLife.

Also spotted this flower-powered Karmann Ghia parked on Pauahi Street:

Bring the love to the Honolulu arts district tonight.

>>>><<<<

Meanwhile, Bare Escentuals is sharing the love with 20 percent off today through June 25, online at BareEscentuals.com (use promo code “SHARE”) or print out the coupon at http://tinyurl.com/mdma7w and redeem at the Ala Moana Center boutique in the Nordstrom wing.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Angry Little Girl Kim graces the entry of the Split Obsession boutique.

Caught up with artist/actress Lela Lee Sunday at Split Obsession, where she was showing her canvases depicting her Angry Little Girls characters and signing autographs for fans.

Boutique owners Erica Apana and Bruce Chin were kept busy all afternoon, she at the register ringing up sales of Lela’s totebags, accessories and books, and he taking photos of visitors for the shop blog.

Wish they had some of her T-shirts there, but that’ll have to be next time. She says she wants to come back every year and is entertaining thoughts of moving here.

Steve Czerniak of Alliway was there, and we both agreed that if she does move here, she’ll have plenty of fodder for her work. A lot of people are angry here and it manifests in passive/aggressive behaviors, I told her, like pedestrians walking extra slowly to block cars’ progress, or drivers speeding up when you’re crossing the Longs’ parking lot.

My interview with Lela is here. Lela’s Web site is http://www.angrylittlegirls.com/

Split Obsession has been great at bringing in cool artists, from Buff Monster to SKAFFS’ Luke Feldman to Bigfoot, as well as hosting local talent. Keep ‘em coming!

I picked up this sassy tote bag (and some equally sassy Allison Izu shorts as well) that Lela’s signing in the photo. Maybe you can read it. It may not be nice for me to use the last word in the panel, and she has a censored version of the panel as well. I thought it suited my bag fetish, but in reality, when people say, “Wow, cute bag,” I’m so happy I say, “Thank you!”

Steve Czerniak took a break from duties at his and wife Allison’s Alliway boutique to say hello and show his support for Erica, Bruce and Lela. He picked up Lee’s book “Angry Little Girls in Love,” and her “Angry Little Asian Girl” DVD, the work that started her on her path to fame. He’s certain it’ll be a collector’s item.

Steve also offered Lela the pack of gum from Alliway, which fit the Angry Girl spirit. It reads “Don’t Waste My Daytime Minutes.”

Lela with her son Spencer. It would be great if the lesson learned from her book is to be a man who doesn’t make women angry.

Joleen Oshiro with Lela and her Angry Girl tote with heart-shaped pocket.