Hawaiian Flair

Having just got in over 60 'Hawaiian Shirts'.....

Here's our Andy with a selection, obviously the stones lips shirt would stretch any definition of Hawaiian so I thought a little research would be in order..

In the 1920s and 30s Japanese and Chinese tailors on the islands began making shirts out of imported silks and cottons for the growing tourist and cruise trade. It wasn't until WW2, with the stationing of thousands of American GIs on the islands that the designs started to make much impression outside of Hawaii. Here's Space family favorite Montgomery Clift in 'From Here To Eternity' which did for Hawaiian shirts what it did for having sex in the crashing ocean waves

By the 40s and 50s recognisable designs were being made made in large quantities often out of new miracle fibers such as Rayon (ironic, considering the polyester nature of modern chinese imports)
Over the next decades the Hawaiian shirt underwent some unlikely changes, it was recognised as a major export and rechristened the 'Aloha' shirt and, with the help of some canny marketing, became the official business dress of the islands. There was also the beginning of their status as collectible and potentially valuable items, not to mention them achieving the kitsch qualities they still have today

Few Hawaiian shirts in the UK today can be recognised as the genuine article, not even all of those made in Hawaii are considered to be of the quality and design of the 'golden age' of the 50s. If you can, find one with more traditional designs, ukuleles, pineapples, flamingos, sunsets and block floral prints are more Aloha than dragons and rock chicks. Whichever you wear, do it with confidence, there are few rules with Aloha shirts, don't wear them too tight, don't wear a jacket over them unless you want to look like an extra from Miami Vice and never, ever tuck them in.....
Oh, dear, Magnum P.I..