October 19, 2013 Juxtapose @ Honolulu Night Market

Yay for me! I got to write one of my first articles for the Honolulu Fashion Month Blog! Please check out the original article here.

The piece was on the Juxtapose Exhibit on display at CoXist Studios in Honolulu for this month’s HNL Night Market. For those of you who have never heard of the HNL Night Market, you should definitely check it out. Night market is a monthly gathering in our little city of Honolulu for food, fashion, music and art. Think block party and food truck meet-up with a fashion flea market and street art exhibit. Night Market supports many local businesses and provides a venue for Hawaii’s talented to showcase their goods.

Speaking of showcase…CoXist Studios partnered with Hawaii Fashion Month to showcase a unique collection of “wearable art” by 10 established and upcoming designers. The sight of these pieces will have you questioning, “Is this fashion?” or “Is this art?” Each piece was constructed to portray “Urban Transformation,” where the designers were to create an outfit using urban materials found around the city. There were no restrictions to the materials used, so some designers let their imaginations run wild. Some of the materials used for the outfits ranged from bottle caps, to basketballs, and even live plants.

The garments are truly amazing. At first glance, you couldn’t tell what the outfits were truly made of. One of the pieces that I found to be truly inspiring was a dress made from tarps. The artist, Ana, said that she was inspired by the homeless population in Honolulu. She said that Hawaii is so beautiful and everyone wants to come here, but the cost of living is ridiculously high. Another piece was created entirely out of a deconstructed basketball and basketball net. From afar, the outfit looked much like a normal sport’s bra and workout shorts. Up close, I could see how the artist labored over constructing the difficult material of the basketball into a woman’s suit.

Would I ever wear one of these pieces? Hmm…maybe one or two of them, but certainly not out in public (I’m just not that bold).

As with most art exhibits, the pieces on display were also for sale, with 100 percent of the profit going towards the designers. I did not dare to ask how much these pieces were worth, but I imagine their value to be a nice chunk of change (that I probably could not afford).