ISLAND STYLE
UH design student shows off style in class project
By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Fashion student Kevin Sanada uses draping techniques and deconstructions in his class project, which he calls "Reconstructions and Abstractions." At center is his couture piece, made with woven ribbons.
Photos by Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser |
The venue? It's not the Metropolitan Museum or Fashion Institute of Technology — yet. It's the Costume Gallery in Miller Hall, Room 112, at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
I met Sanada when I traveled to London and Paris with fashion design and merchandising students from the University of Hawai'i last summer. As I watched him sketching at the Victoria and Albert Museum and listened to the questions he asked of designers Zandra Rhodes and Catherine Walker, I knew he was something special.
Europe opened Sanada's eyes to the world of European design and left him hungry for more. He was enthralled by everything, including funky handbags in London's Octopus boutique and Madeleine Vionnet couture pieces in the Louvre.
Sanada, who appreciates fashion as form and structure, said his favorite designers are Vionnet and Christian Dior (citing Dior's New Look from the late 1940s) and from the current crop, Chalayan Hussein, who, Sanada said, "Is always pushing the edge in an intelligent and controlled manner."
Asked where the inspiration for his present collection came from, Sanada explained: "It comes from random sources — the tensioned stainless steel framework from the I.M, Pei design of the Louvre; the way a piece of fabric falls as it is tossed over a chair. It's like the use of sampling in music: a snippet taken out of context, reworked/formed to become something completely removed from its original source material. Or sometimes the translation is literal, where I'm inspired by a cuff on a shirt or how a woman ties her scarf."
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| Soft curves, bias cuts and sexy keyholes are part of Sanada's style. |
Sanada sees no boundaries between the arts, from architecture and industrial arts to fashion design. He excelled at a class in exhibition design and gallery management. The professor, Tom Klobe, who directs the UH-Manoa Art Gallery, said, "He has the potential to really make it. He has a flexible mind, and that's what I'd admired in class. He has lots of ideas but can pull it back and simplify for strength of statement."
In spite of all his talent, it hasn't been an easy road for Sanada. He has been working himself through college for 11 years (he's 31 years old), burning the candle at both ends with at least two jobs, taking courses whenever he could. His daytime job is as a visual merchandiser (what used to be called a window dresser) at Diesel Ala Moana. At night he is a DJ who goes by the name Drift, spinning at the Wonder Lounge at the W on Friday and Saturday nights, and for the very style-conscious c*ntroversy parties at Club Pauahi.
Linda Arthur, a UH-Manoa fashion professor until she left for Washington State University this year, shepherded Sanada through his final year and an assignment to produce a fashion line and exhibit it in a stationary gallery format.
"In my 10 years, I believe that Kevin has been one of the most creative designers we've produced," Arthur said.
"He did go above and beyond on his exhibit, and can be counted on to do so, as when he gets running with an idea it is all-consuming. He's a gifted designer."
She would like to see Sanada go on to graduate school at a design institute that "focuses on a holistic vision of design, not just fashion design. I see him designing a variety of things — he's expressed an interest in shoes, but I believe he'd also be good at industrial design or design of items for interiors, from useful household accessories to furniture."
And, yes, he got an A for "Reconstruction and Abstractions."
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A show-stopper, meant to be worn only on the runway (real life would require another layer, at least), Sanada's barely there black dress was inspired by steel framework of Pei's pyramid at the Louvre. The steel rods translated into strappy back ties; the halter neck echoes the ceiling arches.
His couture piece consists of black ribbons of different widths woven together by hand, draped on the bias and embellished with ribbon rosettes that he stitched and gathered.
The piece had to be draped on a model, then removed, then draped again on a mannequin, then pieced back together and sewn. "No one ever said couture was going to be simple and straightforward," Sanada said wistfully.
His other designs are graceful and elegant, mainly cut on the bias and draped on the mannequin.
"Kevin will go far. We will be glad to say we knew him when," Arthur said.
Every now and then, a major talent emerges from one of our college campuses. Sanada is one to watch. This year, however, we may see more. Spring will bring on an exciting group of fashion students, putting on shows at both UH-Manoa and Honolulu Community College.
