VIDEO: 2015 MAMo on Maui Wearable Art Fashion Show

[flashvideo file=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTPD9BiqSF4 /] By Maui Now Staff

MAMo Wearable Art is a fashion show – and more. “We realized that art is not just what we frame and put on a wall,” according to Vicky Holt-Takamine, executive director and founder of the PA’I Foundation, who launched Maoli Arts Month (MAMo) on O‘ahu, to celebrate and promote the work of contemporary Hawaiian artists and designers.  Part of that celebration is the MAMo Wearable Art Show, which has taken place annually in Honolulu since 2006. This year, the event returned to Maui for a second consecutive year, featuring the designs of contemporary Island designers whose creations extend from comfortable to traditional to cutting-edge.

Holt-Takamine described art as “culture, principles and values that are at the core of who we are, that get transferred to the things that we wear.” This facet of the MAMo celebration came about to showcase Hawaiian design in fabric and clothing specifically in terms of cultural motif, in a way that makes it more than just a runway fashion show. Many traditional Hawaiian patterns and designs – in kapa and weaving, in weaponry and tools, in tattoo and adornment – take their visual clues from nature.

The clothing and fabric designs at the MAMo Wearable Art Show included a wide array of styles, influences, and philosophies, covering the rainbow spectrum of Hawaii people: everything from ready-to-wear active clothing to pieces that you just might want to mount on a wall. Some designers used botanical and environmental patterns as a design motif, some paid tribute to the land and its creatures, or marked inspiration from ancient chants, including the Kumulipo, and others made their creations with full knowledge and implementation of the spiritual and ancestral connections.

Nāpua Greig and Hālau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka opened up the event with a hula presentation, and Pāʻū O Hiʻiaka, led by kumu hula, Hōkūlani Holt, performed at the beginning of the second half of the show.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.

MAMo Wearable Art Show, Maui. Photo by: Marlo Antes.