The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 11

also in Honolulu Advertiser Tuesday, September 18, 1979 tropins o) 1 Names and Faces B2 Television log B4 Entertainment B4-5 Comics B6 it 1 i i 'Sar-! WWW- i BieT-. fawaMMMiMiA' issaa ttuak.inHi Immhhhiii mi MinnaiMi -iir miff mil mtri Wholesaler Gunther Von Hamm: "My first Christmas present was a silkie." Surf Line Hawaii's Dave Rochlen: "Their renaissance began in Europe." Taylor and Dano president Norman Kaneshige with Taylor's daughter, Dayle: Silkies on the ski slopes. The horn-again silkies 1 V'y 3 4 V. 1 1 i 1 1 If Designer Valerie By ROXN RONCK Advertiser Stiff Writer Arthur Godfrey plugged his on radio and TV. President Harry Truman wore his on the Dec.

10, 1951, cover of Life Magazine. Montgomery Gift died in his in the dust at the end of the 1953 movie "From Here to Eternity." Elvis Presley rescued damsels from the waters of "Blue Hawaii" in his. Maybe it's just the law of averages, or maybe it's a snippet of nostalgia and a shake of tight designer blue jeans that seem to demand a bright blouse. Whatever it is, those remnants of a bygone era, of a time when men were men and women weren't, are back. Yessirreee, "silkies" have returned, reborn in the same old designs and fabric, but with contemporary colors and styling.

From the dance-floors of New York to the boardwalks of California, they are back in abundance, those right-out-of-the-30s blouse, silkie-look rayon shirts with the bold floral prints and the hula girls. While the "new" silkies certainly don't compete in price with the "old" silkies which have entered the class of collectibles and go for a couple hundred bucks apiece, the new shirts are a reflection of both the past and the present. Getting out Now that Hawaiian silkies are coming back in the fashion picture, a common question is being asked the experts. How do you clean them? "Some people get scared when you mention rayon fabric," says Norman Kaneshige of Dano. "They have the mistaken idea that it is especially fragile.

That's what the polyester people would like you to believe. But, if that's the case, how come we have so many of the old silkies still around from 40 years ago? Apparently they are more durable than commonly thought." There's really no secret to washing the new silkies, he says. Hand or machine-washing is suitable for most, but for people who want their silkies to retain a "new" look, dry-cleaning is recommended. "The secret of machine-washing," says Kaneshige, "is not to use extremely hot water. Handwashing is even better.

Let them drip dry on the line and touch up with an iron lightly before wear 533-6700 If TT" '1 tut vl! Nt iHn of HA" II i AdvertiierpnotobvCharmOfcaaiurt Bill Consedine and Sherry Holt of Sunshine Hawaii: "We don't knock off the old stuff line for line." Silkie worn by Duke Kahanamoku A book on silkies Two years ago, Tom Steele, an art' director at MCA Records, began doing research for a book on silkies. It didn't turn out easy. 1 talked to quite a few people in Honolulu," he said in a telephone conversation from Universal City, "but there was a great lack of information about the actual designers of these old shirts. Company histories are important, of course, but I'm also interested in learning about the men and women who sat down at the drawing board and actually created the look." Steele's interest in silkies was fired by Jerry Brownstein who runs The Junk Store in West Los Angeles. Brownstein has a large collection of original silkies, some of which he sells in his shop.

The working title of Steele's book is "Pineapple Prints: The Art and History of the Hawaiian Shirt." Some of the photographs from it appeared this July in New West magazine. "In essence," he explained, "this will be a complete catalogue of Hawaiian silkies from the beginning. Because the shirts are photographed in full color it will be an expensive book to produce but I want to do it right. This is a subject that demands a definitive treatment." Steele is now working with a San Francisco publisher and the book is scheduled for release next summmer. sary for rayon production." (And most of the rayon used for silkies now comes from Japan.) "Finally, there's the androgynous effect.

Just as women are recognizing they have masculine traits, men are accepting their feminine side. "Males no longer have to be super macho in our society. As evidenced by the uni-sex fashions, men and women feel comfortable in the same clothes. The silkie look is made to order for both sexes." It is also made-to-order as an accompaniment for blue jeans. In fact, says textile wholesaler Gunther Von Hamm, silkies may well owe their rebirth partly to designer jeans.

The jeans, he says, are meant to be worn tight and the bloused appearance of the silkie shirt provides a nice contrast. Prints also go well with the solid colors of the jeans. "The most interesting thing to Continued on Page B-2 You can thank the haute couture salons of Europe for the resurgence of grand old Hawaii style, but you also can thank a handful of aggressive young local designers who risked their reputations to bring back the silkie, saw it lag for a while, but are now watching it soar. This week, during the "Hawaii 20" trade show which opens tomorrow at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and is sponsored by the Hawaiian Fashion Guild and the State Department of Planning and Economic Development, these designers will be showing more silkies than ever before. They've seen the trend developing across the country and in some cases helped to develop it themselves and are now preparing to bring it all back home.

"We just came back from New ijYork," enthuses Valerie Taylor, head designer for Dano, "and you looked, from the Upper East Side to the West, people were wearing silkies. "This summer the look is still in its infancy but by spring and next summer silkies will be one of the biggest fashion items in the country." Dano is counting on that prediction, so much so that they've com- the grime ing." As for the dry cleaning recommendation, it's true that this method keeps the shirt looking new longer. But Kaneshige says that Dano only puts that warning on to protect itself. If the company didn't do that, some customers would complain that the washing process wears out the shirt too fast. "What they may not realize," he explains, "is that silkies are supposed to appear worn.

That's part the look. Who wants an old shirt that everybody knows is brand new?" In other words" if you can't afford an original silkie buy a new one and age a bit. Machine-washing works wonders. McCalls 6713 mitted both their men's and womens' lines to the look and are getting ready to ship off a bunch of silkie designs to the ski capitals of Colorado. "Skiers are wearing silkies outside their jackets on the mountain slopes," says a somewhat amazed Taylor.

"Soon you'll be seeing them on college campuses in the South and Midwest. We don't know how long this silkie consciousness will last but we plan to stay with it as long as it sells." So do a few other local designers who have plunged heavily into the silkie rebirth, among them Dave Rochlen's Surf Line Hawaii and Bill Consedine and Sherry Holt of Sunshine Hawaii. Along with resources like Von Hamm textiles, the largest fabric wholesaler in Hawaii, they've shared in the trail? blazing rebirth of silkies and they're ready to pounce on the ex- panding market. Rochlen's young men's line, named "Pua" after his son, is already overflowing with the colorful shirts and he's busy turning out more for spring and summer. When he went to market in Los Angeles earlier this month he did more silkie business than he thought possible.

"There are several things that come together to build a phenomenon like this," says the man who gave us "jams," "cheeters," "butt cuts" and "jobbers" and who, given the slightest encouragement, will sit in his office and spout Kipling. "As for the case of Hawaii silkies, their, renaissance began in Europe with a feeling for a particular romantic mood. The Art Deco movement was important and this came together with a renewed willingness to revisit Paradise. Or, I should say, the 17th and 18th century European concept of Polynesia as Paradise. "At the same time, the rising expense of petrochemically-derived fibers makes rayon a more attractive alternative to polyesters.

It's still not a cheap fabric to produce but oil is no bargain anymore ei ther. The Japanese government has encouraged all of its cotton mills to add the equipment neces- Fall's Special Edition "HEATHER" Spice up your wardrobe with a touch of a picturesque autumn in the dashing designs of Sensitive shades of maple leaves at harvest are captured in earthy tones of golden ash, creme de menthe, cinnamon, and more. For that special charm in your fall attire, include autumn's delight, 60" wide, machine washable, 80 Dacron-20 wool. 7.25 plus tax quality fabrics custom sewing ala moana center phooe 949-1005 EPEOML PERU mm HOyOLULU'S 1ST TOTAL BODY COy DITIOMXG CENTER EXCLVSIVELYFOR WOMEX AN NO UN CES. SEPTEMBER SPECIAL Fabrics from per yd.

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