UH fashion students prepare for final show, dream careers
By Paula Rath
Advertiser Fashion Writer
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| Maria Chun, a University of Hawai'i-Manoa senior majoring in apparel product design and merchandising, adjusts the dress of model and freshman Brandie Cazimero at Miller Hall on the Manoa campus. BELOW: Glenn Ishii, a senior, works on a garment at Miller Hall in preparation for the senior final fashion show.
Photos by Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser |
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A week before their senior final fashion show, the seven soon-to-be-graduates of the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's apparel product design and merchandising program should have been frantic. However, the pensive group seemed more focused on the future, which is a little scary if you're hoping for a fashion future in the tight Hawai'i market.
The past semester has required numerous sacrifices of the stalwart seniors. They're broke because all their money has been spent on fabrics and notions. They're exhausted because they have to work day and night to design, draft, sew and grade all their own patterns. As for weekends — well, they've forgotten what a weekend means.
"We get a lot of static from our friends when we tell them we have to stay home and sew. They don't get it, that it's work. They think the fairy elves come down and sew for us while we're sleeping or something," said Heather Meulemans, whose labor-intensive dresses are inspired by the 1950s. "Fashion is an art form that has to be functional. It has to fit well and mold to the human body, and that's what makes it precarious."
Fashion is a precarious field of endeavor when you live in the Islands.
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| Mark Orimoto, one of seven soon-to-be-graduates of the UH-Manoa's apparel product design and merchandising program, makes final adjustments to the outfit worn by Karen Oki, a junior majoring in psychology and ethnic studies. The seven seniors present their final fashion show Sunday.
'Rendezvous' Sunday — doors open at 11:30 a.m., lunch and fashion show at noon Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, Molokai Ballroom $28 536-5844, rendezvous hawaii@hotmail.com |
Rosalie Paradeza, Sheri Go and Maria Chun hope to pool their talents to open a retail shop in Honolulu. They prefer the team approach to fashion.
Glenn Ishii, whose long-term goal is to have his own line of men's and women's sportswear, said, "I'll start at the bottom doing menial jobs for someone else."Mark Orimoto appreciates the history of fashion and would like to find a job that enables him to study historical influences on fashion today.
While Jennifer Cho considers Hawai'i "a dream because of the weather and the people," she is willing to work a few years in New York: "It may be a hassle, but I want to do it."
Most of the students have experience in the fashion world, having interned with companies such as Hilo Hattie, Local Motion, Prada, Honolulu Mercantile and the Honolulu Academy of Arts' costume collection. Meulemans, whose goal is to become a fashion writer, is writing style stories for the Ala Moana Center magazine.
The prevailing attitude: I'm ready to do what I have to do to make it in fashion, here or elsewhere. Bring it on!
