The Aloha Shirt

Abundantly illustrated with more than 700 images, The Aloha Shirt tells the colourful stories behind the marvellous Hawaïan shirt: as cultural icon, evocative of the mystery and the allure of the islands; as collectible, valued by professional collectors and by the millions of holiday-makers and servicemen who still cherish the shirts hanging in their wardrobes; and as a lifestyle - casual, relaxed and fun. Drawing on hundreds of newspaper and magazine archives, interviews and personal memorabilia, the author evokes the world of the designers, seamstresses, manufacturers and retailers of the Golden Age of the Aloha shirt (from the 1930s to the 1950s), those people who created the industry and nurtured it from its single-sewing-machine-shop beginnings to an enterprise of international scope and importance. Here are the fun-loving 1960s; interviews with collectors who preserve these shirts as fine works of art; and insights into the roles of coconut buttons, matched pockets, woven labels and exotic fabrics in the evolution of the Aloha shirt. This is a gloriously rich collection that celebrates both the beauty of Hawaii and the folk histories of the people who brought the Aloha shirt to life - not to mention the wonderful stories told by the shirts themselves.