21 Degrees North Blog — hawaiifashion RSS

kanakaeconomy.org/blog/21-degrees-north-designs YOU AND YOUR OHANA   What is your name? Brooke Holt Pennell Where were you raised? I was raised between Honolulu and Mākaha. Where is your ohana originally from? On my dadʻs side, Hilo, Mākaha, Nuʻuanu, and Kāhala. On my motherʻs side, California. Do you come from a family of entrepreneurs or have people close to you who have encouraged and supported your entrepreneurship? My parents were both artists and entrepreneurs. My father was a glassblower and has a Masters Degree from UH in Fine Arts. He also had a small chain of gourmet deep dish pizza restaurants in the the Bay Area, as well as co-founding Mauna Kea Baking Company. My mother graduated from UH, was a fashion...

I grew up playing with scraps of Hawaiian print fabric that were strewn about beneath my mom's cutting table......occasionally getting pricked by the random fallen sewing pin. Watching mom concentrating on her patterns pinned on the mannequin forms....the afternoon sun shining through her golden hair. My mom, Sherry Holt graduated from the University of Hawaii and was driven to pursue her dreams as a fashion designer.  Her first job was as designer at Lauhala Sportswear, specialising in modern feminine patterns from classic Hawaiian prints.      In the mid 1970's, She went on to start her own company called Sunshine Hawaii.  She was at the forefront of a Hawaiian movement and brought "aloha shirts" and Hawaiian prints into the mainstream apparel business....