Artist, screenwriter, dancer and model (she was Katalina on the alterna-pinup Web site Suicide Girls) Katharin "Lady K" Dombrow has a soft spot for local design. The Chicago native teamed with lensman Tim Burton to create Threads, the new first-Sunday event at Fashion45. For a fee, designers get a sales venue and runway show. Models get exposure and photos by Kyler of imagesbyK2. "There are really talented, hard-working people out here," says Dombrow. The first Threads showcased San Lorenzo bikinis, such as the one on model Chanel Wahinepio, left. Tonight: Us Girls Hawaii. Runway shows go off every 45 minutes from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Fashion45; 922-4599.

— Melissa May White

IT TAKES TWO TO TANDEM

Gidget was doing it in 1959, and Kathy Terada has been ruling the category at Buffalo's Big Board Surfing Classic for years. Now a new generation of surfer girls — like 24-year-old Tiare Friedman, right — is tackling tandem surfing as it gains international recognition. Summer swells spell tandem-competition season in Waikiki, which culminates with the world championships in August. Wanna try? You can rent 12-foot boards at any Waikiki beachboy stand ($12-$50 a day) — bring your own muscleman. For more information on the World Championship of Tandem Surfing or to download a diagram of all official lifts, go to www.itsatandem.com.

— Lacy Matsumoto