Fighting Eel marks 2nd year in Waikiki

Nadine Kam photos
At Fighting Eel’s Royal Hawaiian Center boutique, manager Chelsie Castillo shows of one of the local brand’s new designs, set to debut Saturday when FE marks its second anniversary at the center.

BY NADINE KAM

The early shopper gets the discount when Fighting Eel celebrates its second anniversary at the Royal Hawaiian Center with a shopping day of discounts, raffles and refreshments from 9 a.m. on the auspicious date of 8/8.

Shoppers who make purchases between 9 a.m. and noon will receive a 15 percent discount on merchandise excluding swimwear. Those who shop from noon to close will receive 10 percent off purchases, excluding swimwear.

The first 20 customers to make a purchase of $200 or more will receive a gift.

The brand’s newest collection will be on the racks. You can make your shopping list while previewing the collection at www.fightingeel.com.

Top Sage is among the new Fighting Eel designs debuting in-store Saturday.

Fighting Eel’s new Top Enzo and Pant Peak.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Hawaiian Air Fashion Friday takes off

Nadine Kam photos
Guests were able to pose with props for a portrait at the first Hawaiian Airlines Fashion Friday pop-up event, featuring more than a dozen local designers and retailers.

BY NADINE KAM

Hawaiian Airlines hosted its inaugural Fashion Friday event on Friday, giving its Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard holders the opportunity to shop new collections by local designers, with a discount if using the credit card for purchases.

Fashion has played a big part in the airlines branding since it hired its first “air hostesses” in 1943, when uniforms served as a sign of professionalism and reflected the glamour of the profession at a time when travel was the domain of the elite. Designs that reflected the street style of the times also were intended to pro­ject an image of moving forward.

Parents could pick up a fabric aviator cap and goggles for their kids at a discounted price of $12.

Located at the airline’s Koapaka Street headquarters near the airport, the event featured more than a dozen artists, designers and retailers, plus pupu from Pili Group.

Designers and retailers participating in the event were Katrina Cordova, Mahiku Activewear, Kira Hawai’i, Language of the Birds, B D’Angelo, Sticks & Stones, Manuheali’i, Noho Design, Fighting Eel, Lucky We Live Hawai’i, Choco Le’a, Happy Town Hawai’i, Honey Girl and Paiko Hawaii.

Hawaiian also hosted a pop-up shop of its own logo wear and merchandise, including retro-style bags, scarves, T-shirts and more.

Cassandra Rull helped shoppers with Lucky We Live Hawaii merchandise.

Fighting Eel’s Lan Chung, left, and Linh Owen took a break on the open-air patio deck. Lan’s pretty flower crown is by Paiko, another of the event vendors.

Paiko’s ‘Tamara Rigney, right, and Courtney Monahan, had a display of greenery on the patio, here and below.

B. D’Angelo designer Marissa Beatrice D’Angelo, right, had help selling her jewelry from sister Amber.

B. D’Angelo earrings.

Choco Le’a’s Erin Uehara showed some of her chocolate treats, including new chocolate-covered jabong. She was also offering a special truffle box for the occasion, comprising Tahitian vanilla, caramel with Australian hibiscus salt and Thai coffee flavors, nine pieces for $19.99.

Nerds everywhere could rejoice with a supply of retro-style airline travel bags and insulated bags offered inside the Hawaiian Air pop-up shop.

Friends tried on Lucky We Live Hawaii trucker hats.

Pupu was offered by The Pili Group.

Housewares from Noho Design.

Those interested in HA items can visit the Hawaiian Airlines Logo Store at 3375 Koapaka St., Suite C321. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays, and 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays.
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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Governor's Fashion Awards honors Hawaii talent

Nadine Kam photos
David “Pua” Rochlen of Surf Line Hawaii/Jams World was the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the reinstated Governors Fashion Awards ceremony that took place Oct. 30 at The MODERN Honolulu. Longtime fashion veteran Dale Hope, in a vintage 1965 Sandwich Isles tapa-print jacket presented the award with Gov. Neil Abercrombie.

It was one of the best-dressed events of the year as the Hawaii's fashion industry gathered to honor their own during the reinstated Governor's Fashion Awards ceremony that took place Oct. 30 at The MODERN Honolulu, the dazzling finale to the inaugural Hawai'i Fashion Month.

Before announcing the award winners, Gov. Abercrombie, self-conscious about his age, chuckled as he spoke of having known Surf Line Hawaii founder David Rochlen, and Hilo Hattie inspiration Clarissa "Clara" "Hilo Hattie" Haili.

While it's easy for many of us have grown up with a certain amount of entitlement to bellyache about how hard it is to get ahead these days, he reminded the audience that we can look at behemoths like Hilo Hattie and Surf Line/Jams World today and imagine they were fully formed from the beginning, but he said that was not the case, and in reference to Rochlen, said he had a strong belief in the industry and the confidence to make things happen back in the 1960s when no one was listening.

For the governor, it was an eye-opening experience to watch how a few key people in the business and fashion communities could come together to make a big difference in a few years, such as launching Aloha Fridays to boost sales of aloha wear.

From left, Hilo Hattie's Terri Funakoshi, CEO/President Don Kang and Felix Calvo. The company was named Major Retailer of the Year, and Kang also picked up the award for Outstanding Professional of the Year for his part in rescuing the company following Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Otherwise, the company would likely not have survived to see its 50th anniversary this year.

In their remarks, Hawaii Fashion Incubator co-founders Toby Portner and Melissa White, co-chairs of Hawai'i Fashion Month along with Sen. Will Espero, said it is still their aim to see where the needs and goals of the fashion community intersect, and to bring competitors together to work for the common good of the entire industry.

Industry veteran Dale Hope reiterated that point in his tribute to 'Iolani Sportswear, saying how he was afraid to approach company founder Keiji Kawakami for help, but that it was common in the early days of the industry for competitors to help each other out in times of need, when machines broke or if they needed a loan to get by, and he later learned that Keiji felt fortunate for having been helped by Watumull's.

In accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award, David "Pua" Rochlen of Surf Line Hawaii/Jams World said that when he found out about it, he didn't know why he won and thought he was too young to receive it. He humbly acknowledged that he was once told of running the company started by his father, "You did one thing right, you didn't screw it up."

He reminded all that the Hawaii fashion industry is about more than clothing, but offers the opportunity for all of us to connect with a lifestyle, culture, food, and all the things that create a feeling others can't find at home or anywhere else in the world.

He also announced that he is starting a petition to encourage the state to acquire the Nike building in Waikiki to showcase made in Hawaii products to the visitor market year 'round.

Here are the winners of the Governor’s Fashion Awards, announced Wednesday night at The Modern Honolulu at the close of the inaugural Hawai‘i Fashion Month:

>> Major Retailer of the Year: Don Kang, Hilo Hattie
>> Boutique Retailer of the Year: Deborah Mascia, Mu‘umu‘u Heaven
>> Emerging Designer of the Year: Cora Spearman, Coradorables
>> Established Designer of the Year: Rona Bennett and Lan Chung, Fighting Eel
>> Designer, Contemporary: Ari South, Andy South
>> Designer, Aloha: Jamie Makasobe, Ane Bakutis and Hina Kneubuhl, Kealopiko
>> Designer, Couture/Formal: Anne Namba, Anne Namba Designs
>> Designer, Jewelry: Jason Dow, Jason Dow Inc.
>> Photographer: Harold Julian, Harold Julian Photography
>> Wardrobe Stylist: Amos Kotomori, Amos Kotomori Ltd.
>> Beauty Professional: Paul Brown, Paul Brown Salons
>> Outstanding Professional: Don Kang, Hilo Hattie
>> Lifetime Achievement: David “Pua” Rochlen, Jams World

Congratulations to all, the finalists, and all those who put in the work day after day to make Hawaii a more beautiful place to live.

Pua Rochlen with wife Heather and keiki Nacho, David III and Pumehana, surrounded by Surf Line/Jams World 20-year employees. He bought three tables for his loyal 20-year workers.

Carla and Lloyd Kawakami of 'Iolani Sportswear were honored as the company marked its 60th anniversary this year. The family recently lost matriarch Edith Kawakami, but Carla said if she were here, she would remind them that any honors are not about us as the owners, but about the people who make it happen and the people of Honolulu.

From left, Wardrobe Stylist of the Year winner Amos Kotomori, with stylist Jose Santamaria, designer Beverly Horton, and Georja Skinner, chief officer of the Creative Industries Division/DBEDT. In his acceptance speech, Amos asked those in the audience to give the gift of time to mentor the next generation to strengthen the industry.

Fighting Eel marks 10th anniversary

Nadine Kam photos
Emma Wo on the runway at Royal Hawaiian Center, where Fighting Eel celebrated its grand opening and 10th anniversary with a fashion show.

Fighting Eel marked two milestones July 20, celebrating the grand opening of the company's Royal Hawaiian Center boutique, and its 10th anniversary, with a fashion show of designs from the Waikiki store.

The show opened cute, with Baby Eel designs modeled by second-generation Eels, sisters and daughters of FE's Lan Chung and Linh Owen, before moving onto the adult, but fun and flirty styles that have won the hearts of women in tropical climes around the world.

The company started with just the universe of two dreamers, Chung and Rona Bennett, as outlined in my Star-Advertiser story, which you can read if you have an SA subscription: http://www.staradvertiser.com/s?action=login&f=y&id=214247991

It's always great to see a local company doing well. Happy 10th!


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A floral pineapple in the front of Fighting Eel's third and newest boutique bears the FE logo.

Pineapples also graced the runway, and after the fashion show guests were allowed to eat the decor. From left, Melanie Yang, Dara Lum and Fighting Eel's Lan Chung.

Kathy Pang, left, wears FE's pineapple print, with Susan Todani, center, and Jackie Todani.

Nani Hirosane, assistant marketing director, and Helene "Sam" Shenkus, marketing director at Royal Hawaiian Center, show their support dressed in Fighting Eel.

Fighting Eel at The Republik

Nadine Kam photos
From left, Fighting Eel's Linh Owen, Rona Bennett and Lan Chung, in a limited-edition FE tee created to celebrate the opening of the third FE store in Waikiki.

Fighting Eel presented a fashion show and summer collection launch party at The Republik on May 30th, also a celebration in advance of FE's third store opening at the Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki on June 16.

The new store is located in a primo ground-floor site in the central Building B. In addition to carrying Fighting Eel, the store will carry the appropriately resort-themed Ava Sky line also designed and produced by the women of Fighting Eel.

It's a big year for FE founders and designers Lan Chung and Rona Bennett, who are marking FE's 10th anniversary. With clothing also designed for the next generation of Baby Eels, they seem to be well on their way to building one of those granddaddy empires, so some future fashion writer will be able to talk about them in the same breath as those multi-generational brands as Tori Richard, Iolani and Surf Line Hawaii!


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The show on the 30th was created and designed by Lindsey Higa with Mahina Boersma styling hair & Timeless Classic Beauty handling the makeup.

While I was shooting the show, there was a guy standing next to me toward the end, who recognized the pineapple print of one of the dresses. He kept saying, "Wow, that's vintage Fighting Eel; that's really retro." I was thinking, a guy's not supposed to know his fashion history. Turns out he was the boyfriend of one of the models, who he said has pieces from nearly every FE collection.

I've saved a lot of FE pieces as well. I still have pieces dating to their inaugural summer collection in 2003, when they were doing tight-fitting tank tops with cute appliques, from shakas to starfish. I love those! They are so well made they have held up over time.

I also have pieces from one of their holiday gold and silver lamé period. I have at least four of those pieces, from, I believe the fall of 2006, because there was a spring 2007 fashion "Face-off" between Lindsay Lohan and Jamie-Lynn Sigler online at People magazine.

Congratulations, ladies!

Waiting for the show to start.

Fighting Eel keeps moving forward

Nadine Kam photos
Lan Chung, left, and Rona Bennett in their new Fighting Eel boutique. They’ll be doing their design work elsewhere.

Fighting Eel celebrated the grand opening of its new boutique at the corner of Bethel and Pauahi streets on Sept. 17. I stopped in super early, but had to leave.

The store is so beautiful and I’m so happy for all Rona Bennett and Lan Chung and all they and their team have accomplished in just seven short years! I still remember the day I met them, at a sample sale close to our offices, when I picked up some of their first batch of T-shirts and shaka applique tank tops. I love those shirts and how they fit so well and have held up so long (yeah I still wear them!) Wish I had more but it doesn’t seem like they’re looking backward in their creative intent.

I’m sure part of the reason they’ve endured is because they are concerned with quality and it shows at the new FE, as well as their new T-shirt startup, the Tee Tee Bar, right next door to FE. Check them both out when you get a chance. Tee Tee Bar is also likely to be on a lot of lists of places to go for holiday shopping.

Ashley-Tyler Lee stopped in briefly to say hello, and couldn’t help addressing Kerrie Inouye’s baby bump.

Holden Lau with Katrina Justianiano, center, and Natalie Woo, who couldn’t help but notice my nail color, Les Khakis de Chanel’s Khaki Vert, because she was wearing the same color. Love that green!