Beautifully illustrated with more than 700 images, The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands tells the colourful stories behind the marvellous Hawaiian shirts: as cultural icons, evocative of the mystery and the allure of the Islands; as collectibles, valued by professional collectors and by the millions of tourists who still cherish the shirts hanging in their wardrobes; and as a lifestyle - casual, relaxed and fun. Drawing from hundreds of interviews, newspaper and magazine archives, 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 end of the 1950s), 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.

In this expansive book, over 425 different shirts are displayed in clear color photographs along with an historical text, women's clothing, 20 different button styles, and-for the first time-229 researched manufacturer's and retail labels which help to date and identify the shirts. The success story of aloha shirts, primarily of the 1935 to 1965 era, is woven with the words of the people who themselves created and witnessed the development of this Hawaiian classic.

A wardrobe staple of John Wayne, Elvis Presley, and Bing Crosby, no 1950s Levittown luau or '60s surf party was complete without an aloha shirt. It’s a reminder of the pleasures of the tropical paradise lifestyle and its fabric patterns have evolved into their own works of art. A retrospective look at one of America’s most iconic cultural symbols of island life and its decades-long presence in mainstream fashion around the globe,The Art of the Aloha Shirtis a beautifully illustrated book that tells the complete story of the aloha shirt, from its origins in Hawaii in the early 1930s to its present status as a must-have in the retro fashion closets across the globe. It includes rare photos of vintage aloha shirts and island-inspired accoutrements of island lifestyle from surfboards to cocktail shakers.

Words of wisdom and incredible life stories, told through Gary Busey's unique Buseyisms. Take a wild ride through the life and mind of Gary Busey in his new hilarious, uplifting, tell-all memoir, Buseyisms. Gary transports you on a laugh-out–loud journey through the crazy twists and turns of his rise to fame, his descent into drug addiction, and his trip to the ‘other side’ after a near-fatal motorcycle accident. Gary also shares untold stories of his militant upbringing, surviving cancer in the middle of his face, and fun behind the scenes stories of his most popular movies and television roles including: A Star Is Born, The Buddy Holly Story, Lethal Weapon, Point Break, Under Siege, The Firm, Entourage, Celebrity Apprentice, and more. Included in this book are dozens of personal photographs from Gary’s early years up until now. Gary is a living testimony to the resilience of the human body and spirit. In his simply written but profound memoir, he shares his Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth to help others, who may be going through similar things, to realize that it is possible to survive challenging life events and come out a happy champion.

Between 1886 and 1924 thousands of Japanese journeyed to Hawaii to work the sugarcane plantations. First the men came, followed by brides, known only from their pictures, for marriages arranged by brokers. This book tells the story of two generations of plantation workers as revealed by the clothing they brought with them and the adaptations they made to it to accommodate the harsh conditions of plantation labor. Barbara Kawakami has created a vivid picture highlighted by little-known facts gleaned from extensive interviews, from study of preserved pieces of clothing and how they were constructed, and from the literature. She shows that as the cloth preferred by the immigrants shifted from kasuri (tie-dyed fabric from Japan) to palaka (heavy cotton cloth woven in a white plaid pattern on a dark blue background) so too their outlooks shifted from those of foreigners to those of Japanese Americans. Chapters on wedding and funeral attire present a cultural history of the life events at which they were worn, and the examination of work, casual, and children's clothing shows us the social fabric of the issei (first-generation Japanese). Changes that occurred in nisei (second-generation) tradition and clothing are also addressed. The book is illustrated with rare photographs of the period from family collections.

At the forefront of the postwar phenomenon known as tropical modernism, Vladimir Ossipoff (1907-1998) won recognition as the "master of Hawaiian architecture.” Although he practiced at a time of rapid growth and social change in Hawaii, Ossipoff criticized large-scale development and advocated environmentally sensitive designs, developing a distinctive form of architecture appropriate to the lush topography, light, and microclimates of the Hawaiian islands. This book is the first to focus on Ossipoff’s career, presenting significant new material on the architect and situating him within the tropical modernist movement and the cultural context of the Pacific region. The authors discuss how Ossipoff synthesized Eastern and Western influences, including Japanese building techniques and modern architectural principles. In particular, they demonstrate that he drew inspiration from the interplay of indoor and outdoor space as advocated by such architects as Frank Lloyd Wright, applying these to the concerns and vernacular traditions of the tropics. The result was a vibrant and glamorous architectural style, captured vividly in archival images and new photography. As the corporate projects and private residences that Ossipoff created for such clients as IBM, Punahou School, Linus Pauling, Jr., and Clare Boothe Luce surpass their fiftieth anniversaries, critical assessment of these structures, offered here by distinguished scholars in the field, will illuminate Ossipoff’s contribution to the universal challenge of making architecture that is delightfully particular to its place and durable over time.

Hawaiian Women's Fashions: Kapa, Cotton and Silk traces the history of the clothing worn by the women of Hawaii. The description moves from the traditional kapa pa'u and natural adornments worn by the first settlers in the Hawaiian Islands, through clothing worn during the early interactions with Westerners following Captain James Cook's discovery of Hawaii, to the time when royal women carried out their social duties in fancy, expensive European gowns of silk and velvet and to the present-day fashions created by Hawaiian designers.