Vintage Hawaiian Shirt - Nani Honolulu

  • Thread starter Thread starter 4BirdsVintage
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4BirdsVintage

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You all were so helpful with my Kahala playsuit - I was wondering if I could get some input on this Aloha shirt.

This is a cold silky rayon shirt ~ horizontal buttonholes, loop collar, either coconut or bamboo buttons, a Nani Honolulu label, and all straight-stitching.

I couldn't really find anything on the Nani label except I found it listed as a collectible Hawaiian label with Kamehameha, Kahala, etc. in several blogs / forums. I'm pretty sure this is a 40's aloha shirt from the styling but would love some confirmation of that dating.

And I'm also wondering how to describe this print. It appears to be a type of traditional boat along with a border print of native Hawaiian designs - does anyone happen to know if there is a specific name for the boats or the border print?

Thank you in advance for your help.

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I appreciate any help you could give with this shirt!
 
that is a really cool shirt, 4birds (sorry, don't know your name...) ~ it sure looks 40s to me. and agree, coconut and outrigger, usually considered a voyaging outrigger when it has the sail. That arm that comes out from the canoe is called an ama.

The word nani means beautiful, btw.

again, cool shirt. congrats!
 
Thank you very much for the input! My husband and I honeymooned in Tahiti and used an outrigger canoe to get from our motu (tiny island) to the mainland, so I should have recognized it for what it is. Ours didn't have a sail though, which now makes sense since we weren't "voyaging."

I will let you know, Mary - sometime today or tomorrow.

Thank you again!
christy of 4birdsvintage
 
Originally posted by thespectrum
" and agree, coconut and outrigger "

Pretty sure you mean bamboo, right?

And, yes, it is a wonderful shirt!
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doh! yep, bamboo. :wacko:
 
Nothing to add and I agree with it all, just had to tell you I am in *love* with your Aloha shirt! I'm totally into vintage Aloha wear; my daughter is a Hula dancer and so I actually get to wear it! That shirt is very valuable if it is indeed 40's. The side panels are a stylized tapa cloth pattern. The older rayon shirts tend to have color fade but yours looks so new, it must have not been worn much. Does that label say Nani and Hawaii underneath? I have seen this label on 50-60's shirts but there isn't information I could find on that particular label. Your shirt has double needle stitching on the arms and side seams, horizontal button holes and the little collar button loop and a wide upper collar. I am surprised the pocket is not pattern matched. You see that in the better Hawaiian shirts. Great shirt!
 
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