Nadine Kam photos
From left are Tori Richard, Ltd., president and CEO Josh Feldman, Kahala store manager Krishna Chatterjee, and Kahala creative director Dale Hope.

The Kahala Store celebrated its grand opening with a blessing and pau hana celebration at the Ala Moana Center June 19, with entertainment by Makalei, and kalua pig springrolls and fish and poi on the menu.

It was a kamaaina gathering with all the “kids” — Josh Feldman, son of Mort of Tori Richard; Dale Hope, former Kahala owner and son of Howard of Sun Fashions; Pua Rochlen, son of Dave of Surfline/Jams World — all-grown up and in charge. You can read stories I’ve written about them here: Tori Richard, Kahala, Jams World.

The Kahala brand has been reinvigorated under Tori Richard, revisiting its surf roots. In keeping with the theme, guests left the party with a bar of surf wax, among other things, including an inspirational booklet bound to leave some thinking about the things we take for granted, like grace, family, honor and aloha.

I was just thinking about that this morning, when I was driving and came upon a coned lane, one of many on our roads, and a driver with a bumper sticker that read “Drive with aloha,” sped up to cut me off. I was so mad I took down the license plate number, NWS 836. It wasn’t getting cut off that bugged me as much as the hypocrisy of appropriating the word “aloha,” when that woman clearly had none.

But, I digress. The store, at 800 square feet, was too small to accommodate all the well wishers, so expanded into the mall’s common area and Blue Hawaii Surf across the way. And with an abundance of ginger and maile lei, it was one of the sweetest-smelling parties I’ve been to in a while.

I thanked Mark Cunningham for being a vision in orange in his Kahala shirt and color-coordinated cords. He said, “I’m not afraid of color. Color can’t hurt you,” joking that most people would only wear these colors at Halloween and Thanksgiving, if that. Katye Killebrew sneaked into the picture. (more…)

Spent the morning at Kahala, not the place, but the new local men’s sportswear store that opened Sunday in the Ala Moana Center Nordstrom wing. The brand is back after some major retooling — story t.k. (that’s journalese for “to come,” though why it’s t.k. and not t.c. is a mystery in a business that involves proper spelling).

After my interviews were done, spent some time talking to aloha shirt guru Dale Hope, who’s back with the company he owned a couple of decades ago. We were people watching because he couldn’t help noticing who was wearing Kahala shirts and how people style themselves, from footwear to sunglasses. It’s part of his process as a guy who might appear to be laidback but is intensely observant and detail oriented.

I’d never met him before, so you know how people just kind of assume, businessman, business mind. But he’s been a tactile, fashion person from childhood and went to some lengths to get his aloha shirts custom made, the start of his relationship with Kahala. As an 8-year-old boy!

That’s pretty incredible. At 5, I hated the stuff my mom bought for me, but I just accepted it. It didn’t occur to me then that there’s always another way if you’re willing to look/work for it.

Nadine Kam photos

There was a sea of T-shirts at the Incubus concert. While there, I took a photo of Patrick Simmons and the amulet he was wearing, which he picked up in Tahiti. It inclues the figure of a surfer carved into seal bone, set with a black pearl. For Simmons, it serves as a protective talisman whether he’s in or out of the water.

You can find similar amulets at Summer Vaimaona’s Soleil boutique at 909 Kapahulu Ave.

Then, at Green Door last night, I spotted Thaddeus Pham dining with his friends. He had just come from work as an H.I.V. counselor at Diamond Head Clinic. I liked his geek chic style with short-sleeved shirt and bow tie that he just started wearing this year “to play to my strengths as a nerd,” he said.

I didn’t get it into the photo, but inked onto his forearms are verses from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” and “Song of the Open Road.” “I read a lot,” he said.

If you’re going to have any words on your body, those are pretty cool choices.

“Song of the Open Road” begins:

“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road. …”

“Song of Myself” begins:

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death. …”

Nadine Kam photos
John Knorek shows the $500 Leather Soul gift certificate he won, courtesy of Leather Soul owner Tom Park, center. At right, Jin Yu, was another winner, receiving a near body-size piece of German-made Rimowa luggage, a new addition to the store. She plans to use it on a trip to Asia soon.

I’ve been to all kinds of fashion parties, but not many where most of the guests were men in aloha shirts.

The occasion was the March 20 grand opening celebration for Leather Soul, which moved its retail operation from a small second-story “closet” of a space in Waikiki, to the sparkling, renovated Royal Hawaiian Center.

Having shopped at the Alden, John Lobb and Church’s boutiques on Madison Ave., NYC, owner Tom Park’s boutique fully measures up, stressing service, with comfy lounge chairs a guy can sink into while studying up on fine, handmade men’s footwear.

Prices run about $400 to $600 for shoes that Park says are the most comfortable you’ll ever try on, while signaling status, and made with durability to last a lifetime. Just the sort of promises a practical aloha-shirt kind of guy can understand.

Here’s a link to the store: www.leathersoulhawaii.com

Park with one of his high school buddies Christian Adams, who is now one of his best customers, with 15 pairs of shoes, mostly Aldens.

Most fashion parties feature delicate girly foods. Park offered full dinner catered by neighboring Chibo restaurant. Here, the garlic shrimp. Yum. Meatballs with spicy ponzu sauce were also good. Wine was provided by People’s Wine Shop.

Inside the store, Matt Frisbie helped fit some of the guests with shoes. Displayed in the foreground are J.J. Weston shoes.

Throughout the evening, guests wandered from the party area into the store, where Matt Frisbie, who’s had experience dealing with both genders, said women are actually easier shoe customers. “If they like the look of a shoe, they don’t care if it hurts.”

Feel free to discuss this point.

The guests, many downtown Honolulu customers who hadn’t seen the boutique, came straight from work dressed in aloha shirts.