Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 4, 1 April 2012 — For the love of wearable art [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

For the love of wearable art

By Kathy Muneno Take what you know or imagine a fashion show to be then take a large step outside that box, into a deep cultural, spiritual, historical, contemporary, artistic, fun and at times literally skin-deep realm. And there you have the MAMo Wearable Art Show. Add to that, intended or not, a generous entrepreneurial boost for its Native Hawaiian "designers." By the way, "designers" appears in quotes not because they're not designers, but because they are so mueh more. Take Harinani Orme, 54, a printmaker and illustrator whose art is sold at Bishop Museum, Native Books, and 'Iolani Palaee. "This is what I was born to do, to make art," she says. Despite being "strictly a jeans and T-shirt" kind of person, she has always watched the Wearable Art Show, having participated in M AMo - Maoli Arts Month - since its start in 2006. So this year, she asked MAMo founder and show producer Vicky Holt īakamine if

she could participate in the show. "I've always been fascinated by what we wear, who we are, what we wear to make us feel better," Orme says. Holt īakamine said yes. "So my head started spinning," recalls Orme, with an almost giddy and passionate energy of a teenager. "I am so excited to be doing this and so scared to be doing this. But if you don't try it, you don't know." Her challenge is turning her two-dimensional art into threedimensional wearable art. "We're used to seeing our art on the wall. People who go to fashion shows don't go to look at art, they want to wear it." She's been working on her designs since December. They're based on the LBD - little hlaek dress. She gave eaeh of her 13 models $25 to find an LBD, while she tested her paints to make sure they don't wash off. Her theme is ahupua'a. She will silk screen or paint on the dresses designs separated into three segments representing the mountains, lowlands and sea. You'll see fern, trees and birds, then kukui, kalo, wauke and 'ulu, then small near-

shore fish, deep-sea fish and limu. Orme's designs will be shown alongside those of the show's veteran designers who have inspired her, like textile artist Maile Andrade. Andrade says for her, "it is a natural procession to have a line of clothing" but "fashion is only a small part of the art I do. It is the girl thing." Andrade works in silks and velvets. This year she'll be showing "a new dress design but will still be using my handmade textiles that I am known for, and of course shawls." "These pieces allow for the everyday person to own something from a Hawaiian artist that is a little more affordable and ean be used for many occasions," she says. "This is the fun part of my art. This is not my business." But it is quickly becoming the business of 25-year-old Carrington "Baba" Yap of Kohala, who creates haute couture - handcrafted high fashion. He is the son of Kumu Hula Nani Lim Yap and does costuming for her hālau and for theatrical productions. "This guy, he's just off the chart . . . very unique, very dif-

ferent," says Holt īakamine, who saw Yap's talent and invited him to present at the show a few years ago. Yap says he was "shame because the first time I did it I thought it was

way too mueh. I felt kind of out of plaee." But he was a hit and has been back every year with a line he XI MAMO ON PAGE 29

MAMO WEARABLE ART SHQW OHA is a proud sponsor of the Wearable Art Show. Creative Director: Robert Cazimero Where: Hawai'i Theatre When: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 17. Doors open at 5:30. There will be a silent auction before the show and during intermission and a trunk show after the fashion show Cost: $20, $35 and $50 Tickets: available at Hawai'i Theatre. 0r purchase ticket vouchers at PA'I Arts & Culture Center, Kapālama Shopping Center, 1210 Dillingham Blvd., #21 (Hours: Monday-Saturday noon to 5 p.m.) lnfo: (808) 237-4555

Followus: /oha_hawaii | Fan us:Ē/officeofhawaiianaffairs | Watch us: YnufiTTfiTj /user/OHAHawaii

An array of designs by Maile Andrade, who is known for incorporating her own handmade textiles into her work. RIGHT: A Baba Yap design. - Courtesy: PA'I Foundation

MAMO Continued from page 13

makes exclusively for the show. And then there are, as Holt īakamine says, creations that use "our body as a canvas." The work of tattoo artist Keone Nunes will be featured. He uses traditional tools, such as bone, for what's called kākau (to strike upon). "A lot of people don't look at tattoos as wearable art so I was really pleased when Vicky asked if I'd even consider doing something like this," Nunes says. "It brings it to a different level of understanding, if you will. They don't equate tattoos with part of that (fashion), but for us, as Native Hawaiians, it is part and parcel of who we are and our views of aesthetic beauty." The show provides exposure for the artists, to perhaps a new and broader audience. For Yap it spawned a budding business. He

says, "I didn't really know people wanted my clothes until I started doing the show and now my fashions are reaching all over," including the red carpet at the MTV Video Music Awards this year, and now he is working on his first collection and a ready-to-wear line. Forothers, the WearableArt Show provides a different opportunity. "I do it mainly for educational purposes," says Nunes, "to me that's just as valuable, to broaden people's perspective." Andrade says she does it to support the PA'I Foundation and Maoli Arts Month. And Onne does it "for the collaboration experience

of working with other artists, for the challenge of working on a moving canvas and for the fun of it." But the fashion business may still find her. A trunk show inunediately follows the Wearable Art Show, where the fashions are made available for purchase. "We're artists, we're going to create things anyway," Onne says. But she says she would be thrilled if people wanted her designs, and "I would love it if someone said, 'We love what you're doing.' " ■ KathyMuneno is a weekendweather anchor and reporterfor KHON2.

"I didn't really know people wanted my clothes until I started doing the show and now my fashions are reaching all over."

— Carrington "Baba" Yap, whose designs will be seen on the red carpetat the MTVVideo MusicAwards this year