Denim with touch of aloha
| • | Fashion Calendar |
By Paul Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer
Ginger Leong is an Island girl with edge, and her new clothing line, Pili Aloha, combines trendy vintage denim with a distinctly Hawaiian look.
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| Ginger Leong fuses vintage denim with Hawai'i designs in the Pili Aloha line of clothing and accessories. Here Leong and 3-year-old twins George (left) and Wendell model the looks.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser |
"I wanted something that says 'cool Hawaiian girl' — something worn and comfortable and laid back, yet special and eye-catching," she said.
Pili Aloha is all about details. Each piece is one of a kind and made by hand by the designer. "It's just me and my Bernina (sewing machine)," Leong said.
Leong begins by cutting up secondhand jeans she finds at thrift stores or is given by friends who are finally able to part with old favorites. You know, those jeans that sit in the back of our closets for decades because we just know we'll fit them again someday.
Her unique details include a hand-crocheted fringe with puka shells painstakingly sewn into it. Or a skirt created by slitting jeans up the legs and inserting a triangular piece of bark cloth (dobby) at the front and back. She cuts the waistbands off jeans and inserts aloha print fabric to create "'okole crack slacks," the lowest of low riders.
Denim jackets are appliquéd with anthuriums on the back, or an aloha print over the collar, while kicky clam diggers get hip with a ruffle at the hem.
Leong got a big break recently when the most fashion-forward show on television, "Sex and the City," featured one of her handbags. She's waiting for the new season to kick off to see if her clothes (she sent them boxes full) turn up on any of the stars.
Pili Aloha has been introduced to Hollywood through actress Kelly Preston, whose mother, Linda Carlson, lives in Honolulu. Carlson is a big fan of Pili Aloha and recently took Preston on a shopping spree during which Preston bought mother-daughter outfits for herself and little Ella Bleu, whose father is John Travolta.
Leong, a Kamehameha graduate who was voted "best dressed" in her class, always knew she wanted to be a fashion designer.
She sewed nearly everything she wore to school, having taught herself on her grandmother's machine at age 9. Her aunt, Alice Hong, who raised her, took her to Kaimuki Dry Goods every weekend. There, Ginger would pick the fabric to make her new outfit for the week.
During the 1980s she hand-painted dresses for Pomegranates in the Sun under the label "Ginger Honolulu." She then hand-painted T-shirts for Hawaiian Style, and made the signature painted parrot Ts for Compadres restaurant.
Her 3-year-old twins, Wendell Tandem Aloha Leong-Titcomb and George Sterling Pili Leong-Titcomb, are her current muses and the inspiration behind the name Pili Aloha, which means best friends.
Pili Aloha sizes range from infant (12 months) to women's 36 and are sold at Coco Moon in The New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel. Prices range from $25 to $65 for children's garments and $25 to $120 for women's. It's best to call the shop at 732-6337 before making the trek to Waikiki because it is not always open during regular retail hours.
