By Nadine Kam

Valerie Joseph is offering the opportunity to win a $50 gift certificate from the Ala Moana Center boutique, just by submitting your confession as a shopaholic, to coincide with the Friday opening of the movie.

How easy is that. Hit the red block above and confess away!

By Nadine Kam

To add to yesterday’s post, Ideeli.com’s giveaway of this Prada pouchette has started and there’s about 4 hours left to enter, though you have to join the community to do so (it’s free for “second row” status). Log on and use my invitation code: “fashiontribe” to join.

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Meanwhile, Flash and Smart magazine are calling for designers willing to show off their skills and brave a “Project Runway”-style fashion design competition.

You will be asked to design and sew one look that reflects your vision as a fashion designer. This look will be modeled on the model of your choice, who will be runway ready (hair and makeup will be your choice and your responsibility for your model) for the Dec. 5 competition at Pearl Ultralounge.

Blayne Walsh from “Project Runway” will be in Hawaii for the exclusive fashion event, and will be among the judges

Prize details will be announced soon. The winner will receive press coverage and will have his or her winning look displayed on Dec. 6 at Skyline at the Sheraton Waikiki.

To enter, contact Sarah Honda at 277-4484 or sarah@smartmagonline.com. You must be 21 or older. The number of entrants will be limited, so contact Sarah ASAP to find out whether you’re in or you’re out.

By Nadine Kam

Closet Swap courtesy photo
Inside the Luana Hills Golf & Country Club dining room with Closet Swap hosts Alyssa Fung, right, of Fashionista’s Market, and Tanna Dang, of The Wedding Cafe.

Fashionista’s Market’s Closet Swap was the first event I covered with this blog, and it returned splashier than before on Sunday at the Luana Hills Golf & Country Club, an inspired choice to reinforce the idea of going green. It is in such a beautiful setting in Maunawili Valley and the lush drive there is spectacular and serene.

A lot has changed in the economy over the last year, and the idea of swapping unwanteds for goods you actually want and can use seems more timely than ever. The event was a benefit for Sustainable Saunders, a non-funded pilot project at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, to increase sustainability at Saunders Hall, starting with cutting the building’s huge water and electric bills ($760,000 annually for electricity alone) that we pay for as taxpayers. Successful solutions will then be rolled out campus wide, then, who knows? All of us could use new ideas to save.

The morning started with a great buffet of pastries, fruit and cheese tray, fried rice, eggs, hash browns and Eggs Benedict plus mimosas. Then it was on to games and a contest for the privilege of entering the sacred swap rooms first. The winning table would have a 3-minute jump on picking out merchandise that participants had brought in to swap. Everyone was allowed to take one item per item brought in.

Nadine Kam photos
Haruko Katsuie’s table was one of two to win rights to shop first, by coming up with this dress of recycled newspapers, magazines and the country club’s silverware.

The contest involved dressing one “diva” from each table in an outfit fashioned from newspapers and magazines placed at the center of each table. When it was over, judges — designer Allison Izu Song, Allison Kim-Czerniak of Alliway, Molly Watanabe of Smart magazine, and yours truly — chose Haruko Katsuie’s table as our winner because we liked the spoon detail on her belt. Hers was the only table to make use of the flatware, and when recycling, creativity counts. Of course Molly also loved the sweetheart bodice, comprising Smart magazine covers.

Shopping the racks filled with others’ discarded treasures.

Then the swap began and the site had ample space for the women to move around without fighting for items. I heard there were some Gucci and Kate Spade purses up for grabs, though I was videotaping the action didn’t check out the tables and racks immediately. You just know that the best stuff was quickly claimed. What was new this time was organizations like host Fashionista’s Market, The Wedding Cafe, Alliway, Jessica’s Traveling Boutique and Split Obsession contributed new items to the stacks to make the hunt a little more interesting.

By day’s end my finds included a Morgan black leather mini skirt with black lace overlay (lace is big this fall!), a sheer black Ann Taylor evening blouse, and for whatever reason a two-seasons-ago silver sequin shrug (so hard to resist shine). I have no idea when I would ever be able to wear it; I only know that when the occasion presents itself, I will be ready.

Alyssa with Jackie Trinh, left, who exited with a bag of clothing and a handful of purse finds, some with the original sales tags attached.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
The top 5 in Saturday’s competition were, from left, winner Hudson Taylor, Anthony Ing, Wayne Coito, Bradley Krzykowski and Ricky Stinar. Taylor is $1,000 richer after picking up the prize check.

The weekend’s Hawai’i Women’s Expo offered the expected clothing, accessories, beauty and health care purveyors, as well as a little eye candy in the “Hawaii’s Most Beautiful Man” contest sponsored by 2Couture.

I was one of 14 judges, including MidWeek’s Yu Shing Ting and the prolific Christa Wittmier, in a contest with 18 hopefuls strutting their stuff in aloha shirts, swim trunks and evening attire.

There were some excitable women in the crowd, but no one moreso than program hosts Iwalani Tseu and 2Couture designer Eric Chandler, who at one point during the swim competition seemed to overheat, blurting, “I need some water!” He wasn’t joking. (more…)

By Nadine Kam

LesPros Entertainment

Few have the genes to make it as an international supermodel, but with accessibility and likeability a factor in Japan modeling careers, it seems there are many more opportunities there for Hawaii models.

Find out if you have what it takes during the LesPros Girls search for Japan’s next top model, taking place 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, the 6th and 7th, at the Ala Moana Hotel.
You have nothing to lose, and if you happen to be among the first 100 to apply, you’ll receive gifts including beauty products, tote bags and the best-selling products from Japan.

Applicants must be females between the ages of 13 and 22, born between Oct. 14, 1985, and Oct. 10, 1995. The winner will receive $3,000, a LesPros exclusive contract, and opportunity to compete against Japan winners.

The Tokyo-based LesPros Entertainment Co. is one of the largest artist management company in Japan, representing models, actors, musicians and athletes.

Visit for more information and to download an official entry form.

By Nadine Kam

Christian Siriano’s black plaid taffeta “London Guard” ruffle jacket (foreground) is priced at $480 on Bluefly. The black metallic wool “Dinner at 8″ jacket is $520 at the site.

Yes, another season of “Project Runway” is underway, and though the results have been lackluster thus far, snarky blogs have been declaring Christian Siriano so over.

His exclusive capsule collection for Bluefly might prove them wrong. It’s pretty much what we expect from him and appears to be well-executed. Price points are right up there with Phillip Lim which will deter the casual fan from wearing his stuff, but I’d wear his designs any day. He stands to be the only actual “next great American designer” the show has actually produced.

Watch Christian’s video here.

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Meanwhile, the fierce one is also collaborating on a promotion with Brickfish.com and TRESemmé, asking the question, “How “Fierce” is Your Hair?”

Those 21 and older at the time of entry have until Aug. 25 to enter your fiercest hairstyle by submitting your photo and 100-word-or-less description to Brickfish.com. The winner will receive a two-night, all-expenses paid trip for two to New York City to meet with the TRESemmé “Project Runway” styling team who will give you an equally fierce hairstyle to match a haute new outfit designed for you by Christian.

In addition, 10 winners, selected by TRESemmé, from the top 150 most viral entries will win a year’s supply of lead stylist Jeanie Syfu’s four favorite TRESemmé products.

And one winner who signs up in the campaign highlights section will be randomly selected weekly to win six products from the TRESemmé Thermal Creations collection.

Get to it. From what I’ve seen so far, they have not begun to see how fierce we can be!