HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Merrie Monarch Festival kicked off on Easter Sunday, but there is something significant every single day throughout the week.
The Hānau Hou Arts and Fashion Show took place on April 21 at the Grand Nani Loa Hotel.
It’s not just a regular fashion show–it’s bringing up new fashion designers and allowing their creativity to shine.
CEO and Founder of the show, Dr. Hannah Preston Pita, says the goal of the show is to highlight designers who are early in their careers.
“So, we started about three years ago, and it started basically to give an opportunity for up-and-coming designers to really showcase their pieces,” Preston Pita said.
As a therapist and designer herself, Preston Pita fell in love with fashion as it provided her with a healthy creative outlet.
“It was my sort of way of healing,” she said. “I love doing creative things, so I started off that way and then we just kind of figured it out. It would be good for everyone else to do it as well.”
The fashion show began as a tiny yet mighty dream, and quickly exploded into a staple event.
“Gosh, it started off as, ‘eh, we go try this out.’ And then it ended up being, oh my gosh, the go-to show. The first year we sold out, last year we sold out, this year we sold out two weeks ago,” Preston Pita said.
Executive Director of the fashion show, Raynn Dangaran, says the opportunity to put on a show is a great time for young designers to have a shot at a major stage.
“Dr. Hannah came up to me with this crazy idea of showcasing her designs because she wanted to be a new designer. Then I came up with the idea, ‘you know what, why don’t we pull in designers that we know, and we love, bring them all in the same place, and then we launch this show?’” Dangaran said. “I think that is a creative space that not a lot of ʻōpio experience, and so I feel like this show really nurtures our ʻōpio and kind of pushes them to think outside of the barriers and know that they can do it too.”
The third year of the show was a success, with the fourth year looking promising already.
For more information on Hanau Hou Arts & Fashion, click here.