By Nadine Kam

Sony Pictures photos
Audrey Tautou as Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in tweeds, while her sister Adrienne, played by Marie Gillain, wears lace.

“Coco Before Chanel” finally opens in Honolulu a little more than a month after its New York debut on Sept. 25.

I remember the date because I wanted to see it but was bummed because that was the day I had to leave NY. I did see “It Might Get Loud” and “The September Issue” while I was there because I didn’t know when they would arrive in Hawaii. (Both were playing when I got home, thanks to Consolidated Kahala, which is also showing the film about the young Chanel.)

I fell asleep during the movie about the making of Vogue’s September 2007 issue. It felt too much like work, with all the same anxieties, second guessing and frustrations, and it just made me tired. So I never did get to see what happened with Grace Coddington’s spread, though I did find her work inspiring.

“Coco Before Chanel” is also about inspiration, with Audrey Tautou in the title role of the young Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.

Those hoping to see fashion on par with “Valentino: The Last Emperor,” will get about 5 minutes of it at the end of the film, but otherwise, the film covers only the first half of her life.

Audrey Tautou as Chanel, dressed like a man at a costume party.

It was funny to see the cabaret scenes during which Gabrielle picked up the name “Coco.” The film has her singing a song about a search for a lost dog named Coco, alledgedly for which she could not shake the connection. I was reminded of what photographer Douglas Kirkland told me during a brief interview earlier this year when his photos of the designer were shown at Chanel Waikiki. He said, “If you knew her, you called her Mademoiselle, not Coco. She hated that. She had a short career as a cabaret singer — not a very successful one. Coco was her stage name.”

Chanel, born in 1883, came of age during the Belle Epoque, the “Beautiful Era,” the decades leading up to World War II, when the European world was at peace and the upper classes enjoyed prosperity and all the toys new technology produced.

Chanel had been left at an orphanage at age 12 by her father after her mother died. To earn her keep, she learned to become a seamstress. As one of society’s have-nots, Chanel is portrayed by Tautou as a self-possessed, impudent young woman who was resentful of the privileged class, as well as advantages of being a man, and fought against inequity in her own fashionable way.

The movie shows Balsan giving the young Chanel a dress, but when confronted with such confections, her impulse is to start ripping out flowers and simplifying matters.

The resourceful young designer is shown using materials at hand — shirts, jackets and ties from her paramour  Étienne Balsan’s closet — to fashion attire for herself and foreshadow her later reputation for adapting menswear for women.

She is depicted saying she favors simplicity and comfort of menswear over the corsets, bustles and petticoats of the other women in Balsan’s circle. Whether this was true or just a matter of necessity, resourcefulness and acceptance is anyone’s guess.

By today’s standard, the outfits she put together — such as a Chaplinesque ensemble of white vest, black jacket, dress shirt with French cuffs and cropped black pant — are  adorable. Perhaps, as a woman, she had less of a tendency to objectify or fetishize women the way a male designer might. But at the time, the clothes she presented must have seemed clownish and outrageous, as happens when an individual is ahead of the curve. Jersey that she used as outerwear for instance, had been thought of as suitable only for underwear.

Chanel dines with the love of her life, Arthur “Boy” Capel, played by Alessandro Nivola, who financed her millinery shop in Brittany. While watching the movie, my eyes were on her dress, so I didn’t notice the camellia he’s wearing, until now.

That was a point made by Arthur “Boy” Capel, who called her an anarchist during a stroll along the beach, where they observed society women lounging and playing while wearing large, lacey picture hats, which Chanel scornfully described as “meringues on their heads.”

By the 1920s, a new slim shape with fewer underpinnings was changing the world of women’s fashion, and war years demanded more practical attire for women. No designer creates in a vacuum, and I’m guessing an overall revolution in women’s wear and growing women’s movement also helped shape her philosophies. She 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.

On another side note, the film shows both Chanel and Balsan wearing sleeveless tweed jackets. The sleeveless look will be back this spring in the Dior Homme collection. I got an early look at the collection — which also includes jackets with sleeves — while in New York. I can’t think of many men in Hawaii who will rush for this look, but, if 2010 proves to be as hot as 2009, it makes practical sense! You have four months to warm up to the look.

Nadine Kam photo
Dylan Peckenpaugh of Dior Homme showed me the spring-summer 2010 collection during a preview in New York. The collection features the line’s signature dark suiting, with linen dickeys and vests, plus the new look of sleeveless jackets. Dylan’s from Kauai.

By Nadine Kam

Style.com photos
Peaked shoulders off the Balmain Spring 2009 runway appeared in Michael Jackson’s final concert footage.

I was so happy the footage of Michael Jackson’s last concert rehearsals were made into the film, “This Is It.”

I was especially thrilled for the many dancers, musicians and crew members who worked so hard at rehearsal and could finally get some long-awaited and well-deserved recognition.

There was one segment I wish could have been explored more, and that was the work on the costumes, which promised to be even more spectacular than what we would expect, even by Michael Jackson standards, which is extremely high. They talked about costumes and gloves that would light up by remote control.

I’m familiar with 30 years of signature looks and silhouettes of the fashion icon, and the film introduced one more, straight off the Balmain Spring 2009 runway, of the peaked-shoulder jacket. You can’t miss it, and every time it pops up you’ll wonder whether you love it or hate it. Of course, Michael Jackson being Michael Jackson, his jacket was tricked out with crystals.

You can read more about it in a story that appeared yesterday in the Los Angeles Times.

The movie starts as an ordinary behind-the-scenes concert documentary, but is very touching in then end as we hear Jackson’s thoughts about the state of the environment and our individual roles in making the world a better place while “Man in the Mirror” plays.

If Jackson were alive, I doubt that this documentary would have been released in this form, because he was a perfectionist. Because this is rehearsal footage, I could tell he was delivering only 70 to 80 percent of his full performing capability, but his 70 percent might as well be 100 percent for most people. He’s still amazing to watch and never stops moving on stage.

For all that has been said about his “weirdness” and “eccentricity” over recent years, he comes across as being thoughtful and sincere, and the film reaffirms his musical genius.

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

Photos by Nadine Kam
After Norma Kamali’s presentation in the Apple store in SoHo, everyone followed the designer onto the street to see her pieces available now at NormaKamaliCollection.com, NormaKamaliBay.com and in Wal*Mart stores. She believes technology is democratizing the distribution and availability of fashion, and that consumers are no longer willing to follow designers’ and retailers’ traditional schedules

Only one event today, Norma Kamali’s “democratization of Fashion” presentation at the Apple store in Soho. I’m anxious to hear what she has to say because she is a swimwear pioneer and legend who is now blazing a trail in the place where technology and fashion meet. I’m interested in all aspects of technology because it is changing the way we live so radically and the things we do or don’t do now will impact quality of life in the future.

She held onto her white iPhone throughout the event and proclaimed her love for the device. I picked up one two days before leaving home — it’s a long story — and it has been a life saver, not only for email, Internet and phone contact, but providing me with maps and compass so I didn’t waste much time getting lost.

She started her tech track only a year ago, when retailers slumped on their buys. She decided to test sales direct to the public at wholesale prices and she said that made up the shortfall.

Now, this is the part that may change the rest of the fashion world. Technology has made communication instant. In Hawaii, we should know better than anyone, because the diss to Hawaii has always been that it takes a year before trends arrive to the masses. No more. We get the information the same time as everyone else thanks to the Internet, increasing visibility and desire so that more people are dressing up.

So, what she has done, rather than give knock-off artists time to beat collections to stores, is put everything shown up on eBay the day of her presentation in light rain on a SoHo street, knowing people will want what they see now, and not have to wait until six months from now. Maybe that’s why I was in Topshop afterward, trying on a pale pink feather skirt (feather idea Jason Wu, color story Erin Fetherston).

I was also shopping for things that will carry over to spring, such as tny silver sequins and a white cut-out sleeve top from Alexander Wang that I found at Aloha Rag.

The pace of retail, in light of technology may be too slow for consumers, so what happens next? Her presentation gave us something to think about at the close of Fashion Week. Exciting times.

Norma Kamali’s models show designs being sold at Wal*Mart and on eBay through the NormaKamaliBay.com app. All pieces are wholesale priced at $250 and under. It was about 60 degrees in the rain. One of the other swimwear models had chicken skin.

Kamali faces the press and her fans.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Outside the Bryant Park tents after the Gottex show, Sept. 14.

In New York, fashion isn’t limited to the runways.

Outside the Koi Suwannagate show:

Inside the Catherine Malandrino show at Chelsea Art Museum:

Japanese media outside the Malandrino’s show:

The tamer side of Patrick McDonald:

At Max Azria, Sept. 15:

The uniform of New York fashion week: Very short skirt or shorts, very high strappy bondage heels and motorcycle or boyfriend jacket. Below, front-row footwear at the Jill Stuart show, Sept. 14:

At the Malandrino show:

Jason Wu’s models in their own clothes before the show:

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By Nadine Kam

M.A.C photos
Models at the Rodarte show were dressed with tribal tattoos inspired by the Maoris of New Zealand.

Makeup during New York Fashion Week isn’t restricted to the face alone. M.A.C senior artist Chantel Miller created the Maori-inspired geometric tattoo makeup seen on the runways at the Rodarte Spring/Summer 2010 runway show today at Gagosian Gallery.

Chantel, who specializes in body painting, spent four intensive hours with a team of 40 artists hand painting the elaborate body art. Each model received a customized combination of design motifs, depending on which look they were wearing in the show. This is why my planned back stage visit didn’t materialize. They scaled back on press because they didn’t need the distraction.

The “tattoos” at the Rodarte show were achieved with M.A.C Micronized Airbrush in Black Black, PRO Mixing Medium/Alcohol Base and Liquidlast Liner in Point Black.

Tom Pecheux for M.A.C also created tribal looks for Catherine Malandrino’s “Nomads” presentation at the Chelsea Art Museum. Her Spring-Summer 2010 collection circled the globe, paying homage to Sudanese clans, Saharan nomads, Peruvian tribes and the Samoans.

Nadine Kam photos
Fringe, flowers and Samoan-inspired tattoos formed one part of Catherine Malandrino’s presentation at the Chelsea Art Museum.

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.

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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

Nadine Kam photos
Chiho Comono shows one of her examples of furoshiki wrapping using two furoshiki.

The Japanese Women’s Society Foundation held its annual membership meeting on Sunday, followed by bento lunch and a furoshiki workshop conducted by Chiho Comono of Kyoto, who received a grant to come to Hawaii to share her expertise and help materialists among us become more eco smart.

According to Wikipedia, furoshiki thrived in Japan until the post-war rise of the plastic shopping bag. Now that more people are waking up to the real costs of cheap goods, we’re starting to appreciate the more traditional, more beautiful and earth-friendly practices of our elders.

The idea is that a simple easy-to-pack fabric square has the potential to become a makeshift bag when you’re running errands or out shopping, eliminating the need to pick up another throwaway paper or plastic bag as you pick up things throughout the day.

With a single furoshiki and a few quick folds, she showed how to make a slouchy hobo totes and bigger sling bag, as well as how to dress a gift of wine in kimono-style wrapping. Adding a second folded furoshiki for straps turned a tote into a backpack.

Each member who attended received a furoshiki courtesy of Yoshiyuki Hosokawa of Kyoto’s Daiko Sangyo Co. for practice and to take home.

I went home and started practicing on my Fendi and vintage scarves. I tend to be a purse fiend but now that I can turn any piece of fabric into a purse, I may be able to wait longer periods between new purses. It’s also difficult to find cute evening bags big enough to hold camera, video camera and other essentials and the furoshiki may be a solution I’ll have to try.

Examples of furoshiki wrapping, in which the furoshiki itself is a gift that can be reused.

JWSF members receive instructions on wrapping a wine bottle. If you’re trying this at home, remember a rubber band around the neck of the bottle is your friend in helping to hold the wrapping in place.

A gift of fruit is wrapped to look like a rabbit.

Knotting the four corners of the furoshiki turns it into a cap. Tuck the knots under to make a beret.