Wearable Art Show Coming To Waimea

Native Hawaiian designers will be featured in a fashion show never before seen on the Big Island.

Oahu’s annual “Wearable Art Show” will make its Big Island debut May 31 at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea.

The PA‘I Foundation is bringing the show to Waimea in celebration of Maoli Arts Month (MAMo).

Kumu Hula Vicky Holt Takamine and award-winning musician Robert Cazimero will emcee the event, which incorporates Hawaiian performing arts into the runway show.

The wearable art being showcased includes both traditional and contemporary garments worn for ceremonial rituals, cultural practices, and adornments.

Artist Micah Kamohoaliʻi will open with a hula using original kapa costumes, followed by Wahine Toa with everyday Hawaiian wear, Maile Andrade’s ’60s Mod feel, Keone Nunes with kākau, Living Hula with a local ready-to-wear line, and Marques Marzan showing haute couture designs.

The Kahilu foyer will host lei makers, Hawaiian food and a trunk show of the designers’ ready-to-wear attire. The Kahilu tech team is building a special runway extending over the auditorium seats just for this event, said a PA‘I Foundation release.

The annual Wearable Art Show on O‘ahu grew out of the month-long celebration of Native Hawaiian art launched by Holt Takamine in 2006 called Maoli Arts Month (MAMo).

“We realized that art is not just what we frame and put on a wall,” she said. “It’s the culture, principles and values that are at the core of who we are, that get transferred to the things that we wear.”

Expect to see cutting edge design as well as ‘creative comfort’ with traditional patterns and motifs translated into contemporary styles, said Takamine.

Proceeds from the MAMo Wearable Arts Show benefit the PA‘I Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian cultural traditions for future generations.

Tickets are $60 or $35 depending on seating. Tickets are available at kahilutheatre.org or by calling 885-6868.