A Life in Fashion

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The
Explorer

I
f there was a job for a fash-
ion designer in the polyglot
city of Babel, Anne Namba
would be a shoo-in. Her work
speaks languages, from the
rich brocades of Iran, where
she lived briefly while grow-
ing up, to the obi details a
stylish Honolulu bride wants
incorporated into a wedding gown.
Namba got into sewing as a child on
O‘ahu, after her grandmother passed
away and left her a sewing machine. “It
was the kind you pump with your feet.
It was that old!” Namba decided to whip
up an ensemble—shorts and a top. “It
was blue kettle cloth with a yellow zigzag
trim. I was so proud. And it didn’t fit at
all. My mother thought, ‘Hmm, maybe
[Anne] should take some sewing les-
sons.’”
While she loved art and sewing,
Namba lacked the confidence to pursue
fashion as a career. “I thought that was
kind of like saying, ‘I’m going to be a mov-
ie star!’” But once she had taken a few
design classes at UH, she realized she had
what it took. She later transferred to the
Fashion Institute of Technology in New
York City and worked in the costume
department at Radio City Music Hall.
Her signature style is Asian, exotic
silks, and she uses many vintage fabrics,
though they can be tricky to work with.
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70 APRIL 2010 www.honolulumagazine.com

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it falls apart!” She also designs her own
fabric prints, working with her nephew,
artist Kamea Hadar.
The line has a reputation for being
pricey, but actually, Namba says, “We
work very hard to keep our prices down.
Silk prices have gone up, rent and taxes
keep going up. It’s also much harder to
find the vintage kimonos then it used to
be. We try to keep the prices reasonable.”
Her line ranges from $70 for a camisole to
$600 for a pants/top ensemble to $3,000
for a made-to-order wedding gown.
Compared with when she first opened
her store, in 1989, Namba says Hawai‘i
now has greater fashion sophistication.
“If something was ‘in,’ we’d never know
it for years. But that was before the Inter-
net, and people travel more. We’re less of
an island than we used to be.”
Her clients have changed in other
ways. “I used to get an older demo-
graphic, but I’m now getting more young
women,” notes Namba, a shift she at-
tributes to her bridal business. “And older
PHOTOS: RAE HUO, ISTOCK
women are fitter than they used to be. My
mothers of the bride don’t need to cover
this, or wear something down to here,”
she gestures. “Some of them are really fit
and can show off.”
Namba continues to do costume de-
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sign, such as for Hawai‘i Opera Theatre’s
Pirates of Penzance, and, more recently,
for Madame Butterfly, presented at the
Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland.
Unlike her regular clothing line, “Cos-
tumes aren’t beautiful on the inside,” she
says. “They’re lined to absorb sweat, they
have big seams so that you can easily alter
them [for different actors]. They have
to be sturdy. With a regular gown, I’m
not worried that my client is going to be
murdered and fall on the ground, or roll
around singing.”
Namba is having a fashion show on
April 12 to benefit Ballet Hawai‘i. It’s part
of her “Fashion in Motion” collection,
which will also involve a May 6 benefit
in New York City for Mikhail Barysh-
nikov’s Arts Center. “For Latin dancing,
[the clothing is] reds, golds, black—I’m
even doing some leather. Short and sexy.
Then softer prints, pastels, for more lyri-
cal dance styles and evening gowns for
waltzes.”
In this era of reality shows like Project
Runway, people might have a skewed
view on what it takes to be an interna-
tionally known designer like Namba. But
she knows better. “A lot of what you do is
grunt work. If a trash can needs empty-
ing, I empty trash cans!”
The Free
Spirit
with her lithe figure, chunky boots
and tiered dress, Roberta Oaks looks like
the cool sister you wish you had.
In the five-and-a-half years she’s been
designing women’s clothing, her epony-
mous line has grown quickly, and is now
carried in 150 stores nationwide. She also
just opened up a flagship boutique in Chi-
natown. “I needed a change from working
at home,” she says. “I felt disconnected
from my customers. I love Chinatown and
when I saw this space vacant, I thought,
‘This is it.’” Oaks says the location is an
opportunity to reconnect with her local
customers—and a way to do research,
too. “Seeing people try the things on, how
things work on them. I need feedback, not
just numbers.”
The boutique also houses her workshop
and her shipping operation. (The clothing
is sewn elsewhere on O‘ahu.) That’s why
she only opens to the public on Thursdays
APRIL 2010 71

and Fridays, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Roberta Oaks label runs in the
$100 to $150 range, and is largely made
up of dresses. “I’m all about dresses. Mini
dresses, long dresses, party dresses, ca-
sual … I think dresses are forgiving.” Oaks
uses super-soft, eco-chic materials, such
as bamboo jersey and organic cotton, as
well as some flattering, stretchy Lycra.
For summer 2010, she created tiered
dresses with tiny polka dots, and con-
tinued to indulge her passion for stripes.
While she’s a well-known designer
around Hawai‘i, many of her customers
are not Islanders. “I do well in Louisiana,
Mississippi, Texas, Arizona and Florida,”
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72 APRIL 2010
she says. She thinks her use of bright
colors appeals to customers there.
Oaks grew up in Missouri with artistic,
self-employed parents. Fashion design,
she says, sort of found her, rather than the
other way around.
“I moved to Hawai‘i after traveling. I
had like $50 and stayed with my sister. I
was so lost. I never imagined doing this. I
have a degree in photography and graphic
design but I took it too literally. I am really
lucky—I was just doing my thing and I got
good feedback.”
With her new space open, Oaks seems
even more inspired. “Chinatown has a lot
of style. People tend to be more creatively
dressed down here.”
Then there’s the proximity to other
designers’ outposts, like Fighting Eel
(on Hotel Street) and Etown (on Smith
Street). Hawai‘i’s fashion scene tends to be
close knit. “We’re all really supportive of
each other,” says Oaks. “Hawai‘i is excep-
tional in that way.”
“
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The
Entrepreneur
known for fresh, wearable designs,
Katrina Cordova’s jewelry has a passion-
ate fan following.
“My style is consistent—simple, classic.
It’s not going to go out of style. At my
trunk shows, customers will say, ‘I bought
this 10 years ago and still wear it,’” says
Cordova, who was born and raised on
O‘ahu. “A lot of my customers are moms
and professionals. They don’t have a lot of
time. The pieces are versatile.”
Her necklaces, earrings and bracelets
come in gold fill, silver and oxidized silver,
with mostly semiprecious stones, such as
citrine or blue topaz, though some of her
work features rubies or diamonds. Her
prices range from $50 to $200.
“I always try to incorporate affordabili-
ty, but also to make it a good value for what
you’re getting—the gemstones, quality and
craftsmanship. It’s still going to last.”
The line is carried at 18 shops in
Hawai‘i, California, Oregon, Utah and
Japan, and Cordova courts a close rela-
tionship with her customers and store
managers, doing two trunk shows per
year, per island.
“I like working one-on-one with store
owners,” she says. “If there is a glitch,
they’ll tell me, ‘It keeps breaking here’ or
‘This clasp isn’t working,’ It’s constant
feedback.” And for her fans, she says, “ev-
ery six weeks the devoted followers will
find something new.”
Cordova is a self-taught artist, but has a
retail background, including management
training with Banana Republic, where she
worked for eight years. She credits her
retail experience with teaching her the
merchandising and marketing skills she
uses today.
Her jewelry making, she says, “was just
PHOTOS: RAE HUO
a passion, not to create an empire. When
I had my son [he’s now 3], I saw an op-
portunity to work from home. It’s been a
www.honolulumagazine.com
 blessing.” She makes all of her WHERE TO SHOP:
jewelry by hand, up to 300 1 | ANNE NAMBA
pieces in a busy month. 324 Kamani St., 589-1135,
annenamba.com.
“It’s been so personal. I’d
love to hire someone, but …” 2 | ROBERTA OAKS
she trails off, clearly torn on 19 N. Pauahi St., 428-1214,
the idea. “And I don’t make robertaoaks.com.
huge quantities.” The stores 3 | KATRINA
carry some of her most popu- CORDOVA
lar styles, such as the “Sexy You can find her designs
Hoop” earrings, while you at Shasa Emporium in
Kāhala Mall, and all the
can find her limited editions
Tori Richard stores. For
at trunk shows, such as her more stores, visit katrina-
Mother’s Day event at Shasa cordovadesigns.com.
Emporium in Kāhala Mall,
4 | SIG ZANE
on May 1.
122 Kamehameha Ave.,
Cordova has been dabbling Hilo, (808) 935-7077,
with edgier, statement neck- sigzane.com.
laces, and says she’d love to
get into metalsmithing down
the road. In the meantime,
she says, “I’m always flattered when I
hear people say how much they enjoying
wearing my jewelry. There’s a little bit of
me in each piece and that transcends to
the wearer.”

The Visionary

sig zane is in a celebratory mood.

Despite the retail world’s woes, he’s happy
to be commemorating the 25th birthday of
his Hilo-based company.
Zane’s gift is turning the spoken
words and conceptual imagery of Native
Hawaiian culture into tangible visuals.
Hula chants have a lot of repetition, Zane
explains. “This redundancy allows us to
interpret [the ideas] more maturely.”
His clothing often features silk screen
patterns of endemic plants, such as koa,
for example, or hapu‘u, a tree fern. Plants
are important in hula, yet, he explains, “If
you see a hula dancer, you don’t go right
up close and inspect the lei.” His images
allow the viewer to become intimate with
the plant, even the specific part of the
plant he wants you to examine.
An O‘ahu native, Zane didn’t set out
to become a fashion designer. “I never
had a plan. I wanted to surf and fish and
dance.” He started silk screening as a way
PHOTO: OLIVIER KONING
kumu hula and Merrie Monarch judge,
while the silk screening turned out to be
Zane’s art form.
Zane hand-cuts each image for the
silkscreen, and his son, Kuha‘o, creates
the pattern. The clothing is hand printed
in Honolulu and hand sewn, as well. Zane
likes the hands-on process. “It carries the
energy farther,” he says, and he enjoys
the tiny imperfections that come when
something is crafted by a human. “Mass
produced things, they have a gloss to
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Benevolent Hill” pattern. Every year he
chooses a different theme. This year’s is
“Hilo One” (literally, “the sands of Hilo,”
but Zane explains it poetically means “be-
ing born from Hilo, coming from Hilo”).
“It’s a map of Hilo,” Zane says. The streets
are the webbing. I love to walk the streets
of Hilo, they have become me. I have
become that.”
“If I want inspiration, I drive up Mau-
nakea or to Volcano,” he says. “You don’t
question the colors of nature—it’s real.

of creating unique gifts for his girlfriend, them.” The average price for one of his What better teacher?”
a dancer. dresses or shirts is around $80. Speaking of teachers, what advice
The wooing worked; he married her. He’s increasingly turning to linear would he give to young designers?
Today, his wife, Nalani Kanakaole, is a prints, such as last year’s Pu‘umanawale‘a: “Create. In capital letters, create.”

www.honolulumagazine.com APRIL 2010 73