Convention Center venue for Namba show

Nadine Kam video stills
A model walks in the finale to Anne Namba's fashion show for Hui Makaala.

Hui Makaala presented its annual scholarship fashion show at the Hawai'i Convention Center on Oct. 10, 2010. It was the first time, aside from a small Kawaii Kon Lolita show, that I'd seen a fashion show of this caliber staged at this venue. It was comparable in size and audio-visual scope to shows that have usually gone into the Sheraton Waikiki Ballrooms.

It's a very nice venue that easily packed in 600 supporters of the Okinawan scholarship organization, which this year selected seven scholarship recipients: Glen Allen Beavers (Pahoa High), Natalie Fukuhara (Aiea High), Darlene Fukuji (Hawaii Baptist Academy), Kara Funakoshi (Maryknoll), Melanie Matsuda (Kohala High), Marcie Moribe (Pacific Buddhist Academy) and Shawna Watanabe (Pearl City High).

Anne Namba was the afternoon's designer, presenting pieces from her "Madama Butterfly" collection, based on costumes she created for the Savonlinna Opera Festival's production of the opera last year, with Hawaii Opera Theatre's Henry Akina as stage director. Opening the show was a snippet o video from the production, which was set against the centuries-old gray stone walls of the Finland castle that houses the annual festival.

I've seen at least three different incarnations of Namba's show. One of the downside of being in Hawaii is there are still too few who can stage a show on this scale, so organizations that go scouting usually rely on the same designers. Even so, Namba has managed to change the staging each time, and the setting allowed for beautiful projected images, opera arias by Chiho Villasenor, Maya Hoover and Erik Haines, and piano accompaniment by Beebe Freitas.

PYNK Salon and Lloyd Horibe of Hairscapes were responsible for the models' hair, and Kecia Littman and Alana Kazimirski did the makeup.

The show was vast, divided into four segments, each with its own video below. Where applicable, the opening art images are by Kazuko Sakima:


Another of Anne Namba's designs, inspired by Puccini's "Madama Butterfly."


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