Tuesday 11 February 2014

Blue Hawaii  or Trouble in Paradise
 
"But time will not permit: all is uneven, And every thing is left at six and seven." Shakespeare, Richard II

When in doubt, some of us go to Hawaii.  Good old reassuring Hawaii.  Any of the islands will do.  My particular memories have been on Oahu, the Big Island and Kauai. But a lot of Little Missy's friends do time on Maui.  Or as Little Missy's mother used to call it, The Wild Island.  Where all the crazy stuff happened.  Where I never went.
Wild Anthurium
The first time I consciously recognised racism was on Oahu when I was fourteen years old.  We had just come from the Honolulu airport to the parking lot of the condominium in which we were staying for the month. Two beautiful Hawaiian girls had gone to the beach and parked in the lot.  The condominium manager was hassling the girls, demanding five dollars from them or else he was going to have them towed.  The girls were crying because they did not have the money.  I jumped in and pulled five dollars out of my purse--a huge chunk of my pocket money that summer long ago. My mother agreed with me, and stood by me. The mean old manager, a tall skinny guy we later nicknamed "Stretch", refused my money and let the girls go.  He tried to make remarks to my mother, brothers and me about Hawaiian people always trying to get away with stuff, and we dismissed him.  Needless to say, I was not popular with management. A few days later, the girls brought me a bouquet of anthurium, which grew wild in the hills behind us and we became friends.  They taught me how to rock climb and how to swim far out into the ocean.  One day I was walking down the highway with my friends and a Hawaiian woman almost ran me off the road, shrieking "Haole!"  There was a lot of mutual disregard between Hawaiians and Haoles.  One of my friends had a brother we used to swim with for miles a day.  He later served in Vietnam, and wrote us letters. That was a long
time ago...
And This is Now...Snoop Dogg, we love you.  And we love you, Martha!
 
Too much drama for Little Missy!  Don't want to get her going on her childhood stories!  Let's talk about the stuff we want to talk about ...like let's talk about Rodarte's show today in New York


This little ensemble works for Little Missy

 When in doubt, show some skin

Don't whine, be glamorous

You see, the fundamental problem with Hawaii, as any fashion lover will tell you, is that you cannot really dress up.  It's all about bikinis and cover ups, which is was great when Little Missy was a teenager.  But now I want a Rodarte gown!  A better way to show skin! Wear these gowns and the world will be a more beautiful place....like the wild anthurims  growing in the hills of Oahu.

 
 




No comments:

Post a Comment

Learning About Fashion Rodarte Spring Summer 2011, photographed at Stanford University for Electric Fashion, the book I wrote with F...