Blue Hawaii Surf

Girls who shop at Blue Hawaii Surf can find trendy street looks by mixing graphic tees, zipper-legged jeans, fedoras and a variety of affordable fashionable pieces.

Jennifer, the women's merchandiser of BHS, walked me through its fall collection: two walls and shelves of trendy wears and accessories. I am surprised by how far its merchandises go from its "surf" domain to the street styles.

Trends

"Five years ago, the trends (in Hawaii) were too off. People got the trends a year later," said Jennifer. Now Blue Hawaii Surf offers trendy wears in sync with the fashion captials. Thanks to Jennifer, here goes the list of for current trends.

Bohemian rocker look

The trend was started by Gucci in the Fall 2008 collection, which seemed at the time (February 2008) to come from nowhere. Then it caught on with a force that practically put every fashion model in a hippie hair band. BHS presents the look by pairing Hurley embroided peasant dress with Element faux leather jacket. (Check out the slideshow for the look). I cringed at the idea of wearing leather jacket on the island, but one can definitely wear it in heavily air-conditioned rooms. The store even carries crochet purses to go with the look.

Acid washes

Jeans don't have to be the bland basic. It can be the statement piece with intriguingly textured acid wash or studs and rips strategically placed on the better attention zones. For an acid wash example, click the slideshow.

Zippers

Zippers bump up the ladder of trimmings from the functional nobody-care closure to the status of the new decoration star. The metal tone and rhythmic teeth give zipper a rocker edge. Thus, the once humble zippers find their new lives on the jeans legs, the shorts sides, or the center back of a sweatshirt.

Perky plaid

A recurring fall pattern, plaid goes wild this year. Instead of a simple two color combo with one color usually being black, plaid gets colorful and comes in different sizes and angels. You can find plaid on jackets, dresses, shirts, shorts and what not.

Burnouts

Tees reinvent itself by a new textured look. Still being graphical with more and more creative and visually stimulating prints, tees come up with new looks texture-wise. Burnout is the perfect finish that gives a breezy summer look, because the fabric gets thinner at the burn-off parts. BHS has the best priced burnout tee that I can find in town so far, at $47. You can wear it out but stay not seeing through.

Fedoras

Since the Kennedy times, Americans haven't worn much of a hat. Now it's big for women to wear fedoras. Actually, I remember I saw fedoras as halloween costumes in Waikiki in 2007. It just moves from a one-day costume to everyday must-have. For holidays, BHS will carry the flapper look hat.

Mix and match

Hurley, Obey, Insight, Element, brands that have a Southern California vibe, can be coordinated for a fresh look. "Now the surf brands are trying to be trendier," Jennifer informed me. Natually, one can find trendy pieces in a classical surf store like BHS.

What BHS does is to offer "affordable price point with upscale trends". Most items sell under $100. Different from fast fashion stores, BHS carries products that are made in better quality and with finer details. For example, the tees (oh, BHS has so many eye-popping graffiti Obey tees) feel softer and drapier. And on a zippered top, three button bridges cross the zipper. The buttons turn out to be magnet snaps. Easy to button on and off, but it gives a biker look.

Location

3rd Floor at Ala Moana Shopping Center, the Macy's side

While the store at Ala Moana is trendier, BHS Waikele is more about surf and Hawaiian wear. Next time, I should cover its men's and surf wear. Stay tuned.

MisFortune Hawaii

"Sometimes, things are out in a couple of hours," Steven Naszavadi, the boutique owner, told me about this unique store, which reopened in mid-April and changed its owner and name from MisFortune Boutique to MisFortune Hawaii.

I can testify the sold-out speed. Last week, I saw this pair of earring at $16. I really liked it and thought I can always come back later. This week, it is gone. A tip for shoppers at MisFortune: buy it now if you really like it.

The quick turnaround results from the store concept of "the unique boutique".

New and exciting things

Izumi Naszvadi, the merchandiser, only brings in what catches her eyes and excites her. Customers like new things, new styles and new designers. Right now, empire-waist knee-length dresses seem to be the main style in the store, which are cute and body flattering. There are neutrals as well as colors.

New arrivals come twice a week. Most items are from New York City or Los Angeles. The store is also looking to carry local designers who can "represent Hawaii from a different angle", said Steven.

The unique factor

Everything in the store comes in limited amount. It is highly unlikely that you bump into someone wearing the same clothes or carrying the same bag, if you buy it from MisForune. And that is why so many items are out quickly, when the stocks are low for each style.

Variety

Daywear, partywear, wedding dress. beachwear. Amazing jewelry, handbags, purses, scarfs. You can find a little bit of everything here. Besdies the cute dresses, the bags are one of a kind, well designed and of good quality. Check out the slideshow below and you will see their great bags.

Irresistable prices

The wholesaler-turned-retailer set the prices surprisingly low. For example, the black dress with chiffon overlayer sells at $44. The purple tank top sells at $27.3 with 30% off. So if you are looking for something different and unique at great prices, MisForune Hawaii is a store that you cannot miss.

Location

Ward Center Right across Brookstone, as highlighted in yellow in the map below.

Noa Noa HNL

Sash dress of Noa Noa

Brightly colored ethnic print, Indonesian artifacts, Indian music in the backgroun, beautiful and masterfully rendered batik, my first impression of NoaNoa isthat this is an Indonesia-themed boutique.

Its dressing room is busily decorated with Fijian and Samoan tapa, Island painting, Indonesian wood carved frame. The room is constructed with raw wood, which shows its grain. The entrace is not doored but screened by a length of ethnic print fabric.

Pacific print

The first and foremost feature of its Indonesianess is its geometric patterns usually in two colors of similar hues and different intensity. After talking with the sales person, who did not disclose her name to me, I realized that it is more than Indonesian print only, though many iteams are designed and made in Indonesia. There are a whole collection of Asian and Pacific prints, including Hawaiian, Fijian, Tongan, Thai, Samoan, and even Iranian.

Its star print is Java batik. Batik is a type of resist dye by applying wax to the fabric to prevent the dye from sinking into the fabric. I tried the dying method once in an embellishment class and understand the difficulty in creating a pattern accurately. So their exquisite hand-crafted batiks are thrilling to me, because that level of accuracy means years of practice and perfection.

Tropical styles

NoaNoa have racks of men's shirts very similar to Aloha shirt. Actually, men's shirt is their best sellers. Another Hawaiian wear is hula skirt with that puff around the hip.

One amazing style is "sash" skirt, with a long piece of fabric attached to the bottom, either skirt or pants, and can be worn in multiple ways by wraping around the torso in different ways and exposing varied amount of skin. I think that is smart, because the wearer then has the options and dress according to need and mood. In this sense, sash skirt is not "ready-to-wear", now so universal in all clothing stores, because the style leaves creative freedom for the consumer and let her to finish a look based on what's provided.

Natural fabrics

Most products are natural fibers: cotton, linen and silk, which are very appropriate for Pacific islands creations. Synthetic fabrics are western inventions from Europe. And in the Pacific, people use what nature provides.

What customers said

In my brief visit to the store, a man in his 50s purchased a shirt. He said the prints are good alternatives to Hawaiian prints. Well, boredoom is a driving force behind trend change. After all, who want to wear what everyone else is wearing and lose oneself in the crowd? Another feature the customer liked is its cotton fabric, thinner and breezier, good for hot summer days.

One of my girl friends also mentioned NoaNoa as one of her shopping destinations, because here there are a large collection of plus size clothing. They are easy fit and colorful. Petite Japanese tourists also like the store. So the store must have a large spectrum in size.

Other than clothing

On the check-out counter, there are jewelries and music albums. There is a small shelf of Putumayo music, which contains a world-wide music, such as Indian, Native American, Brazilian, and African.

Its ethnic jewelry from Bali is made in silve and turquoise, priced at $59.

Price range: $290 to $65. For example, its linen shirts are $99.

The store is unique, similar and different at the same time. I would not describe the store as exotic, because Hawaii is part of the Pacific and there is a common cultural tie of the islands. But Indonesian and the rest Pacific inspired prints and styles are different from Hawaian wear. It opens the possibilities of other ways of dressing and living under the tropical sun.The website on its business card seems to be another clothing company from New Zealand with the same name. So if you are interested in the store, check it out on your next shopping trip to Ward Center.

NoaNoa. The sales person told me it's about becoming beautiful. I checked online Hawaiian dictionary. It means "a priest not of high rank". It's like American Dream Hawaiian version: commoners to elites in terms of social status, not in terms of financial success. Anway, it may be an Indonesian word.