happy birthday tori richard!

sahara festival + monstera

if you loved the retro aloha shirt mentioned in yesterday's post about the hawaii international film festival then it's time to get to know tori richard. the venerable hawaii fashion house, a favorite of island jet setters, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with the release of tori richard: the first fifty years, a history of how the company got its start with a delightful retrospective of vintage designs.

preconceived notions of what embodies aloha wear are in for a sweet surprise when you take a look at the newest collection. tori richard's roots are in textile design (14,000 prints and counting) which has always been the foundation for their signature cosmopolitan style that has been worn on islands all around the world.

in hawaii, stop by the tori richard shops at ala moana, the hilton hawaiian village, hyatt regency, or the shops at wailea on maui. the line is also stocked in the resort department at luxury retailers neiman marcus, saks, and bergdorf goodman.

growing up local

hopefully, my attempt to whittle down my vanity fair stash while in flight will be accomplished, but if you need something good to read on your next trip then grab a copy of growing up local. this anthology is a nice introduction to many talented local writers whom you may not be familiar with, and the stories they tell are sure to tap into more than a few repressed memories from your childhood.

my favorite: "the gift" by gary pak which is a spooky yet hilarious hawaiian style coming of age story reminiscent of stand by me.

a peek into hawaii's hidden archipelago

 

a few months ago, i had a chance to watch jean-michel cousteau's documentary, voyage to kure, which explored the rarely seen northwestern hawaiian islands. it's a journey that most of us will never have the opportunity to make, and, quite honestly, that's probably a good thing for all the endangered creatures that call this part of the world home.

you can get a glimpse of these rare specimans in archipelago, the latest book from photographers' david liittschwager & susan middleton. you will be amazed at what they found and their stunning photographs reinforce just how important it is for each and every one of us to do our part for the environment.

if you really don't think this matters, let me tell you how disheartening it was to see the animals that
died from ingesting all the plastic crap that clueless people continue to litter across the earth, as well as the tons of fishing nets that volunteers gathered up from the ocean in just one day.

bet you didn't know that this part of hawaii is like a whirlpool gathering up all the stuff that people, as far as thousands of miles away, have tossed into the ocean eventually finding its way into the ecosystem to the unsuspecting wildlife who make all this man-made stuff their next meal.

alrighty, off my soapbox. if you're intrigued you may also want to add remains of a rainbow, another book from l+m featuring rare plants of hawaii, to your book list.

photographs from archipelago are currently on exhibit at the kauai museum until oct 15th.

punahou blues

there's nothing better than kicking back with a good book on a lazy summer afternoon. add a little island flavor to your summer book list with the latest novel from kirby wright (another uc san diego alum!). punahou blues is a coming of age story set in honolulu and molokai during the 1960's & 70's and is filled with plenty of colorful local characters and stories that could happen only in hawaii.

it's a perfect beach read . . . although you just may wish you had a bag of hot malasadas from the punahou carnival to enjoy while flipping through the pages.

the hapa project

as a hapa girl, i have been eagerly following kip fulbeck's hapa project for the past year and i am happy to announce that his book was recently published. part asian, 100% hapa is a series of photographs asking subjects that eternal hapa question, "what are you?"

the great thing about growing up in hawaii is that it is much easier to fit in (although even in the 1970's & 80's there weren't that many of us around) but it still would have been nice to have a book like this to flip through.