Please help identify Iolani Hawaiian Shirt. Is it vintage?

I agree with Brenda that we need to see the whole shirt. I checked the label resource and it does not match the ones we have in our resource:

http://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/iolani/

But I found the label in the Schiffer , "Hawaiian Shirt Designs" book - so I think the shirt is vintage. Please show us the whole shirt.

Thanks.

 

other things to check: the seam finishes: they should be french finished, or possibly selvage?

also it looks like the button holes are horizontal rather than vertical? and they look like coconut or wood buttons? (although those are easy to swap out...). and it looks like it does have a patch pocket on the left chest? and that the print matches up (perfectly)

pretty sure that's the Aloha Tower...



and of course, those are anthiriums (flowers).

 

I just flipped through my three books on Hawaiian shirts and Aloha attire and I think the shirt is from the 1950's. I didn't find the exact shirt - but of course there are a gazillion prints. The building is an artist's depiction of the Aloha Tower. I'm not sure what the two buildings on either side of it, at the bottom are supposed to be - they are not there alongside the real one! The label is the first one shown in Nancy Schiffer's book - but that doesn't mean that it's the earliest, however it strikes me as a '50's label and '50's shirt. I just did a quick search for Iolani vintage aloha shirts and the first shirt that came up on eBay is a 1950's shirt with the same label as your shirt.

Just want to say, I am not an expert on Aloha shirts even though I have lived in Hawaii for a really long time.

 

Linn...I'm wondering if it's not from when they reopened the marketplace...when was that the late 80s?? guess i could look it up...anyway, some of the shirt makers issued old time vintage-look prints for various "events" and maybe this is one of those...the lower buildings could maybe be the surrounding pier market shops????

the seam finishes might help on this one...and, does it have little plastic collar tabs in it? or not??

 

Hopefully garmentexchange will come back and show us the seams, etc. The label looks like a 1950's label. There are definitely some modern shirts that are in old-timey prints and without examining the construction, etc. it's hard to tell if they are reissues of older prints. I just looked it up and the Aloha Tower Marketplace opened in 1994.

 

wow...even 1994 would make it only 2 years shy of vintage...lol...

yes, those seams might be the key, and if they have collar tabs or not...it could totally be 50s from what i see so far...but some of those new oldies were absolute dead ringers for the real deal.

 

oh, and i remember Mrs. Chung saying that if/when (some) manufacturers would happen to run across a box or case of old labels, they'd pop them in a line of whatever was being sewn, too, esp if the print was more old style.

 

GE, i'm not seeing your photos...???

 

oh, they're up there...

 

good seam finishes ~ thank you. i would date this anywhere from the 1950s thru the 60s, then.

 

That's crepe, right? Also, the pocket looks perfectly matched.
Definitely vintage, I would say 50s.

 

yes. i was just wondering @ the time frame of the reno, as vintage landmark "building" prints were really really popular in the 80s, as well, but since the seams aren't serged, it does look older rather than younger.