Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 1, 1 January 2022 — 'Ōiwi Designer Chun Lai lnvited to NY Fashion Week [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'Ōiwi Designer Chun Lai lnvited to NY Fashion Week

Sharayah Chun-Lai, a Native Hawaiian designer from Kea'au, Hawai'i Island, has heeome the first Native Hawaiian woman to accept an invitation to New York Fashion Week. Chun-Lai, 27, launched her

modern Hawaiian-inspired clothing and lifestyle retail line, Ola Hou Designs, in 2019. Her designs reflect her Hawaiian cultural roots, and her goal is to create inspirational styles and designs with a contemporary Hawaiian feel. Last October, Chun-Lai received the invitation from Runway 7 (a hybrid fashion platform that presents runway shows) to be a featured designer and to showcase Ola Hou Designs at Sony Hall at New York Fash-

ion Week in February 2022. She is creating a new, contemporary line for the event and working with a team of loeal seamstresses to fashion 20 one-of-a-kind pieces. She plans to travel to New York next month with a team of 45 loeal professionals, including 19 models, and is seeking partnerships and sponsorships to help make that happen. Chun-Lai graduated in 2012 from Kamehameha Schools Hawai'i and went on to the Fashion Design and Merchandising program at U.H. Mānoa where she earned a B.A. degree. New York Fashion Week is one of the fashion industry's most prestigious events. It is one of four major "fashion weeks" in the world known collectively as the "Big 4." The other three are in Paris, London and Milan. New York Fashion Week is semi-an-nual event held eaeh year in February and September. Chun-Lai joins the growing number of Native Hawaiian fash-

ion designers achieving national and international recognition for their work. Last September, another Hawai'i Island designer, Mieah Kamohoali'i, was invited to participate in New York Fashion Week, and that same month the work of 'Ōiwi designers Kēhaulani Nielson, Manaola Yap and Kini Zamora was featured in REDValentino's submission to the prestigious Chelsea in Bloom annual floral art show in London. For more information about Ola Hou Designs go to https:// olahoudesigns.com/.

Sharayah Chun-Lai