Model of confidence

A childhood brain injury doesn't keep teenager Aliyah Taimatuia from her dream of modeling

 

By Nadine Kam
nkam@staradvertiser.com

Share17

2 Comments

Like many adolescents who've suddenly discovered fashion, Aliyah Taimatuia recently announced to her mother that she wants to be a model when she grows up.

Aside from the usual concerns about height, weight and having a salable look, her mom knew she needed help and called on Mary Wilson.

Wilson is neither agent nor talent scout, but Aliyah's case manager. Aliyah was 2 years old when, in a warehouse accident in 2000, she fell four stories, leaving her with permanent brain injuries that required her to learn to walk, talk and eat again, all the basic functions of life. The accident left Aliyah, now 13, with hemiparesis, or weakness on the left side of her body. She's learned to work around it by using one hand to dress and groom herself.

Wilson, a registered nurse, has worked with Aliyah as a consultant for attorney Ian Mattoch's Continuing Commitment program. The program was established in 1998 after Mattoch worked with a client who suffered traumatic brain injury in an auto accident and he realized typical, immediate care wasn't enough.

In some cases, when injuries are catastrophic, the law firm commits its resources to extend legal services, nurse case management and advocacy. Just recently the program provided assistance to help oversee renovations of an ADA bathroom for Aliyah.

Since modeling is a new world for Wilson, her first step was to find a modeling agency willing to work with Aliyah's special needs.

"It's not typical work for a case manager, but I'm grateful to assist in fulfilling her dream and watching her grow as a young woman into adulthood," Wilson said.
At the Kathy Muller Agency, she found instructor Tania de Jesus, who was willing to work one-on-one in teaching Aliyah the basics of skin and hair care, poise and grace, lessons the girl has taken to heart.

Although Wilson has been working with Aliyah for a decade, she is surprised by how much the youngster has blossomed after taking just one round of classes.
"I didn't think it would be as good an outcome as it has been," Wilson said. "Aliyah was feeling frustrated at school. Kids were picking on her and making fun of her disabilities.

"Now her teachers are reporting that she's very confident now that she's a model and she feels more respected."

Many of Aliyah's peer problems started with the transition between elementary and middle school at Highlands Intermediate, when differences are cataloged and used by bullies as a source of torment. It didn't help that due to brain injuries that affected glandular functions, Aliyah also entered puberty early and had been undergoing hormone treatment since age 6 to slow the process.

Since gaining confidence from her modeling classes, Aliyah, who is good-natured and soft-spoken, has been able to speak out about her feelings to her tormentors, and said the same boys who teased her are now her friends.

Aliyah said that looking at magazines cemented her desire to model. She defines her style as preppie and said she enjoys going shopping with her mom and choosing her outfits together. She would love to model trendy, youthful clothing from companies like Jeans Warehouse, Baby Phat and Wet Seal, but draws the line at underwear.

She's cut soda from her diet, turning to water to avoid sugar, and while de Jesus has warned her against french fries, she hasn't been able to give them up yet. But when out for fast food, she'll opt for something like a grilled chicken whole-wheat pita instead of a burger.

Her next step in modeling school would be to participate in a regular group class with other girls, said Wilson, whose aim is to see Aliyah graduate from high school.

"We're looking at seeing her function as independently as possible. It's difficult, with brain injuries, to predict whether that's possible.

"That the injury happened at age 2, in some ways that's good," Wilson said. "Her brain has been rewired so everything's done on her right side."

Even so, when stressed or nervous, Aliyah's muscles tighten, causing spasms that jerk her left arm upward, but Wilson said that de Jesus was able to show Aliyah how to overcome this reaction. What is modeling, after all, but smoke and mirrors and transformations that create something beautiful out of imperfect realities?

"Tania's not a therapist, but she instinctively knew how to show Aliyah how to pose, while pulling down her arm with her right hand, in a way that looks natural," Wilson said.

Wilson works with many other brain-injured clientele of different ages and abilities who all struggle with figuring out how to fit in to society.

"I have one young woman in her 30s whose biggest problem is feeling everyone's looking at her. She doesn't want to be in a program, but she needs to be in a program."

So, Wilson set her up with a job with the nonprofit Brain Injury Association of Hawaii that helps people with brain injuries. The work gives her a sense of belonging and contributing to the community, and staffers are able to oversee her well-being while treating her like a "normal" person.

Prior to that, the woman had complained to Wilson, "I feel my life isn't over. I'm not stupid, but people treat me like I'm stupid."

Wilson said, "The brain controls everything in the body. There are so many things that can be impacted by brain injuries, depending on the severity of the injury and the location of the injury, that each case is unique, and sometimes the effects aren't evident for years."

She added, "I'm so excited to see the progress (Aliyah's) made and how happy she was on the first day she started studying with Tania. Afterward she threw her arms around me and said, 'Thank you, Auntie Mary.' I don't get that too often."

Duo cultivates fashion at Pineapples boutique

Pineapples photos
A halter maxi dress with shell detail in a black-knit print, from Pineapples' Margarita line, is $95. Below, a twist-front summer dress from the Bali Batiks collection, with "Devine" print, $70.

By Nadine Kam
nkam@staradvertiser.com


Share11

Geri Berger was working as an outreach counselor with homeless teens in Waikiki when motherhood called and she ended up taking a few years off to raise her own child.

Once she was ready to return to work, a meeting with 17-year clothing manufacturer and wholesaler Sandra Tierney, whose husband was a longtime friend of Berger's husband, turned both their lives around.


Tierney had already made the life-changing move from Florida to Hawaii about four years ago and was toying with the idea of making the leap to retail. In Berger, she found someone versed in contemporary fashion and she welcomed her input. 

Today, the former counselor is the chief designer and consultant for Tierney's Pineapples boutique in Haleiwa.

"It came up really casually," Berger said. "Next thing you know, she dragged me to the North Shore and showed me an opportunity to create a unique store."

Although the boutique carries a handful of mainland labels such as Hale Bob and Funky Planet, Tierney wanted to create her own lines to avoid the trap of looking like every other boutique in town. So Berger has her hands full coming up with designs for the store's four collections:

» Bali Batiks Resort wear, featuring dresses made with hand-dyed and batik designs.

» Margarita Resort Wear, using herringbone rayon fabric in a variety of prints for everyday, resort or work wear.

» Zen Knits, a contemporary line comprising casual dresses and separates in solids, prints and tie-dye. It also encompasses the Zen Party Collection of special occasion dresses, tops and outfits embellished with beadwork, brass and crystals.
» The Pineapples Collection, which comprises a Tie Dye Voile Collection and embroidered Cutwork Collection of dresses.

The boutique makes the rare attempt to make everyone happy by offering something for everyone at every price point. The resort-style clothing ranges in size from XXS to 3X, and most pieces fall in the sweet spot between $20 and $98. Despite the reasonable prices, there is quality in the fabric used.

"We were looking for quality, but at a good price," Berger said. "It's hard to find the median, and we wanted uniqueness as well. We live on an island and nobody wants to walk down the street and see the same dress on someone else."

BERGER'S background in health education didn't put the Mrs. Hawaii International 2004 on track to be a designer, but she said, "It comes from the heart. I've been shopping since I was a little girl. It's a passion and I try to translate what's going on in the fashion industry to something that will work with Hawaii's climate and culture.

"I wear a lot of it, so a lot of it reflects my taste. I wear a lot of pants and tops so I'm working on a denim line. It's something I'm excited about. But what's cool is that there really is something for everyone. Our Zen Knits line alone has more than 125 pieces in 25 color choices."

The boutique also carries a large selection of accessories and jewelry, from inexpensive capiz shell earrings starting at $8 to silver-and-stone jewelry from Nepal and other stone jewelry that costs a few hundred dollars.
There are also bath and body products, small decorative kitchen and household goods, and gift items.
—————
Pineapples Boutique is at 66-200 Kamehameha Highway. Call 637-8477 or visit www.pineapplesboutique.com; get info on the latest deals at the boutique's Facebook page. Pineapples is offering a Black Friday promotion on Nov. 26 of 20 percent off everything except sale items, which are already 50 percent off.
 

Check out more of Style Editor Nadine Kam's shopping finds in a special Surf's Up! North Shore 2010 report at www.honolulupulse.com, where you'll also find dining recommendations and a complete rundown of Vans Triple Crown of Surfing events.

If the shirt fits..

Nadine Kam photo

From left, Riley Gallagher, Rick Ralston, Emily Umezawa and Shawn Zarko pose for photographer Dennis Oda in shirts from Rix Island Wear.

Crazy Shirts founder Rick Ralston looks for success again with his latest venture
 
By Nadine Kam 
nkam@staradvertiser.com

Share21

4 Comments

Some people are just serial entrepreneurs, so when Crazy Shirts founder Rick Ralston retired a decade ago, one had to wonder how long that might last and what his next venture might be.

The entrepreneur says now that, "I'd just been enjoying life in the slow lane. It was always stressful before and I was enjoying how pleasant it is to do frivolous things.

"But I missed the excitement of business, the challenges, the stimulation of being creative, the feeling of being part of a team; I was missing all that."

Now, at 69, he's back with another clothing boutique, Rix Island Wear, which opened two weeks ago at Ward Warehouse. The small shop features contemporary men's aloha shirts, based on what Ralston was searching for in the marketplace.
"I shopped here and there but I found it hard to find really good shirts."

With an active, outdoorsy lifestyle, he didn't care for rayons or polyester blend fabrics, and said, "silk is nice for evenings but I don't want to take the time to take it to the dry cleaners. I don't like to waste money either."

So shirts at Rix, designed by Marcie Norton, are made of 100 percent cotton, meant to be comfortable while being able to dress up or down for multiple occasions.

"Marcie and I work closely together and we have a similar understanding of where we want to go," Ralston said. "We're not going to do typical seasonal lines. We want to keep it fresh, with new stuff coming in all the time."

If all goes well, he anticipates this will be the first of many Rix stores to come.
Although Ralston's success story began in the 1960s, with his one-man custom airbrush T-shirt operation in Waikiki, hanging out on the near-empty sidewalk where the Marriott Waikiki now stands, he feels success is not guaranteed because of his name.

Back then, he had no expectation of success. "I'm starting small again on a shoestring budget. The difference is I've got some help this time, but we have very little overhead. I work out of my home, and so does Marcie," he said.

As a result, a Rix aloha shirt is priced at a relatively low $49.50, and logo T-shirts are $15.

THE IDEA to open Rix Island Wear is not new. Ralston had been thinking about it immediately upon retirement, but he never acted on it while watching the oscillations of the economy and marketplace.

He says he started strategizing six months ago due to several factors. "The nest egg, the 401K are not what they used to be, and I'm getting older. I wanted to start something while I have the energy to do it," he said.

Still to come are cargo shorts, and attached to each will be a Rix bottle opener, reflecting one of Ralston's quirky obsessions.

"It's just a fun, silly thing," he said. "Whenever I go to a party, no one ever seems to have a bottle opener. I've seen people open them on a bumper, putting two bottle caps together, using chopsticks, banging them on a counter, or with their teeth. This way, they'll never be without an opener."

Ralston doesn't know if his new endeavor will ever grow as big as Crazy Shirts. For one thing, there's a lot more competition for clothing dollars today.

"The way that took off always amazed me, so if I do it again, I'd be amazed again."

Blast from past recalls origins of Crazy Shirts

Courtesy photo

Herbert Awaya and Rick Ralston hold up a sweatshirt that Ralston airbrushed nearly 50 years ago for Awaya. 

By Nadine Kam

nkam@staradvertiser.com

Share3

For nearly 50 years, Herbert Awaya held on to an old sweatshirt, the one piece of clothing that reminded him of his youth.

"People look at me today and would never say, 'You look like a surfer.'"

But surf he did, at Canoes and Queen's Surf in Waikiki, and emerging from the water at a time when there were no high-rises on Kalakaua Avenue, he would look across the boulevard at the handful of artists airbrushing shirts for tourists.

One day, he stopped to have a sweatshirt custom-painted for himself, and on Nov. 2, he hand delivered the shirt, signed "Ricky 1962," to its creator, Crazy Shirts founder Rick Ralston.

His timing could not have been better, as Ralston prepared to launch his newest clothing venture, Rix Island Wear, which opened its doors two weeks ago in the middle of Ward Warehouse.

"I told him I was sorry it wasn't in better shape, but he thought it was in great condition, considering it's 48 years old," said Awaya. "I actually didn't wear it too often because it had my name spray painted in front in orange.

"Awhile back, I saw a story about Crazy Shirts and how Rick Ralston got his start, and I started to wonder if he was the one who did my shirt, but I didn't want to bother him. He might think, 'Here's this kook.'"

But eventually, Awaya said, his wife pestered him to get rid of things he didn't need.

"Only half of me could get into it anyway," he said, so he tracked Ralston down through the Internet, and to his surprise, Ralston wanted to see the shirt and recognized his "Quasimodo" design right away, featuring a surfer with his head down and one arm straight out.

"That was my first year in Hawaii," said Ralston, who got his start selling shirts to tourists in 1960 on Catalina Island. There, he met a girl from Hawaii who invited him to come over and check out Oahu.

"I thought, it's a resort island, too, why not give it a try?"

Ralston said he wasn't a surfer when he arrived, but, hard to believe today, tourism was seasonal in the 1960s, and after Labor Day, business plunged. "You could shoot a cannon down Kalakaua and not hit anybody," he said.

That gave him time to learn to surf and ply his trade downtown, where military personnel were also fans of his humorous, surf and hotrod designs.

"I didn't need much. If I had a bag of rice I was all set," Ralston said. "I'd paint one shirt one day, two the next, and the business started taking off. It evolved into screen-printing, which allowed mass production."

Although there's a promotional poster on Rix's wall from a 1964 concert featuring Jan & Dean, the Rivingtons, Peter & Gordon, the Kingsmen and seven other acts, with tickets advertised at $2 and $3, Ralston said he didn't go to the concert. "I don't think I had $2," he said.

The first Crazy Shirts store was a temporary one in International Market Place during the summer of 1963, intended to shut down at the end of the tourism season. Today, we'd call it a pop-up store. The rest is history.

The sweatshirt he painted for Awaya had been a source of good memories over the years, although he doesn't know what made him buy that shirt.

"I was 21 years old. I didn't have too much money for clothes," Awaya said. "I was more concerned about eating. In those days, we didn't care about clothes. We were happy if we had a clean T-shirt and rubber slippers. As long as the T-shirt didn't have a hole in it, you were doing pretty good."

He's worn many a Crazy Shirt over the years, although these days, he's careful to avoid those with funny sayings.

"I don't want people thinking, 'Look at that old man. He's lost his mind.'"