Last April, we interviewed Paula Rath, a public relations professional attending Honolulu Community College, and applauded her attempt to make a mid-career switch to fashion design. We catch up with her one year later.
Last April, we interviewed Paula Rath, a public relations professional attending Honolulu Community College, and applauded her attempt to make a mid-career switch to fashion design. We catch up with her one year later.
T'S scary out here!" wails Paula Rath over the phone, from her new clothing design showroom at 547 Halekauwila St.
About this time last year, Rath was looking forward to earning her Certificate of Achievement in Fashion Technology from Honolulu Community College. The public relations professional turned fashion designer thought school had been a challenge, saying, at the time, "When you are an established, competent professional in a field, the hardest thing about going back to school is being or feeling incompetent again. You're starting from the bottom."
For Rath, the challenges haven't stopped coming.
"When I was doing P.R., I always worked at home. It involved virtually no overhead. I only needed a computer and fax machine.
"It took only two months for me to figure out that I could not do this business out of my home. With my first delivery of fabric I was pushing us out of house and home. It was like a factory and it wasn't fair to my husband and cats."
So armed with her own savings, she took out a loan to establish her business.
"I hate it when people say, 'Oh, she's using her husband's money.' I'm doing this on my own because I don't want my husband to be responsible for my success or failure," Rath said. "Still, paying the rent every month is frightening."
Today, the public relations aspect of her life is relegated to a desk, computer stand and copy machine that occupy one corner of her showroom/office, and while she still has retained a few clients from her past life, she hasn't yet begun to promote her own work. Since setting up shop, she's sent only one mailing to friends, people sure to be her cheerleaders.
"The hardest thing is to promote yourself. You feel like you're being immodest," she said.
But once Rath starts talking about her designs, a sense of pride and bliss causes all worry and doubt to melt away.
"It's so satisfying. I feel so passionate in here when I'm draping, figuring out where to place fabric.
"What I've really been looking for is, what are the dream clothes that I've always wanted to wear that I can't find?"
Pauline Worsham and Louise Ing wear fashions by Paula Rath..
Photo by Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
One of these dream garments is a muumuu representative of Hawaii and Aloha Fridays, but equally at home in a corporate boardroom.
"As a local woman I think it's sad that there are so many women in the islands who don't have a single muumuu in their closet," she said, before pointing out a slim muumuu in vertically striped men's shirting fabric, with a stand-up straight collar.
"It's tailored so it doesn't get caught in chairs. It's not as voluminous," she says, a feature that fits her view of fashion as an enhancer of the female figure.
"I like clothing to be sculptural," she said. "I think of silhouettes in terms of how a garment shapes the body, and how the body can shape a garment."
Rath's swing coats are a perfect example loose enough to be comfortable, but forming a shapely cocoon over a woman's body.
"I think it's an ideal alternative to the business suit," Rath said. "I know an attorney who wears one in the courtroom and I love that. I think that's so refreshing, because this is Hawaii, and we should be able to make our own statement."
The swing coat is also versatile enough to be worn over jeans, catsuits or little black dresses.
Another design that says "Hawaii" is a palaka-print short set with a top trimmed in palaka. She'll be making more sets with long pants to accommodate customer requests.
Her prices start at $80 for a shorts set, with her top-of-the-line swing coat running $300. Most of her designs incorporate handwork and couture features such as invisible zippers, piping and applique.
A bonus of having made many friends during her years working in P.R. is that they now help supply her with limited amounts of exotic fabric, including multicolored silk saris from India and jewel-toned, hand-loomed silk from Cambodia. These will go into one-of-a-kind creations, whether a tunic, pants and caftan ensemble or Chinese-style pajamas.
"A few fabrics I've had for years. I know I love them. I feel pleased when I look at them, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them. It'll just hit me one day and I'll say, 'Of course! Why didn't I see it before?' "
The Facts:
Paula Rath Designs: 547 Halekauwila St., Suite 200
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Appointments only Monday, Thursday and Friday
Call: 536-1144
Some of her designs will also be available beginning next week at ChoCho Collection, a boutique in the newly open Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel. But don't look for vast collections presented in the style of Milan, Paris or New York designers. Rath said it is difficult to think that big, even if she has grown out of the "one garment at a time" class assignment mentality.
"We were not thinking in terms of 'How am I going to do 10 of these?' So we could afford to pay $100 for materials for one dress.
"The business aspects of design I think I'll be learning always. Fashion is one of those businesses you have to be in to know. I don't think you can project all the questions that are going to come up. Just as each design is like re-creating one's self in a way, with each line you're re-creating your business.
"Little by little, we seem to get there in baby steps sometimes."