Part 4: Fashion with a Story

Ever wonder what goes into our designs? The vast majority of our designs is inspired primarily by nature and the memory that it evokes. 

I was born and raised on an acre of agricultural land in the back roads of Waimānalo. Instead of neighbors, I grew up surrounded by fruit trees and tropical flowers. We lived with my paternal grandparents whose green thumbs made our lot a little piece of heaven. I never bought bananas, mangos, avocados, papaya, lychee, or longan from the store until I moved out of my parents’ house after college. 

Grandma with some fresh picked papayas from the yard. 

My grandmother worked at the Waimānalo Post Office as a window clerk and was known to decorate her window with the beautiful flowers from our yard. 

Grandma with her beautifully decorated window at the Post Office.

At parties or graduations, we were the only ones with gardenia lei. From heliconias, gingers, to sexy pinks, my grandmother’s tropical flowers were unmatched. She would work her shift at the post office only to return home to tend to her flowers. 

Gardenia lei at my sister’s eighth grade graduation. Til this day, I’ve never seen anyone with a gardenia lei.

 

Grandma with a fresh bunch of heliconia.

My mom and me making lei for graduation season using only what we found in the yard.

 

My papa and grandma often sold their tropicals to other wholesale flower shops in the neighborhood and I would accompany them in their old yellow Ford pickup. Grandma and Papa would collect their flowers and meticulously clean each one. Once free of insects and unwanted buds, these finely pruned flowers would be ready to load up and deliver.

Loading up the old Ford for a delivery.

Me with my grandma pruning her torch gingers. (Grandma wearing her painted shirt from my maternal grandmother.)

My grandma and flowers were synonymous with one another. Even on vacation, they’d come home with pictures of beautiful flowers they found. She’d often have flowers in her hair and if no fresh flowers were available, she’d wear a shirt that my maternal grandmother painted for her with flowers on it. 

Grandma found some vibrant flowers on vacation.

Classic Grandma. Even on vacation, she’s got fresh flowers in her hair.

The other big influencer of my designs comes from hula. I danced hula from age four to eighteen. It’s amazing what you cherish and miss once you’re not doing it anymore. 

When I was a student of hula, I don’t think I really understood the gravity of what we were learning. Dancing the majority of my hula career with Hālau Mōhala ʻIlima, we were always given an in-depth understanding of what we were dancing, chanting, or singing. We learned about the place significance as well as hidden meanings beyond the lyrics. While it felt like just another day at school as a child, as an adult, these lessons have left an everlasting impression. These impressions often find their way into my designs. 

Sneak peek into my newest designs inspired by the palapalai fern which a fern often used in hula as it is known to be one of the sacred plants of Laka, the goddess of hula.

This is the reason that many of my designs have a deeper story embedded into them. Each design carries a memory. It’s become a way for me to remember my past, where I came from, and the influences that surrounded me. These designs are also a way for me to tell these stories to my kids. My grandparents have long gone and my kids will only know them through these stories and the pictures we’ve kept. 

For me, it’s imperative that our designs have great meaning and significance. It’s what keeps us rooted. It’s not enough for us to create something “just cuz” or because it’s “trending”. It’s my way of putting my ‘ohana’s stamp in history. 

Stay tuned for more from our blog as we’ll continue to give you some insight to our world “Behind The Thread”.

Much light, love, & aloha,

Jerrica