Wednesday, September 7, 2011

a cherry blossom/ hibiscus by any other name

Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet is a movie replete with brilliantly beautiful (and beautifully brilliant) costumes, but at the moment (and I go through phases) I only have eyes for the Hawaiian shirts favoured by the Montague boys:




Shame of shames, I have never noticed until now the Japanese influence evident in these prints. According to Chicken Soup from the Soul of Hawaii: Stories of Aloha to Create Paradise by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, this is because the first Hawaiian shirts were in fact made from kimono fabric remnants. Unfortunately the book doesn't give too detailed a history, as I'd be fascinated to know whether the style went into decline after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour.

P.S. I am yet to encounter a hipster girl whose Manic Panicked hair looks anywhere near as luscious as Sampson's carnation-pink locks

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