Do you mind sharing some of those shops, so our pals can dress their ocs without risking cultural appropiation for the new twst event? Thanks and if you don't want to, it's fine 🤝
Hi, thanks for the ask! First off I would like to clarify that I am local but not native, meaning I grew up in Hawaii but am not indigenous Hawaiian, so I can answer this but not as any kind of major authority on Hawaiian appropriation. Just to be transparent about your source here. (Also keep in mind I grew up on one single island, and the culture varies somewhat from island to island)
I can list some shops, but if you're worried about appropriation it's important to know that you'll find the most offensive and appropriative stuff in tourist shops, so I'm gonna start with a short list of things you'll find and should avoid first:
•Tiki shit. -These are actually an important Hawaiian tradition tied into the religion that has been exploited all to shit. There's still some casual or ironic use of tiki aesthetics by locals, but it's better as a visitor to just not. (There's a kinda Okay and Not Okay division of this, and you can tell by context and artstyle and shit, but I don't know how to reliably describe it)
•Hula paraphernalia. -Coconut bras are a costume, they've never been a real Hawaiian thing, they're literally just some bullshit aesthetic made up by and for haoles. Grass skirts are very occasionally used in hula, but not even a common material for hula skirts in the first place. But also, hula is a very important aspect of Hawaiian culture that should not be used as a costume in any form anyway. This includes haku leis (different from the classic flower lei, flower leis are ok), and any hula instruments (Ipu gourds and basically anything with red and/or yellow feathers, for a start). (Also, jokingly 'doing the hula'? Obnoxious.)
•Traditional Hawaiian tattoo art. -First off this is different from other ancient Hawaiian art (which can be its own gray area, but less dicey), traditional tattoos are very deeply important and have specific meanings, often related to ancestry and aumakua (think like, ancestral spirit animals). There is a lot of nuance here, and there is some stuff stylized off of traditional art that's widely sold, but again it's a nuance that I cannot easily convey and it's safer to just not do it.
•Hawaiian warrior paraphernalia. -If you ever go to Hawaii, you'll see a lot of charms and necklaces and graphic prints of Hawaiian warrior helmets, Hawaiian warriors, and boar tusk charms, Just Don't with these.
Also, special note on Luau: Tourist "luaus" are a very common attraction, and a likely event for tourists to go to. They are also immensely exploitative, white-owned, and culturally insensitive.
Anyway, clothing: It's good to remember that Hawaii is a US state, and we actually have a lot of the same brands and stores as the mainland united states (though living in the mainland, I've come to realize that the stuff we have is mostly west coast brands/companies) and we mostly wear a lot of common american clothing. So your OC would have access to a lot of common american clothes + aloha wear. The easiest way to avoid looking like a dick is really for the OC to mostly wear stuff familiar to them but suitable for very humid weather in the 75-95°f range, and whatever kind of beachwear they'd prefer. As you can see with the twst boys, they're actually mostly wearing beachwear or chino pants (which are a typical tourist choice, not a local style) and aloha shirts (a style developed in Hawaii through a mix of cultural influence and immediately marketed to the mainland by the creators, so not sacred and totally okay to wear), accented with straw hats, flowers, and a lot of beaded jewelry commonly sold but not culturally significant.
[Casual clothing]
We mostly wear shit like jeans/shorts/boardshorts and tshirts/tanktops/hoodies depending on the weather. It's common in Hawaii to wear beach clothes all over the place, like boardshorts and bathing suit tops/shirtless outside, and throwing on a tank top or tshirt indoors or more public areas like the mall. And most footwear is slippers (flipflops), closed shoes are worn but not as common for casual day to day. In general locals just, aren't as weird about exposed skin and the existence of feet as a lot of westers cultures? Like bare feet and sandals are normal, short shorts/crop tops/bikinis/shirtless guys aren't something to ogle at, they're just everywhere. Same with tattoos.
Some common local brands/local favorites:
-Maui Built
-Hurly
-Quicksilver/Roxy
-Local Motion
-Billabong
-Skate brands like Zumies are also pretty popular
-American Eagle is really popular specifically with gay guys and christian girls, do with that info what you will
-You'll find a lot of popular tourist stuff like straw hats, souvenir beach towels, souvenir jewelry, and aloha print accessories at places like ross and walmart, as well as tourist centric shops like abc stores and whaler's village. With the exception of the problematic shit I listed, these things are typically inoffensive, but can be tacky. Basically you would be immediately clocked as a tourist, but you're not doing harm.
-Aloha shirts are sold in most clothing shops, and come in various levels of quality and formality. Higher end aloha shirts come in silk or imitation fabrics, relatively thick woven, are well fitted, and usually have less loud patterns (think Azul's shirt), and can be considered formal or business wear. These are something that would be appropriate in any office, weddings, fancy dinners, shit like that. More causal aloha shirts tend to be boxier cut and lighter fabrics like cotton, they have louder patterns and are often worn untucked or open over a tanktop/tshirt/bare chest (like Jack, Ace, Lilia and Floyd).
-Floral print dresses in light fabrics and various styles are really common for women, and often worn by tourists. These are usually longer, like at or past the knee but not floor length. The top worn by Riddle and the way it's styled is a woman's fashion mostly worn by tourists and haole women who moved to the islands. I can't remember seeing any local girls wearing these, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
[Accessories]
-Hats: Straw hats are usually worn by tourists, though some locals will wear them too (usually women at the beach, most men I've met will wear them ironically if they do at all. But ironic/satirical fashion choices are very common and get incorporated into outfits all the time). Women's hats are round with wide flat brims (Lilia, Riddle), mens are usually more fedora shaped (Ace). Floyd's looks like it's a pork pie panama hat, which is one of the most expensive hats you'll find, and referential to old timey gangsters, especially with the white shorts and aloha shirt combo. (I used to work in a hat shop sorry). Anyway most locals will wear flat brim baseball caps made of thick cotton with no mesh. Some people wear the curved brim mesh ones, but they're usually older people or white.
-Jewelry: This varies a lot, there's a few really common things that you see all the time, and the rest is usually combinations of Japanese and American fashions incorporated to individual tastes. Tourists almost never wear local jewelry styles and most jewelry worn there is a mix of modern Japanese and American styles that vary widely by individual preference. Tourist jewelry tends to be high end gold and silver stuff with Hawaiian themed motifs like sea creatures (turtles and whale tails being the most popular, then tropical fish, sharks, and octopus), tropical plants (hibiscus, plumeria, monstera leaf, bird of paradise), pearls (especially Tahitian black pearls), and mother of pearl or abalone pendants/earrings. And on the cheaper end there's the kind of wood bead and simple cord + charm bracelets (Jack) and shells or shaped clay beads (Riddle, Lilia), simple cord necklaces with shark teeth or metal charms (surfboards, sea animals, the like) and sometimes clay or steel beads, cheaper pearl necklaces, and toe rings. Things to avoid would be any motifs with warrior helmets, gourds/feathers, tribal print, and tikis. Bone or steel fish hook pendants are very popular with local men, and I personally find it weird to see on tourists because it feels very much cultural, but I haven't actually heard complaints on it, so I'd love it if anyone else wants to weigh in
-Side note on Ace just because I find it interesting: His braided leather belts and bracelets are actually referential to a popular style up the mountains that comes from the Paniolos, Hawaiian cowboys originating from Spanish influence who predated the cowboys of the classic American West! It started out as simple Spanish style plaited leather belts, then spiked in popularity in the 70's as part of a western clothing trend that still remains in fashion leather goods today. Hawaii still has some cattle ranches and historic cowboy towns with the original storefronts and everything.
-Pareos/sarongs are popular bathing suit accessories and I haven't heard anything about it being an issue. Again, avoid the problematic motifs listed earlier to be on the safe side.
-Sunglasses are a free for all, I buy all mine at ross but the popular brands I mentioned usually have their own lines. I see thick black brims (think oakleys) most often with locals, aviators are less popular. Oakley and Ray Ban are probably the most popular high end brands for locals?
-Footwear: As I mentioned earlier, most footwear is open toed slippers, these come in a variety of styles like the classic rubber slipper, sturdy foam ones like Scotts brand (a lot of these have bottle openers in the sole these days), and fancy leather ones like Olukais that can be worn with nice clothes. Also my personal favorite are the platform foam slippers which range from 1-6 inches in height that a lot of local girls wear. People wear closed shoes/boots about the same way the rest of america does I think, just less often? This includes dress shoes and heels for fancy settings. Popular closed shoes for locals are skate shoes and canvas chucks, I don't know if puffy hightop sneakers are still a thing anymore. Tourists often wear boat shoes(?) and similar kinda low cut light material styles.
-Leis and flowers: People gift leis for celebrations like graduations and weddings, sometimes greetings after long trips, but nobody wears flower leis as a casual style. Some men (usually in sales and guest services will wear kukui nut leis as part of their business attire, but it's not streetwear. There are also specific lei for hula that you just shouldn't wear. If you wanna put your OC in a lei go for floral, the most common tourist leis are purple orchids. Women will often wear flowers behind their ears of they feel like it, pretty much any variety. They also sell these foam-clay plumeria flowers on bendable wire stems in a variety of colors to wear behind the ear which are a fairly common accessory and super cute imo. Aside from that, people don't wear flowers often, the piles of flowers on their hats and shoulders in the promo art is not really a thing in Hawaii, like at all? And definitely not fruit. Nobody wears fucking bananas and mangoes, Ace looks like a clown.
-Important note on that though! The belts, bead necklaces, and floral shoulder things may potentially be referential to other pacific island cultures that I am not familiar with. I'd encourage you to do more research on those, as they may very well be appropriative (again, I don't recognize them and cannot say one way or another. I don't even know for sure about the fruit). I'd start with checking Tongan, Samoan, Filipino, Okinawan, and Indonesian traditional clothing to start with.
[Rich people clothing]
This is something that I don't have much experience with because I'm not rich, and tbh most locals aren't either. There's a massive wealth inequality issue in Hawaii, so there's a million high end restaurants and clothing stores and jewelers, but they're mostly exclusive to rich tourists, the people who can afford to move and buy land there, and their kids who are typically kept separate from the rest of the community.
-The popular Hawaiian Jewelry brands I know of are Na Hoku and Maui Diver's Jewelry. But in general I think the best source I can recommend is to check out the Shops at Wailea website and see what brands and styles they offer.
Aaand that's all I have energy for, I hope it's helpful. If any other Hawaii locals wanna add on that'd be awesome!
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