Tag: hawaiian fashion

Fashion Five with Manaola Yap

Get to know more about designer Manaola Yap with our Friday Fashion Five:

Who are your greatest fashion influences?
My mom was always my fashion influence because she was always well put together and fashionable. She is one of my main fashion influences. I grew up around a lot of Hawaiian designers doing fashion shows with them so I was really inspired by the things they produced and being around them and being able to see what they saw and watch their looks come together-Nake’u was a big inspiration. The things he paired together were always so unexpected and striking, some things I didn’t really understand until now. He was so on it, and it was always so original. 

What are your favorite ways to relieve stress?
I love to exercise, a good workout helps me to mellow my mind. Because I’m so creative, my mind is always moving and creating, which is also why I love music, it helps to stop the chatter in my brain. 

Whose fashion career would you like to emulate?
I like Carolina Herrera, I love what she’s built for herself and her family and how she uses her family and her daily life in a lot of her designs, which is what I love to do. She names certain pieces and collections after her family and I like to design clothes named after family or friends who embody it well.

What is your favorite pau hana drink of choice?
If I am at the beach (normally after paddling) I drink Heinekin. But if am out I like a very classic Grey Goose Cape Cods (cranberry juice, vodka & squeeze of lime). Grey Goose is distilled 7 times which is the highest content you can find. Grey Goose kills free radicals in the body but it is not detrimental to your health. 

What was your favorite moment of Melange 2015?
My favorite moment was watching the show, even though I was running back and forth. There was so much joy in everybody’s faces and seeing all of the models who were so excited to wear our clothes, both our brand ambassadors as well as new models that we met in San Francisco.

S/S 2015 Runway Show: 85 Looks For Summer

Honolulu Design Center hosted the first independent fashion show for Manaola Hawaii to launch our Summer 2015 collection. Guests gathered on Friday, June 19 for cocktails at Amuse Wine Bar and were welcomed with a performance by Starr Kalahiki, Asialynn and Ed Yap. Videos and interview by Vision Horse Media introduced guests to the brand by detailing the design inspirations for each of the four prints highlighted in this collection, as well as moving footage captured at Kawaihae and Mauna Kea.

The fashion show started at 7:30pm, cleansed with salt by the designer before he opened the evening with an oli. A hula noho was performed by his sister, Asialynn, honoring their ‘ohana’s hula foundation. As the hula ended, the lights dimmed, before Asialynn returned to the spotlight with pū‘ili in hand, and began the fashion show.

85 unique looks designed and styled by Manaola Yap were featured, including jewelry from Dean Ka‘ahanui, Pi‘i Ali‘i and HinaJwls Hawaii. From black and white neutrals to soft pastels, Manaola offered something fresh and modern yet distinctly Hawaiian, in a wide array of silhouettes and colors.

After the designer took his final bow to mahalo the crowd, the house lights went on and signaled the pop up shop to open. It was an unforgettable evening celebrating Hawaiian creativity, and we could not have been more warmly received by those who joined us.

Manaola Hawaii would like to mahalo our fantastic partners for lending their support and talent to us to create an unforgettable evening: Honolulu Design Center, Irwin Mencias, Paul Mitchell The School Honolulu, Arthur Wilson and staff, Allan Cool, Chariya Willis, Page Dance Academy, Puunui Wong, Calvin Canha, Aaron Yoshino, Adam Palumbo, the talented performers and models and all of the incredible kokua who generously offered their time to backstage as well as in the pop up shop. We could not have done it without all of you!

Style Spotlight: Hihimanu Top

HIHIMANU

Designer Manaola Yap shares the profound mana‘o behind one of his most popular womens styles, the Hihimanu Top.

“The hihimanu design was inspired its namesake, which translates to stingray. The reason why I was so blown away by these creates is because of how elegant they are in the water,” he explains. 

“In Hawaiian, when you say hihimanu, its another reference to a woman who is really beautiful, or carries herself really elegantly.” He shares the special place that sparked the design: “Kokoiki, Kohala, is known for hihimanu that actually leap out of the water, as a sign–an omen or ho‘ailona to us. When you see the hihimanu jump out of the water, it’s a blessing of the ancestors. There are a lot of stories in Kokoiki where families used to swim with them and feed them.”

Yap not only wanted to represent the hihimanu in an elegant shape that would flatter the figure of the wearer, but also used his design skills to literally showcase the elegance of the sea creature: “If you were to open your arm span wearing the top, it is cut in the shape of a hihimanu.”

Frolic Hawaii: MANAOLA Fashions Go Deep

To truly understand the Hawaiian language, you must know what “kaona” is; the hidden and deeper meaning of a word or phrase. To fully appreciate Manaola fashions, understand that behind every creation, lies a story.

Hula practitioner and designer Carrington Manaola Yap, known as Manaola, debuted his latest collection at the Honolulu Design Center’s Cupola Theatre on Friday. From his handcrafted prints to his unexpected placement of cut-outs, and slim menswear silhouettes, there’s something different and special about Manaola designs.

Growing up in Kohala on Hawaii island, he immersed himself in his surroundings, culture and heritage. Manaola translates his spirituality and fascination of nature into prints that embody organic shapes and repetitious patterns from fish bones, shark teeth, eel skin and lightning.

Visit the original Frolic Hawaii article here to read the exclusive interview with Manaola and for a gallery of photos from the latest fashion show!