Things I've Just Learned About:

[moon_custafer]

http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/alfred.shaheen.fabric.to.fashion

Alfred Shaheen - ok, so he didn't actually *invent* the Hawaiian shirt (they'd been around since the 1930s) but he popularized them, by starting his own textile-printing operation, inventing his own printing techniques and designing fabrics inspired by native Hawaiian textiles and Asian art.

The fact that Elvis wore his shirts didn't hurt either.

Comments

[donald hutton (from livejournal.com)]

Kind of like the Scotch "inventing" plaid tartan stuff to sell to the tourists.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

I also looked up some vintage examples of his garments online - they now go for huge sums; but what struck me was that on the labels he called himself "The Master Printer;" not "fashion designer," not "tailor," but printmaker. Apparently being able to print his own fabrics made all the difference (before he set up his factory, all modern garment-makers* in Hawaii had to import their cloth from elsewhere, and they had little choice in what they could get.). I don't know where the undyed cloth itself came from, though.



* As opposed to traditional Hawaiian clothes, which I believe are bark-cloth.