DIY — do it yourself, a prime motivator for the young and ambitious — is finding its way into many aspects of our lives. Internet blogs serve as detailed DIY memoirs; YouTube is DIY see-it-yourself; deconstructed/reconstructed clothing is DIY to wear, and our iPods make us each a DIY DJ.

In fashion, DIY bows to the desire of the independent-minded to create a look and lifestyle entirely their own.

Now an enterprising group of twentysomething friends is taking the DIY concept into retail, as The Candy Shop opens its doors Friday.

The Candy Shop is the brainchild of Tiffany Tanaka and Jana Park, friends and partners in WeSellThings4U, a business that assists clients with getting the most from their eBay sales. The two have known each other since their days in the class of '98 at Punahou. They enlisted Courtney Young, another Punahou classmate, to help them.

Since fashion is her first love, Tanaka has spent many hours cruising eBay to look at clothes. "I kept seeing the term DIY, so I started searching specifically for DIY fashions, and I kept finding all these cute clothes that are only available through eBay," Tanaka said. She decided to pursue them, with the idea of opening a brick-and-mortar store with a fresh DIY vibe.

The Candy Shop is a hybrid business, bringing online vendors into a retail setting. Many of the lines the shop carries come from independent eBay designers who create one-of-a-kind DIY garments. This is a natural fit, as Tanaka and Park plan to launch their own DIY line at the shop's party on opening night.

The business will travel in both directions on the information superhighway. Not only will the partners bring online designers into a retail setting; they also plan to assist student designers from the University of Hawai'i School of Apparel Design and Merchandising with making their senior fashion show collections available on eBay.

DIY LABELS AT THE CANDY SHOP

Pretty Trashy

Punk meets princess in unexpected combinations of gothic skull and pirate images on black T-shirts that have been reconstructed into slimming silhouettes with lacy cap sleeves. Also, slinky slips silk-screened with creepy spiders and edgy sayings.

Akane

North Shore designer who takes Hawaiian Island Creations dead stock from the '80s and reconstructs it into halter tops. Also known for flirty dresses, bloomers and miniskirts pieced from vintage fabrics.

Twinkie Chan

Whimsical one-of-a-kind crochet and knit scarves inspired by the designer's fridge: French Fries, Crochet-ter-Tots, Rocky Road ice cream.

Supayana

Contrasting knits cut up and combined to create interesting shapes with dynamic details by Brooklyn designer Yana Gorbulsky.

Michele Lau

Local downtown designer who relishes vintage fabrics, cutting, patching and sewing them into interesting geometric shapes and innovative fish-scale-style skirts and dresses.

Lime Crime

By Xenia Vorotova of Brooklyn. Micro-minis in French-maid styles with puffed sleeves and ruffled collars with a bit of edge.

Reach Paula Rath at paularath@aol.com.