“It’s a window into Hawaii’s cultural universe.” In the 1920s, Hawaii’s cruise-ship tourists became enamored with the singular garb, and sought local tailor shops for their custom prints and made-to-order shirts. Bradley, professor emerita at Washington State University and author of Aloha Attire: Hawaiian Dress in the Twentieth Century.
“The aloha shirt visually captures the multiethnic history of the place,” explains Linda B. It had a Western-style silhouette (similar to the palaka, a heavy cotton work shirt worn by plantation workers and originally inspired by Western sailor shirts), was cut from Japanese kabe crepe fabric (originally used for women’s kimonos), was made by Japanese and Chinese tailors (who originally immigrated as plantation field workers), and was worn like a Filipino barong tagalog (a beautiful, gossamer dress shirt), always untucked and outside of the pants. Regardless, the aloha shirt’s existence can be traced to a confluence of cultural influences. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Flickr/ Vera & Jean-Christophe (Allegedly, the shirt was called the “Rathskeller” for a time.) Local lore ranges from an anecdote of a group of private-school boys who had sensational ones made by tailors in downtown Honolulu to a tale about the Hollywood actor John Barrymore asking tailor Dolores Miyamoto for a bespoke shirt to a story about a local named Rube Houseman, who handed out vivid button-ups to Waikiki beach boys, which they’d wear to the Rathskeller Bar. The story of the “first” aloha shirts remains disputed. But buried beneath every fashion zeitgeist is the history of the shirt and the locals responsible for its existence as a textile record of the people on the islands. Although these brands span countries and price points, all have created their own recent renditions of the aloha shirt, signifying that the once-kitschy tourist staple is currently cool again.īeloved by glamorous celebrities and stoned surfer boys, relaxed residents and millions of tourists, the garment captures the laid-back spirit of the islands. And Saint Laurent settled on palm trees and station wagons. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here. The archives will remain available here for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years.
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