Aloha and welcome to Home is Here.

I'm Kalaʻi Miller.

What comes to mind when you think of muʻumuʻu or muumuu?

Aunties?

Tutus?

Loud colors and patterns?

On this episode, we will talk to the women who are working to bring the muʻumuʻu back.

The Muʻumuʻu Movement was started by wāhine of all ages who have formed a community based on their love for this distinctly Hawaiian garment.

These passionate women are shining a spotlight on the muʻumuʻu, and sharing the rich history and stories behind these pieces of wearable aloha.

I don’t really know why the muʻumuʻu went out of style.

There was something so powerful about the way I felt in muʻumuʻu.

It would make me think of my mom, and it would make me feel like a princess.

At one time, we had a booming fashion industry.

And there's a resurgence of that again.

My name is Marion Jones, and I'm the founder of the Muʻumuʻu Library.

When I was young, my mom always wore muʻumuʻu and for parties, she would always dress us up in matching ones.

And you know, for Aloha Fridays at school or picture days, we always wore aloha wear.

In high school, I started thrifting a lot and I loved finding the old vintage aloha wear in the thrift shops, it would just bring back a lot of nostalgic feelings.

Muʻumuʻu means to cut or to shorten.

It was an abbreviated garments compared to the holokū, which was a lot more formal and long, usually with the train.

So the muʻumuʻu was a more casual form of the holokū.

They slowly did go out of style.

And of course, there was always Aunties that wore them but for women of my generation, they were things you would pass by if you saw them in the thrift store.

I moved away for college.

And when I came back home, it had been, you know, seven years I'd been off Island, and I kind of was having this identity crisis.

I found that when I wore aloha wear I felt at home again.

And it almost made me feel like I fit in and I started collecting again and thrifting again.

There's very few places where I feel like I truly belong.

I think that aloha wear is really representative of the people of Hawaiʻi because it was formed here.

It's very unique to this place.

And I feel like you know as a half white half Filipino woman that this is also where I make sense.

Nice aloha wear can oftentimes be expensive, you know, like this beautiful dress.

Luckily, I got it this one at the swap meet, I scored.

But I wanted to find a way that women could wear beautiful aloha wear in a way that was affordable and sustainable.

The Muʻumuʻu Library is a place where women can borrow and trade dresses, and really share and be a part of a community.

Right now we are transitioning and fundraising for larger space in order to have it become more of an educational space where women can come in, borrow muʻu, but they can also take a sewing class, borrow patterns.

We're currently building an archive of patterns.

So if they wanted to sew their own Nakeʻu with the fabric that they found, they could.

And we're lucky that Nakeʻu has generously offered to donate a pattern or two to our library, into our archive.

We are here at Nakeʻu Awai’s shop in Kalihi.

I know the first time I came here, this was all blocked off and I was trying to peek in I was like, Can I look in there?

And you said, Well, yes, but you can't buy anything Yeah.

I performed and lived in Hollywood for about seven years.

I was exposed to fashions up there.

And so when I came back and decided to move home, I decided to go into fashion.

I eventually did go into printing my own fabrics.

I always wanted to do clothing for local people.

I would take my fabric and they would make Bette Scoops and there would be two labels.

It would be my label as well as Bette Muʻu.

People still come back, they come back and tell me about the old muʻumuʻu that they had from long time ago and could I have another one like it.

it's a great honor to be here because he, you know, ignited the second Hawaiian Renaissance.

And I sincerely believe that we're in the midst of another renaissance right now.

Just the way that the Muʻumuʻu Movement has kind of taken off in the past few years.

And you can really feel the momentum, especially this this year, this Muʻu Month.

My name is Shannon Hiramoto and I’m from the island of Kauaʻi.

I started Muʻumuʻu Month eight years ago in 2015.

It started as a social media creative expression.

And it's since grown.

And now many wāhine participate, and we're a community.

One reason why I love the muʻumuʻu so much is because of my nostalgia and sentimentality from growing up here.

It was just a part of life, a part of childhood.

And it was so unique and special.

It was part of every special occasion, every school photo, as I grew older, it was something that I wanted to revisit, and having a child also encouraged me to want to pass it down to her.

For me, when I started moving Muʻumuʻu Month, it was because I was gifted about 70 muʻumuʻu, vintage ones, from a family friend.

I decided I didn't want to repurpose these, I wanted to wear them and actually like pay them respect and give them a second life.

And that's when I thought I was going to wear one every single day, for the first 31 days of the year.

And I had the rest that I offered for free to anybody that wanted to also participate, and it slowly spread from there.

The ability for us to connect over social media was also very significant.

And to be able to see things on different people in different contexts and in contexts that maybe are a little unusual, like a bowling alley or a hike to see a muʻumuʻu in these different environments was really appealing for people and that's what generated a lot of interest in the dresses to see that there are versatile and that they can still be relevant and fun.

It's also a bridge between generations.

So you see little keiki to women my age to maybe some kūpuna all wearing them, and each getting a kick out of them.

My favorite thing about the Muʻu Movement is this intergenerational fashion, but it really nurtures intergenerational friendships as well.

One of my best friends, you know, is in her 60s, Auntie Lei Batty and she has her shop, DeStash Hawaiʻi.

She teaches me how to embroider and you know, we'll go get lunch together, but she's 66 years old and I'm 30 but I think that’s very unique to the muʻumuʻu.

Women who come to the Muʻumuʻu Library Shop are usually younger.

I was surprised at first how young, I think like, like 16, 17 and then early to mid 20s.

And I think they're just excited to be part of a fashion movement that's different, and something they can feel good about.

You know, like I said, it's sustainable.

They want to shop locally.

And they I think they feel the same way that I do and they feel like a sense of belonging through their fashion that, you know, when I see another woman wearing a muʻumuʻu I’m like, “Sis!” At the palace we had our Muʻu at the Museum event and it was just so warm and fuzzy to be around all these women.

And we're united by nothing else other than the fact that we love wearing muʻumuʻu.

My name is Alexis Zen, I am the event chair for Muʻu at the Museum.

I'm also the treasurer for the board of Daughters of Hawaiʻi.

We're so lucky that Marion with Muʻu Library is willing to partner with us.

I mean, the fact is that there's so much overlap between what she does and what we do.

She's all about promoting these beautiful garments.

And these garments happen to stem from a period that our organization is dedicated to preserving and promoting.

The Daughters of Hawaiʻi wanted to host an event that celebrated Queen Emma’s birthday, which was January second.

This year we celebrated her 186th birthday.

We also knew that January was Muʻumuʻu Month, so we thought why not combine the two, host an event that celebrated Muʻumuʻu Month in commemoration of her name, but also that historic period when so many women wore muʻumuʻu?

That's it one more.

Nice smile.

Oh, yeah, you got it.

You look gorgeous.

Thank you.

Later today I'm having lunch with Toko from Princess Kaiulani Fashions.

And, you know, she's from Japan, but she has this, you know, admiration of muʻumuʻu.

One of the things that inspired me to start the Muʻumuʻu Library was a friend of mine had actually traveled to Japan and he told me all about the kimono rentals.

And he went to this kimono museum.

And, you know, there's all this reverence towards the kimono.

And I'm like, That's so beautiful.

I wish that existed here for the muʻumuʻu.

And she had the same exact thought.

My name is Toko Sugaya.

I do a rental dress store in Waikīkī.

We’ve been making Punahou or ʻIolani School graduation dresses.

If I were a high school student in Hawaiʻi, I wish I had that.

Because it’s not just a regular gown, it’s something that kind of they’re proud of to carry it.

The fit has a historic fit and the style changes every year.

Students choose the dress and I really want young people to carry the Hawaiian Fashion and it’s something to be proud of.

Another really great thing that I love about the mu’umu’u is that everyone has a story to tell.

So whenever you see a woman walking down the street and she's wearing one, it instantly stops you in your tracks and you want to ask her about it.

You want to ask her, “Where did it come from?

Whose was it?” and usually it unlocks a lot of storytelling.

My mom’s muʻumuʻu are definitely the most special to me.

I often come across a lot of homemade muʻus and those are my favorite and definitely a huge inspiration behind the Muʻumuʻu Library.

What I love about this muʻumuʻu that I'm wearing, is that it was given to me by my mother and that she passed on to me, which I just love the lineage of it and just the sentimentality behind it.

It is a off the shoulder black Allen Akina with black eyelet lace.

I found my great grandmother's muʻumuʻu in a thrift store on Kauaʻi and I knew it was hers because her name was in the tag.

And then I hunted through photo albums and confirmed it when I saw photos of her wearing it.

I went to the exact spot where she was and replicated the photographs.

And it was just an amazing thing to be able to reconnect with her in that way because she had passed.

And I felt like it was a little like wink to me.

What's so amazing about muʻumuʻu is that yes, it's local and Hawaiʻi designers are making them.

But you know, they can still have a worldwide impact.

I mean, there's something for everyone.

Look how cute this is, right?

I think what makes aloha wear different than Western fashion is that it's us and it is our story.

It's this mix plate fashion and it takes a little bit from everyone.

You know, it's a little bit Haole.

It's a little bit Hawaiian.

It's a little bit Japanese.

And I think that's why it unites us because it belongs to all of us.

Anyone who loves Hawaiʻi and loves this place would also love to dress in a way that is reflective of the people and its history and I just think that's beautiful.

From the Big Island to the Big Apple.

Hawaiʻi Island’s Sharayah Chun-Lai fulfilled a lifelong dream when she became the first ever Native Hawaiian wahine to accept an invitation to showcase her brand, Ola Hou Designs, at New York Fashion Week this past February.

Ola Hou is going to bring a new modern twist to aloha wear, to Hawai’i fashion that we see today.

I graduated from Kamehameha Schools, Hawaiʻi Campus and attended the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2012 and went into the Fashion Design and Merchandising program and learned so much.

We learned sewing, we learned pattern making, blocking, styling, you know, just all the aspects that go into the fashion industry and I absolutely loved it.

It was just everything that I knew that I wanted to do and learned so much and took that knowledge and after graduating in 2016 with my bachelor's degree in fashion design, I knew I wanted to take it to another level and take that knowledge and passion and love for fashion and do something with it.

And after having my daughter in 2017 and I wanted to be able to stay at home with her and be a mom but also start my own business and do what I loved.

And that's how the idea of Ola Hou Designs come about.

Ola Hou translates to new life and I actually got that name for my business because of a senior project that I did.

I fell in love with it and I knew that I wanted to be a fashion designer.

Each design has a story to it.

Family, friends, love, life, and culture and I take all of that and I put my heart into this print.

My very first collection was the ʻAʻaliʻikūmakani Collection, you know, dedicated to my daughter, that is her middle name.

When I first designed the ʻAʻaliʻikūmakani Collection, she was a baby.

But now she's four years old and she knows, I mean she even tells me all the time, “Mom I'm Ola Hou.” And so and you know just to have her you know when I tell her like, “This is your print.

This is ʻAʻaliʻikūmakani,” and she's like, “I know mom, it's so beautiful.” And I tell her, “yes because you are beautiful.

This is you.” You know the meaning of ʻAʻaliʻikūmakani is standing strong in the wind being resilient and can withstand any strong winds and gales and that is her.

And so for her to understand that and know that this print truly represents her, is just the most amazing feeling.

The Nāhuluhiwahiwa Collection was dedicated to my grandparents that have passed away.

My grandmother Beverly, who was my inspiration.

She was the most beautiful classy woman that I've ever seen and I looked up to since I was young, you know, I would love going into her closets just so I could dress up to be just like her, in her skirts and matching tops and jewelry.

And she was always so well put together from head to toe.

And that's exactly what I wanted to do and be and so to be able to give her that recognition through the orchid and the purple, the lavender colors that she absolutely loved and to be able to have people connect to that.

You know, that was one thing that when I came out with that collection and was able to, to describe what it meant to me, I had so many people tell me, “that's my grandparents, you know, when I see the rainbow when I see the orchids, that reminds me of my family and my grandparents.” And so just to be able to connect with people through stories and through the prints is what I want Ola Hou to mean.

On October 6th, I got an amazing life changing call from Runway Seven inviting Ola Hou Designs to New York Fashion Week.

I was just blown away.

I've watched Fashion Week, all my life.

And so that was always a dream of mine.

And I would tell my husband, “you know, someday I'm gonna get there.” When they had called and said, “bring your story to the runway.” I just teared up after that, you know, I was like, “Yes!

I can do this.

I can bring Ola Hou to the runway and showcase my story.” It’s still very surreal to me.

The Big Island to the Big Apple is such a neat phrase, even though it's called the Big Island, we're a very small place to be able to bring this little community this this little Hawaiʻi to New York is truly amazing.

And I'm excited to you know, not only myself, to have this opportunity, but the entire team that I'm bringing up—Team Ola Hou—models, entertainers, hula dancers, being able to give them this opportunity.

You know, these people are from a small place that also want to be able to further their careers in what they're interested in passionate about.

I'm so grateful for every hand that's a part of this.

Yeah, it's definitely stressful, but it's so worth it.

And I can't wait to showcase you know, all of the hard work that everybody has been doing on the runway.

Being the first Native Hawaiian wahine to accept an invitation to Runway Seven and be showcased on the stage of New York Fashion Week is truly an honor.

You know, I'm so grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to showcase Ola Hou Designs to showcase Hawaiʻi on the runway.

I'm hoping that when people watch this little girls or other women that are passionate about something, especially fashion, that you know, can look at me and say she made it and that's what I want to do.

And so I want to be able to inspire others, especially wāhine that have a dream and a passion.

People in Hawaiʻi, we can do something and we can be seen.

And that’s my ultimate goal is for everyone to get an opportunity to do what they love from, from a small place.

For mother/daughter design team, Kim and Jade Alexis Ryusaki, their fashion line, Lotus and Lime is all about honoring ʻohana and their rich cultural heritage.

The Oʻahu-based pair also made the journey to New York Fashion Week to share their uniquely Hawaiian story and clothes with the world.

I’m Kim, and I’m the owner and designer of Lotus and Lime.

And I’m Jade Alexis and I’m co-designer and head of marketing, I guess.

Lotus and Lime started in 2012, so we just finished celebrating our tenth anniversary.

Although I've been doing this for 30 years, not so much on a full time basis, but I always had a small company and making fashion whether it was jewelry, clothing.

I spent the majority of my adult life living in Los Angeles.

So it's sort of a one of the capitals of the world of fashion.

And I worked in film a lot, as well, doing costume design for films.

My mom was always creating since I was a little girl, she worked a full time job.

And then on the side she was always creating, you know, and she actually was making quilts, or making ipu hekes, or just something, some sort of project was always happening in my in my house.

And my mom also used to be a costume designer.

And I grew up you know, being on set with her, in the trailers, and always around clothes.

So growing up naturally, I just loved fashion.

I was always putting on clothes and borrowing mom's outfits and wearing her heels.

So I knew early on that I wanted to work in fashion.

And when I was young, I was in a performing arts group and the stylist, I think I was only 12 or 13, and the stylist allowed me to help kind of put outfits together for our group.

And that's where my fashion career kind of started because she would hire me as her assistant from 15, 16, 17 years old.

And for me it was just fun.

And I had no idea that that was actually my start in fashion.

I was born and raised here.

My father was a grandmaster in martial arts.

When Bruce Lee was starting a show called, The Green Hornet, many, many, years ago, he requested that a few people come with him and work in the series, as well, because he needed additional Asian martial artists.

So he bought quite a few from here in Hawaiʻi.

So my family moved to Los Angeles.

I think it was about eight years old at the time.

He's the Japanese side of a lot of inspiration that we get for Lotus and Lime.

He was born in Waimea, Kamuela on the Big Island.

And my mom was the Hawaiian side and she was born here in Oʻahu.

I was raised both cultures, right, so I’d fly to the Big Island and be with bachan and gichan, who were completely Japanese, they didn't speak a bit of English so we only had to communicate through Japanese.

She wore a kimono nearly every single day.

And then with dad being a martial art Grandmaster I was either in a pa’u skirt or a gi growing up.

I had Hula class, I had Judo class, I had Karate class.

So everything is inspired by both those cultures.

And so Jade was raised the same way.

Runway seven picks people from all over the world.

So it was, it was, pretty mind-blowing because I wanted to find out how they chose us, type of a thing.

And so she had said that she saw us in the Tribute to Merrie Monarch fashion show, which was the year before, and it was just it was shocking.

I was excited, a little nervous.

Because I realized how huge it was.

So then I called Jade and I told her and she just sort of brushed me off as if it wasn't like a real thing.

So it took her actually four days.

I’m actually a costume designer now.

Yeah.

And I was on set working.

And I was just like Mom, “I don't have time for this.

What do you mean we're invited to Fashion Week?” like, “okay for whose show?” you know.

Like I thought we were invited to go watch someone show in Fashion Week.

I didn't realize it was to present our line as, as designers in New York Fashion Week it was like so leftfield for me, so when it actually hit me, hit my mom, I called her back.

And I was like, “Oh my god!” You know.

She was screaming.

Yeah.

It was awesome.

This New York Fashion Week collection was a homage to my grandfather, who's my mom's dad, who is Japanese and means so much to us.

So it was very emotionally connected to the Japanese culture.

And that's why a lot of the silhouettes, you'll see are mostly um look like a gi or we or, you know, Geisha inspired, and are a lot more fitting, I guess, then flowy, like we usually do with our resort wear.

Seven, eight don don don duh duh don.

I would say the biggest thing for both of us, which, you know, tends to make us cry, every time we talk about it is that we were feeling my parents and our kūpuna very strongly during the whole preparation for it once we arrived there.

But once the show actually began, it was just this rush of mana with spiritual energy coming from my parents and my awareness that they were absolutely there.

I was performing.

And before I went out, I said, Okay, grandma, and grandpa, this is for you, you know, and before I walked out, I just felt their presence, heavily, and she was doing the same.

Hawaiian designers, I feel are different than from anywhere else in the world.

Number one, because all of us design from a cultural standpoint, a historical standpoint.

ʻOhana-oriented, what our, what we saw as a child growing up, what influenced us and those before us.

See, my hair just stood up.

It's it's a story.

It's an individual story, no matter which artists you go to, as far as fashion designer here in Hawai’i, look at it, they all are coming from their own story.

So there is no competition, because we're all telling our own story.

And you can't compete with that.

You know, it is what it is.

And it's a beautiful, beautiful creation.

They lay it out for you.

This is my story.

So the idea has been for a while now to use the Hawaiian genealogy chart in a way that would be the bottom base of a print for us, and an original print.

We wanted to tell our story from our cultural heritage and our grandparents, or my grandparents and my mom's parents.

And I love that about Hawaiian designers because we, we wear our stories so proudly.

We say it’s the “us” in Lotus and Lime.

Mahalo for joining us, visit pbshawaii.org for exclusive content from tonight's episode.

For Home is Here.

I'm Kalaʻi Miller a hui hou.

I have kept many of my mom's old muʻus, and I feel very lucky to have them and I wear them with a lot of pride.

Actually be on that runway in New York City, that has been a dream of mine forever, it’ll be the most amazing feeling.

The kalo has always been representative of the family, the roots, the stem, the leaves, all of that are reflective of the family as a unit.