Miss Universe contestants
By Tim Ryan
strut their stuff in isle goods
Star-BulletinIT was bedlam and beauty by design in a Hilton Hawaiian Village ballroom-turned-fitting area this week where dozens of 1998 Miss Universe contestants selected clothes for tonight's "Made in Hawaii" fashion show.
Juliana Thiessen, Miss Canada, dressed in Tori Richards shorts and top, stood alone in front of a mirror tugging at the hem, then slowly spun on her toes, to check herself out. Smiles and frowns alternately crossed her 18-year-old face.
Across the room, Joyce Giraud, Miss Puerto Rico, wore a top cut too low and a skirt too short for prime time television. She seems to dance through the room packed with contestants, clothes fitters, hairstylists, and dozens of racks with more than 500 sample garments from the 32 participating clothes manufacturers.
"How does it look?" Giraud, 23, asks in perfect English to no one in particular.
Several volunteers, including some men, smile widely, nodding approval.
"Very good," one man says, then blushes when he realizes he's the only one responding. Giraud smiles, winking at the embarrassed volunteer.
Eighty-two Miss Universe contestants, or delegates as pageant officials call them, will strut about $50,000 worth of Hawaii's stuff in the $100 a ticket show to benefit Junior Achievement. Hawaii fashion show participants Eric Chandler & Takeo donated two gowns, one worth about $5,000.
Fittings -- about five minutes for each piece of clothing and two fitters -- began Sunday afternoon. All the fitters are females despite dozens of men volunteering for the job, said Carol Pregill, president of the Hawaii Fashion Industry Association.
"If I chose all the men who wanted that job, I could have a date every night for the next 10 years," she said.
Senior design students from the University of Hawaii-Manoa volunteered to do the sewing for the altered items. And sizes varied a lot.
Unlike the Miss USA or Miss America pageants where contestants are all from the same country and have average measurements of about 36-26-34, this international competition brings with it a variety of body types.
Anna Christina Hawaii fashion show participants:
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The tallest delegates are 6-0, the shortest is 5-2. Foot sizes range from about a 4 to a 12. Some countries appreciate slim waists and small busts. Others favor large hips or large breasts.
"Some girls were able to step right into the clothes without alterations; some needed lots of nip and tucking," Pregill said. "A few girls...wanted it to fit very snugly. That's been a little difficult because some of the girls are very well proportioned.
"We're used to taking garments and just putting them on a model whose job it is to wear it. Most fashion models are slender. The delegates are small in the hips but also very curvy, and busty. Then you add to the mix that they all wear very high heels."
Some contestants are simply enjoying the moment, others, Pregill said, "are very serious about winning the pageant."
"We've explained to them that the fashion show is not a competition, and no judges will be there, but some have insisted on the clothes fitting a certain way," she said.One of Pregill's concerns has been that some local fashion won't mesh with the delegate's appearance.
"A muumuu on some girls just didn't work," she said.
The contestants will not be wearing swimwear in the fashion show because swimwear is a competition event. Instead, they'll wear shorts and tops.
"The point of the show is to have people see the whole range of fashions Hawaii's fashion industry can do," Pregill said.
The contestants will spend about 20 minutes walking the runaway before joining dinner guests at the tables.
First Lady Vicky Cayetano asked Pregill in February to coordinate the show. Pregill sent faxes to about 200 local companies about the show.
Brad Walker, president of Kamehameha Garment Co., said the show is "a win-win opportunity for everyone." Three delegates -- misses Japan, Bahamas and Great Britain, will wear Kamehameha outfits in the show. In the Waikiki parade earlier this week, 13 contestants wore Kamehameha aloha shirts. Walker will send pictures of Miss Japan in Kamehameha outfits to Japan where the product also is sold.
"The Miss Universe Pageant has a (potential) audience of 2.5 billion people," Walker said. "You can't buy that kind of publicity for even $20 million. The money paid by the state is the best deal the state ever did."
Walker also gave Kamehameha T-shirts to all 82 delegates and their chaperones.
Tori Richard's women's wear designer and merchandiser Agatha Karpowicz agrees.
"To have our clothes on such beautiful women is fabulous exposure for our company," she said. "Anything you put on these women is beautiful."
About a dozen delegates will be wearing Tori Richard slip dresses, and three-piece ensembles.
Hawaii pageant officials hope to use a video of the "Made in Hawaii" fashion show on some incoming flights to Honolulu to promote the state and the garment industry, Pregill said.
The facts
What: "Made in Hawaii" fashion show and dinner, a benefit for Junior Achievement of Hawaii
