Photos by George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin

A lot of this stuff is pre-owned, but it's barely
used. Much if it is designer labels from
Hong Kong and Korea or Japan..."
Pamela Young,
 KITV co-anchor and volunteer model
for Salvation Army benefit

Fashion Salvation

High-profile celebs lend a hand to
'A touch of elegance' show
of second-hand chic

By Burl Burlingame
Star-Bulletin


Above, Darrell Cordell, far left, is oblivious to the Salvation Army
stylings of Pamela Young. Young says she usually ends up buying
the clothes she models. Cost for the pieces she's wearing
in the show range from $3 to $50.

WE urged Pamela Young to verbalize whatever was coursing through her mind as she pawed through the Salvation Army's private reserve of pre-owned couture.

"Drool drool drool," muttered Young.

Young, KITV's effervescent co-anchor - and master of the in-the-camera double-take - is one of the models at Tuesday's "Touch of Elegance" fashion event to benefit the Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary's social services programs. Other models include First Mayor Lady Ramona Harris, broadcasters Linda Jameson, Malia Mattoch, Heidi Umbhau and 1996 Mrs. Nubian, Carole Reynolds. Emcee is Michael W. Perry.

The "Sally" has always been a good place to pick up pre-owned clothes, and some of the items donated are quite nice. The women's auxiliary has a stash of the REALLY nice stuff for the event, which will be up for grabs before and after the fashion show and lunch.

We asked Young to try some on, because we heard her say "haute couture" once, and she didn't pronounce it "hot cootie." She must know her fashion.

On-air clothes are generally provided by sponsors, "so when I dress myself, I generally go for comfort rather than style," she said. "People really pay attention to what you're wearing on air - they often comment on it (rather than on your stories.)

"I generally end up buying everything I model in the (Touch of Elegance) because it's great stuff. It's such a trip to see women circling like sharks at the tables, elbowing each other to get at the clothes."

Prices for ensembles - including what Young is modeling here - range from $3 to $50.

Young complained that she's "too big and tall" to easily shop for - she's tall, and could probably hold her own in a bar fight, but she's not "big" by any stretch - and that her "big ol' luau feet" make delicate pumps out of the question. "I have to be careful about dress length. If it's formal, I like it either really short or full length. Anything else looks like pajamas on me."

She continued to paw and ponder.

"I'm a prom queen
again!," says
Pamela Young,
referring to the velvet
and taffeta dress
she scored at the
Salvation Army.

"Oh! This is beautiful! Understated and elegant. Oops, too small. My colors, darn it, black and green. What about this jacket? Very period, very Elizabethan, maybe. Shoulders tight - oh, I've got two pairs of shoulder pads on. Oooooh, look at this Laura Ashley ...what! Too BIG? And this - looks like something an Inca priestess would wear, except she'd have to have something on underneath. Everything would show!"

Well, we're trying to sell papers here. Try it on.

"A lot of this stuff is pre-owned, but it's barely used. Much of it is designer labels from Hong Kong and Korea or Japan, and you can't try things on in the stores there. So you'll buy it, and bring it home, and discover it doesn't fit. The logical thing is to donate it then."

Young said she had a favorite red-and-black dress she bought at Salvation Army years ago, and she wore it so often at Christmas "that it became a joke at the station. It finally met its demise in Paris, and I left it there. But I saved the buttons. So Chinese."

Young held up a delicate lace collar. "Some folks go to Salvation Army just to look for accessories like nice lace or buttons or trim. It can be a good deal."

She selected four ensembles to model. The first was a sunny flower print dress made in Japan. "It fits me well, and it's got my color in it - flamingo pink! It fits my personality. Kind of overdone, yeah?"

The next was a gauzy blue pants-and-blouse outfit. "It's soooo cool. And it's very casual, but I could also wear it to a cocktail party. And with the number of food events I go to - check it out! - room to grow!" She demonstrated that the blouse was loose enough to continue wearing should she achieve sumo-wrestler bulk.

And there was a black-velvet and green-plaid taffeta number. "I'm a prom queen again! Just the words velvet and taffeta make you feel elegant. And it's got a kind of Hawaiian, holoku look to it. And I like that it makes noise." Indeed. As Young walked, the dress went wibbity-wibbity-wibbity, like a little engine gathering steam.

And the fourth was a jacket-and-pants-and-hat get-up. The jacket had sparkly things - sequins? - on the front, but not on the back.

"Don't need it on the back - you can't see yourself from behind, so what's the point? Ha! What I like about it is that it's very business-like, but then you can go out, and it's dressy. The light will pick up the rhinestones ..."

Those are rhinestones? Not sequins?

"No. Rhinestones and sequins are two completely different things."

Wow! It's true - Pamela Young really knows her fashion stuff!


The facts

What: A touch of elegance
When: Opens with a boutique at 10 a.m. Tuesday, a lunch and fashion show at noon and back to the boutique at 1:30 p.m.
Where: Tapa Ballroom, Hilton Hawaiian Village
Cost: $35; $10 of which is tax-deductible
Call: 988-2136 for reservations



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