Tanya Smith's work-a-day world under the basket as a University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine is tinged in black and blue.

It is a place where elbows are thrown with injurious intent, bruises are badges of courage and sore jaws part of the game.

Smith is in her physical element there, a powerful 6-foot-3 All-Western Athletic Conference post presence who leads UH in scoring (13.2 points) and rebounds (12.3 rebounds) and owns 13 double-doubles in 19 games this season.

But her other world, the bright, many-hued bastion of fashion for the apparel product, design and merchandising major, is something of an incongruity by comparison. That's where she sheds her blue-collar role for designer chic.

"I think for other people, who aren't around her on a day-to-day basis, it is quite a contrast," said UH coach Jim Bolla.

When she's not being asked to carry the Rainbow Wahine on her back, as she will be tomorrow at New Mexico State, Smith is likely to be lugging an armful selection of the more than 100 fashion magazines she keeps on hand. All the while studying fashion trends and running ideas past teammates.

For UH coaches, this can mean a discussion on the finer points of $300-a-pair jeans or designer eyewear during van rides on road trips.

Once Smith thought she could bring the two disparate parts of her UH existence together, offering to redesign the Rainbow Wahine uniforms. But, alas, the school already had an apparel contract so the initial line of Tanya Smith athletic wear will have to wait.

Perhaps even longer than Smith initially believed. Enrolling at Manoa her intention was to get a degree and head into the fashion field somewhere either in her native Australia or the U.S. But the last two seasons, campaigns that have seen her blossom in the post for UH, have given Smith pause for further consideration.

Now, with her playing resume and trophy case filling up with honors, including three selections as WAC player of the week this year, she talks of options. Recent games, in which she had 25 points against Boise State one night and 25 rebounds against Idaho the next, are making it tougher to contemplate that jump straight into a fashion career.

"You don't usually think of a fashion designer as a physical type of person," Bolla admits. Smith is redesigning that concept, too.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.