Royal Hawaiian to recreate the Roaring Twenties look

By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer

•	'A Royal Celebration' • A fund-raiser for the Honolulu Academy of Arts (also celebrating its 75th anniversary) • 6 p.m. Friday, Monarch Room, Royal Hawaiian Hotel • $200 per person; includes cocktails, dinner, performances by the Royal Hawaiian Band, Del Courtney and Jimmy Borges • Reservations: 532-6099 (Honolulu Academy of Arts)

On Friday, as the Royal Hawaiian celebrates its 75th anniversary, guests at the gala will be transported back to the 1920s. The menu will be as close as possible to that of the grand opening, vintage automobiles will be parked around the grounds and fashions of the 1920s will be on view.

In the lobby outside the Monarch Room, '20s dresses from the University of Hawai'i's Historic Costume Collection will be displayed on mannequins.

In addition, Diamond Head Theatre's costume shop is providing six flapper dresses accessorized with feathered headbands, and Princess Kaiulani Fashions is showing several holoku with the 1920s silhouette: chemise shapes with a dropped waist and lace detail.

However, the fashion highlight will be reproductions of two gowns worn to the 1927 opening. The delicate beaded silk sheaths had been ravaged by light, humidity and environmental factors, so it was decided to recreate them rather than restoring them.

Dewey Cook, a graduate of Maryknoll and the UH-M?noa textile program who is a master stylist for film and video in Los Angeles and Honolulu, took on the project with characteristic zeal. He made patterns by tracing the original dresses. It was not difficult, he said, because they lacked darts and zippers.

Cook found the green and apricot silks at June Fabrics on School Street.

Finding the beads was a far greater challenge. Cook searched unsuccessfully throughout Hawai'i and Los Angeles for three weeks. "They all looked too shiny and modern, and it was difficult to match the tarnish and patina of age," he said. So he decided to use the beads from the original dresses.

The beadwork on the green dress took three weeks to complete. The apricot dress required nearly four months of hand work and brought on a case of carpal-tunnel syndrome for Cook.

Cook also made two replica dresses to be auctioned at the gala. (The hotel owns the green and apricot outfits.)

Many women attending the black-tie event will wear flapper dresses, boas and beads, so guests may find themselves transported back to the Roaring Twenties.