Slip sensation
By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer
Roberta Oaks is an accidental wearable artist. Until a year ago, she had never sewn a stitch or owned a sewing machine.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
The artist, 26, who lives in 'Aina Haina, majored in photography and art history at the University of Missouri and Kingston University in London.
Honolulu-based artist Roberta Oaks starts with white vintage slips, hand-dyes them and embellishes with laces, appliques and trims.
During her first year in Honolulu, she lived and worked with portrait photographer Carla Annette. However, she does photography for love, not a living, with a focus on self expression, not sales. She often incorporates her photographs into collages.
A year ago, shortly after arriving in Honolulu from New Zealand, Oaks was asking herself: Where's my focus? What am I doing? Where am I going? How will I make a living?
An accidental occupation
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Oaks was discouraged with the fashion scene in Honolulu. She found herself unable to find anything she liked that was in her price range. "I had always worn slips for dresses and decided to make some and show them at GirlFest, an art show at the ARTS at Marks last spring," she said.
Lucy Portman, a visitor from Cornwall, England, fell in love with Roberta Oaks' kicky slip dresses, perfect attire for her visit to the North Shore beaches.
She displayed about 30 dresses — and when 20 sold, it was an "ah-ha!" moment.
Oaks makes it clear that she is not a fashion designer. She is an artist who happens to use vintage white slips for her canvas.
She buys them and colors them with her own unique blend of dyes, resulting in unusual colors and undertones. She then adds trims, appliques and other design elements to create clothing that is really a collage, reflecting her two-dimensional fine art.
"I use my sewing machine like a paintbrush. I love painting with different colors of thread and different stitches. And 'flaws' (as some might call them) are not flaws! They are the little things that happen when you make art," Oaks said.
Her dresses, skirts and camisoles are like highly individualistic art pieces.
Each is treated differently, according to the artists' mood and the colors and textures of the materials that happen to catch her eye at the moment she is ready to sit down at her sewing machine. A little flower applique for the bodice? Strips of torn silk to embellish the hem in car wash fashion? Rainbow ribbons that meander along the seams? It's all an adventure to the free-spirited artist.
Recycled art
Sold at: Oogenesis in Hale'iwa and "Ooh La La!" in Hanalei, Kaua'i She'll have a booth: January 22-23, Pacific Islands Arts Festival, Kapi'olani Park Web orders: www.oakshawaii.com E-mail: Roberta@oakshawaii.com
A scavenger at heart and committed to environmental issues, Oaks uses only recycled pieces she finds in flea markets, online and in thrift shops. Her family in Missouri also scouts slips, trims and other supplies for her.
ROBERTA OAKS DESIGNS
Oaks has had strong sales at craft fairs and plans to continue setting up at several a year.
She recently created her own Web site, allowing visitors who have purchased her dresses to reorder from home.
She has just started approaching small boutique owners who "get" her clothes, and they are trying them out as part of their fashion mix. This week she is on Maui looking for more sales opportunities.
Some of Honolulu's most astute fashionistas have already discovered Oaks' designs. Actress, singer and Advertiser fashion forum member Sherry Chock Wong owns several.
"I love the fact that they are one of a kind, hand-made and cannot be found in stores, and I prefer not to look like my outfits came off a factory assembly line," Chock said. "She is an artist, and when I wear her clothes, I feel that I am wearing a piece of art. The slip dresses can be dressed up with jewels or dressed down with jeans, can go anywhere and are super comfy. ... The dresses are also sexy, but at the same time cute and girly. I almost hate to spread the word, but she is a secret too good to keep to myself!"
Oaks, who has a wicked sense of humor and streak of whimsy, names each of her dresses. A few now on her Web site: Mistress of the Midnight Circus, Yellie-Bellied Butterfly and Spilling Shiraz. Prices for Oaks' dresses range from $80 to $130. Camisoles are $20 to $35. Skirts are $65.
As artist, designer, seamstress, sales person and Web designer, Oaks says of her new business: "I am the soul behind this sole operation." And a soulful operation it is.
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Butterfly trim adorns this Roberta Oaks slip dress, transforming it from a vintage undergarment into a unique fashion item suitable for the beach or an evening out.
