 "Photo: Miko Walczuk")
 "Photo: Miko Walczuk")
 "Photo: Miko Walczuk")
The runway isn’t for everyone, but for members of Innovators of Fashion, the on-campus fashion club, it’s a lifestyle.
The hive mind of the club is located in Miller Hall, where trendsetters walk in and out of its doors bearing apparel that makes some marvel and others question.
The Apparel Product Design and Merchandising Program (APDM) is headquartered here, under the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Undergraduate classes like APDM 215: Block Pattern Designing and APDM 201: Fashion Promotion are taught here, according to the UH Web site.
Jessica Selinger, a merchandising major and president of Innovators of Fashion, said IF is “simply about the love for fashion.”
Members of the club meet monthly to host fundraisers, fashion shows and community service events.
“In December we are planning to organize a preowned clothing and accessory sale,” Selinger said.
They are also considering trips to San Francisco or Los Angeles.
In Hawai‘i, cutting-edge fashion is hard to come by, especially with an absence of seasons and a hankering for the shorts-and-T-shirt style. Because of this, proponents of posh, like IF, have had a hard time reaching out to the community.
“IF has been sort of nonexistent for a couple of years, so we are trying to build it back up so that people on campus, as well as in the community, know who we are,” Selinger said.
Junior Carl Foltz commented, “I think (the fashion industry) is kind of silly, personally, but I can understand why people get so worked up about it, I guess. It seems so made up, like, who decides what’s fashionable, you know?”
Foltz admits to following clothing trends if they look cool, “but if a trend looks stupid, I won’t follow it.”
His voice may be echoed by other students on campus, but to argue whether the fashion industry has any impact on what people wear is like asking technology developers at Honda if their multibillion-dollar investments have anything to do with the aesthetic appeal of a Civic.
Still, Hawai‘i is accustomed to its trademark shorts-and-T-shirt style. Although Foltz admitted to going out of his way for an outfit he likes, he wouldn’t spend more than $20. Mainland shoppers might spend much more for an outfit, considering the amount of layers and possibilities involved in warmer wear.
To counter this, people, usually in colder climates, have started sewing to mend their wallets and their clothes.
Foltz said he has considered sewing, since his mother and grandparents have taken it up. But, he said, “I don’t really need to.”
For Misha Pyle, a junior APDM major who is also an IF member, sewing is more important in her life. Pyle, who couldn’t see herself doing anything else but design, said she’s “always loved to draw girls and clothes.”
According to Pyle, APDM majors “learn about the fashion industry and what it takes to play a role in it.” For her, this role involves sewing, which can get expensive.
“Using muslin, which is a fabric we have to practice on, I’d make mistakes and cut the wrong things, so I’d have to buy more and more,” Pyle said. “I usually use probably about 15 yards of muslin per semester, just practicing for fabric scraps. I think it was $10 for 5 yards.”
This was on top of obtaining other materials and textures for class projects, the club, and on the side.
“Yes, our teacher always tells us, ‘ignorance is expensive,’ ” Pyle said.
Time is also expensive; both Pyle and Selinger admit to almost living at Miller Hall.
“Everyone in the APDM program has to take sewing regardless of your emphasis,” Selinger said.
She said it makes more sense this way, because everyone is more “knowledgable about finished goods and where you could save money in the process.”
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