JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Actor George Dyer, who plays Frederic in Hawaii Opera Theatre's production of "The Pirates of Penzance," has some fun in pretending to kidnap designer Anne Namba after trying on his costume at Namba's studio in Kakaako.

Pirate’s life
for me

In HOT's world, the plunderers
wear designer togs

Unlike the original 1879 New York production of "The Pirates of Penzance," in which costumes weren't finished for the first performance of the Gilbert and Sullivan comedy and performers had to work in makeshift costumes, Anne Namba and her seamstresses are confident every detail will be finished by the start of Hawaii Opera Theatre's staging of the production when curtains rise July 22.

Namba is probably best known for her clothing line, Anne Namba Designs, full of sleek, Asian-inspired designs made from vintage kimonos and obis. But few people outside HOT's world know about her other passion.

"Although I'm known as a fashion designer first, costumes are my first love," she said. "But it's really tough to make it in the costume business. It's more for fun than money."

While Namba's Kakaako store is peaceful on a Monday morning, her studio is the opposite. Namba not only has the musical to think about, she has the added task of getting ready for a fashion show on Sunday, featuring her clothing designs from "Pirates," as well as five new segments to her line.

Sunday's fashion show will contain signature pieces such as silk aloha shirts and reversible jackets, as well as Mandarin-style tops with feather-printed pants, gowns, dresses and appliquéd silk pantsuits in earth tones and bright colors.

In her studio, she is completing bridal-party designs for the Sunday show while greeting HOT employees who stop in to say hello before carting away new batches of clothing for the show. But Namba's not panicking about the dwindling number of workdays. Working up to the last moment is typical for her, she said: "I get a lot done when I'm under pressure. (Although) I had insomnia last week."

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Designer Anne Namba puts finishing touches on actor Buz Tennent's costume for HOT's "The Pirates of Penzance." Namba and her team designed the costumes for the production, in which Tennent plays Samuel the Pirate Lieutenant.

NAMBA BEGAN working on the show's costumes in April after bumping into HOT's artistic director, Henry Akina, on a plane to the Big Island. By the time the plane landed, the two had committed to working together on "The Pirates of Penzance," about a boy who becomes a pirate apprentice.

This is Namba's third collaboration with HOT, Hawaii's only professional opera company. Namba first worked on "Madame Butterfly" and last year's Gilbert and Sullivan show "The Mikado." But "Pirates" stands out.

"This one is the most work for us," she said. "This one has the most amount of costumes."

How many? Punching in numbers on a calculator, she comes up with 57 costumes, including outfits for actors Michael Gallup (Major General), Jean Stilwell (Ruth), George Dyer (Frederick), Korliss Uecker (Mabel), Mary Chesnut Hicks (Edith), Georgine Stark (Kate) and Frank De Lima, Cathy Foy and Stephanie Sanchez, who appear in cameo roles.

Among the costumes is a mermaid outfit fashioned from two different shades of blue organza. The mermaid costume was the most difficult to make, she said, but other outfits are just as elaborate, including white blouses, petticoats and full skirts for maidens and wine-and-gold-colored costumes for pirates.

"There are scruffy pirates but not my pirates," laughed Namba, who is an avid opera-goer, along with her mother. "My pirates are flamboyant and ornate. They are designer pirates. They are not from any specific time period; it's not exactly accurate. I just took the characters and had some fun."

ANNE NAMBA DESIGNS A model wears one of the Anne Namba designs that will be shown, along with some of "The Pirates of Penzance" costumes, at the Blaisdell Concert Hall Sunday.

"THE PIRATES of Penzance" are no ordinary pirates. Some wear vests made from heavy upholstery; others have faux-leather vests. All the pirates' costumes are embellished with sashes, scarves and colorful ties, but perhaps none are as swanky as the Pirate King (a gruff Curt Olds), who is dressed to raid and pillage in high style, wearing gorgeous silks shot through with metallic threads and beaded, tasseled scarves. Oh, and a polka-dot vest.

Namba kept the tone of the light opera in mind, working humor into the costumes. For example, she debated whether to give the mermaid a belt -- a beautiful coral-and-blue-colored braided piece studded with large shells and possibly a fake squid -- bought from a fishing supply store.

Design has been a passion of Namba's since she was 12. After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, she started in the business as a costume designer for Radio City Music Hall, and was hired per assignment. But she found the lack of steady work frustrating.

"It's hard to keep a steady job (in costuming); there's a costume union," she said of her switch to fashion design. "Fashion design is easier. It's hard to advance in costume design. But with fashion, you get a hit, you get good, you get stores to start buying. ... I like to build things and see things grow. I'm also an entrepreneur at heart."

Her current clientele includes Aretha Franklin, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sharon Stone and Kristi Yamaguchi, and her creations have been sold in Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Bergdorf-Goodman in New York.

Namba said she does finds her design sensibility making its way from her line into "The Pirates of Penzance." The two-piece bridal dress was the inspiration for the mermaid's costume, and the designer's trademark is also evident in a few select duster coats worn by the pirates. Some cloaks have Mandarin collars and boxy shapes, complete with embroidery or tapestries imprinted or woven into the cloth. But there are also other, more subtle clues of her style visible in the buttons and the brocades she selected.

"I notice little things like that. I always look at the details when I'm at the opera," she said. "You never know -- the pirates could have gone to China, right?"

Pirate king meets fashion queen Anne Namba fashion show, with some of "The Pirates of Penzance" cast performing songs from the production: Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall When: 10 a.m. Sunday Admission: Free Call: 596-7372 Pirate Day Family fun with free pirate patches while supplies last: Where: Hawaii Maritime Center, at Pier 7, Diamond Head of Aloha Tower Marketplace When: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday Admission: $3 per ticket or $10 per family of four Call: 596-7372 Show time! Opening of "The Pirates of Penzance:" Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall Show times: 8 p.m. July 22 and 29, and 4 p.m. July 24 and 31 Tickets: $20 to $75 Call: 596-7858 or go to www.hawaiiopera.org Also: Family matinee 2 p.m. July 23, with tickets at $15 for adults and $10 for children (some restrictions apply); military and group night is 7:30 p.m. July 30, with tickets priced at $25 (military ID or minimum group purchase of 20 tickets required).