Hawaiian Style: The Roots of the Aloha Shirt

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-aloha-shirt-author-and-scholar-linda-arthur/

by ohjeez • 8 years ago

111 73 8 years ago

_13gp7• 8 years ago

People, please stop calling them Hawaiian shirts. Thank you.

OH, they're definitely Hawaiian shirts. They're not Estonian, for instance. Nor Japanese. Pure Hawaiian. There are also Hawaiian pants, and skirts etc.

jmkb• 8 years ago

The article's a fun read, and indicates that the originals were a product of Chinese tailors using Japanese kimono fabric in a hybrid Filipino/European style at the request of middle-class Hawaiian school boys.

_13gp7• 8 years ago

The proper name for them is stated in the article's title.

spraak• 8 years ago

Are you suggesting Aloha Shirt instead? Or it'd be great if you.could explain further. I do understand not saying Hawaiian Shirt, since Hawaiian carries the connotation of ethnically Hawaiian. No sane white person who's born in Hawaii would say they're Hawaiian [1], so in that way it makes sense.

[1] I've lived in Hawaii most my life and this is my experience.

_13gp7• 8 years ago

Yes, Aloha shirt. Sorry for not being clear earlier, was looking at the article title when posting.

panzagl• 8 years ago

Nothing says Officially Sanctioned Fun like Hawaiian shirt Friday...

joejerryronnie4• 8 years ago

A previous co-worker recently took a job with one of the big consulting firms in DC. They have "jeans Fridays" but you have to pay $5.00 to participate each week.

SketchySeaBeast• 8 years ago

I've never found pants there were so uncomfortable I'd pay to get out of them. In fact, the dressier the pant, the more comfortable they seem to be.

hkmurakami• 8 years ago

Does this go to charity?

Analemma_• 8 years ago

Man, having a job on the East Coast seems like a fate worse than death. You'll pry my jeans and T-shirt from my cold, dead fingers.

coldtea5• 8 years ago

Or you know, you can wear it any day you like, and fuck the office's style rules.

How's that for non-officinally sanctioned?

shanghaiaway• 8 years ago

Do you drop f bombs whilst wearing the shirt? A true rebel.

nmcfarl• 8 years ago

Archive: http://archive.today/2018.07.11-134734/https://www.collector...

beamatronic• 8 years ago

There are different grades of Aloha type shirts. I once had a business meeting in Hawaii. There is a business casual grade for lack of a better term. Everyone at this business looked so stylish and classy yet with a tropical sort of flair. It was great!

papa• 8 years ago

So true. I love Aloha shirts (I grew up on Oahu). The best thing about them is that they are multi-purpose. Need to wear something to a wedding in Hawaii? Aloha shirt with slacks. Funeral? Aloha shirt, totally acceptable. Fancy restaurant? Again, Aloha shirt. Business attire? Totally acceptable (it's really the norm for business people if you're 'dressing up').

Where else can you get away with wearing such a comfortable, fun shirt in so many different contexts.

_13gp7• 8 years ago

When I tell people that only lawyers wear suits in Hawaii they don't believe me. Don't know if still going on but the legislature was pushing the courts to discourage the use of suits as well.

On top of all your reasons, it's just too hot and humid year round in Hawaii to wear a suit regularly. Must be pure misery for the people who have to.

highdesertmuse• 8 years ago

My husband lives and works in nothing but Reyn Spooners and jeans -- has a 40 year old "collection" (every year the company produces several new designs that are emblematic for that year). He says they're made of the original Hawaiian Fabric and are the most comfortable and certainly most long lasting -- they turn the fabric inside out so wear is just part of the look. They are beautiful classic shirts and I never get tired of seeing him in them.

crooked-v• 8 years ago

Thanks for the brand mention. I've been looking to replace some of my worn-out aloha shirts. I really love the low-key prints.

joejerryronnie4• 8 years ago

I was looking to pick up a couple of Reyn Spooner shirts while on the big island last month, but I realized they all had collar buttons. My mind cannot reconcile aloha shirts and collar buttons existing in the same universe so I went with Tommy Bahama instead.

electricslpnsld• 8 years ago

I'd like to know how Hawaiian shirts became the official attire of US Federal Air Marshals

matt_the_bass• 8 years ago

A few years ago I had to get some paperwork stamped returning to the US (equipment travelling on a carnet). I had to go through passport control in an area far from most travelers. While talking to the CBP agent, a motley group of 8 gregarious people can down the hall and skipped the passport control. The CBP agent I was working with said “there goes the Air Marshals”. The group was mixed gender, mixed ages, mixed build, mixed style. I would not have pegged any of them as Air Marshals. One girl had dyed punk hair and a biker jacket. One guy looked like a middle aged dad. One girl looked like a European fashion model.

toomanybeersies2• 8 years ago

In Fiji, they wear bula shirts, which are more or less the same (bula == aloha in Fijian).

I wonder if they're a separate parallel development, or if they were introduced at some point.

jedberg• 8 years ago

Fascinating. I have a pretty solid collection of Aloha shirts myself, but I always thought they were a mainland invention and that the Hawaiians just sort of adopted them.

It makes me happy to know that they actually create the idea and is a positive part of their culture, and not just another adoption of their colonizer's culture.

coldtea5• 8 years ago

Any good brands? I saw a mention of Reyn Spooners.

Usually I made do with Tommy Bahamas.

vadym909• 8 years ago

Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack are usually good places to find good brands and deals inc Reyn Spooner and Tommy Bahamas

greggman• 8 years ago

I'm curious. much of South East Asia has the Batik shirts. The higher end ones are considered formalwear. Is there any connection?

Turing_Machine3• 8 years ago

Then there are those embroidered shirts from the Philippines.

Those are awesome -- they don't seem to be as common now, but you still sometimes see older Filipino gentlemen wearing them on "dress-up" occasions.

timwaagh• 8 years ago

Just got two of them in today. I love this type of shirt.

bradknowles• 8 years ago

I have some Sig Zane shirts. Love them. They are proper Aloha shirts. Bought them in Hilo, when my wife and I were on vacation a couple of years ago to the big island.

I also have some shirts with much bolder fluorescent colors and more garish styling, many of which I bought at Hilo Hattie's, which ironically does not exist in Hilo. I bought mine on Maui, during that same trip.

The latter are what I would call "Hawaiian Shirts", with quotes intact. Only suitable for tourists to wear. No local would be caught dead in them.

Here on the mainland, I wear my "Hawaiian Shirts" every day, and on days with hot weather, I also wear cargo shorts and Keen sandals. I wouldn't want to work any place that would not allow me to wear the clothes that make me feel comfortable.

Hawaiian Style: The Roots of the Aloha Shirt

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