When we’re not going local with our coffee, our favorite place for a little kaffeeklatsch is Crema Coffee Bar at the Honolulu Design Center. The coffee is classic Illy, and the sandwiches and pastries are from the same kitchen as Stage on the Design Center’s second floor. With the building’s modern design, Crema is a great spot to get away from the ho-hum. Plus, it’s right near Kaila favs Aloha Rag and Jimmy Choo. And we think an Illy coffee cup makes a far better accessory than one from Starbucks, as we demonstrate in our Jimmy Choo-Illy combo above. (On a side note, check out the clip on our post on American Vogue editor Anna Wintour to see which coffee graces Vogue’s offices in New York’s Times Square.)

DETAILS

EDITORIAL NOTE

In case you didn’t catch the cultural reference in the title, it comes from the song “You’re the Cream in My Coffee,” once performed by many. But we like the version sung by the one and only Mr. Nat King Cole.

THE LOWDOWN

“From Darkness to Light”

• Directed by Mariano Vivanco
• Starring Megan Fox, Hilary Rhoda, and  Marlon Texeira.

In the almost vampiric first segment, Megan Fox runs through the streets of Paris at night, while the film closes in color-drenched shots of Hilary Rhoda. The middle section, featuring Brazilian model Marlon Texeira, apparently is an older clip called “Higher States,” originally shot for British label Qasimi’s Spring Summer 2010 men’s collection. Peruvian-born photographer Vivanco has done editorial shoots for the likes of Numero, Vogue Nippon, Allure, and Details.

The film comes from the video gallery of Imagine Fashion, whose full fashion blog is soon to launch. In the meantime, we’ll be exploring  the other fashion clips.

This past week in New York, Calvin Klein Collection designer Francisco Costa served up a women’s resort collection that was classic Calvin – elegant, simple, and unfettered. One of our favorite pieces was a creamy knee-length dress sported by Jac (above left). At another high point, the gorgeous Karmen Pedaru (above right) donned a crisp and cool sleeveless dress in a brilliant white with beautiful geometric pleating, which seemed to be a gentle reworking of Costa’s architecturally-driven Spring 2009 collection. Against this kind of minimalist backdrop, a velvet evening dress – worn by Kristy Kaurova (above center) – caught the eye with its vibrant yellow and has earned a nod from the fashion media.

THE SHOW

THE SOUNDTRACK

Simply minimalist in wash of guitar riffs and beats courtesy of Toro Y Moi and Krikor – The Dead Hillbillies. On a fashion note, it’s interesting to see that the same Toro Y Moi track started off the Gudrun & Gudrun show during Copenhagen Fashion Week.

REVIEWS

• Resort Report | Calvin Klein’s Palate Cleanser – New York Times Style Magazine
• Calvin Klein Resort 2011 Collection – Style.com
• A Look at Resort 2011: Calvin Klein – Vogue.com

MORE CALVIN

See the full collection at Calvin Klein Collection Women.

CREDITS

Photography by Don Ashby

This past Sunday, CBS reaired veteran journalist Morley Safer’s 2009 interview with Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue, on 60 Minutes.

While I consider myself much more inclined towards Carine Roitfeld and French Vogue, I had to give Ms. Wintour her due respect when Mr. Safer asked her a simple but profound question.

SAFER: What bores you the most?

WINTOUR: Mediocrity.

Surprised, I couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

The rest of Mr. Safer’s profile of the editor who inspired  The Devil Wears Prada is entertaining as it’s clearly told from the perspective of an older gentleman used to tacking more “serious” issues as opposed to the seemingly trivial nature of fashion. Take, for instance, the expression on his face when he’s talking to Dior designer John Galliano wearing some kind of leopard-print hat. It was probably Safer’s detatchment (and journalistic stature) from all things fashion that made him an ideal choice to interview someone of Wintour’s reputation. Face-to-face with Safer, Wintour seems almost nervous, making her a bit more human… at least, until  the Chanel sunglasses go back on.

MORE VOGUE

• See the 60 Minutes interview here.
• For more on Wintour’s French counterpart, Carine Roitfeld – once dubbed the Anti-Anna – check out the always entertaining I Want to Be a Roitfeld.
• Also compare fashion insiders’ opinon of Roitfeld in the CNN profile on Roitfeld found on our earlier Roitfeld post. While Wintour’s name seems to be inspire supressed terror, Roitfeld’s actually brings a smile to their faces.

While stocking on the latest fashion mags recently, our eyes caught sight of Mr. Alexander Skårsgard (it’s pronounced skarsh-gard)on the cover of V Man, the edgy quarterly published by the same team behind the ultra-luxe fashion publication Visionaire. The Summer 2010 edition of V Man features Mr. Skarsgård and the other Nordic artists, musicians, and actors who are making quite an impression on the fashionista set. The V Man appearance coincides with his special appearance on the cover of the more mainstream Details. Though Mr. Skarsgård has appeared in Swedish films since his youth and a variety of English-language productions, his career skyrocketed since he made his appearance on HBO’s True Blood as Eric, a thousand year-old Viking turned vampire.

MORE ON ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD

You can see the return of Eric when season 3 of True Blood begins June 13. In the meantime, visit Skarsgårdnews.com for the latest on the Swedish star after checking out this minisode of Eric with his vamp cohort Pam, played by Ms. Kristin Bauer. Caveat: those with timid tastes that don’t watch cable may not want to watch.

Danish group Selvmord’s hot track “OK” has quickly become one of our favorite track of Summer 2010. From what we’ve seen online, Selvmord is marketed in Europe as a rap group. But their sound has a bit too much of a teutonic slickness to file them neatly away somewhere between Tupac and Ludacris. If anything, Selvmord’s aesthetic, built upon its phat beats tastefully dusted with rough and dirty electronics, reminds us of Brit band Massive Attack - a kind of Nordic cousin to Massive Attack’s Mezzanine from the late nineties.  Selvmord’s music is the kind of thing you’d want to brood fashionably to in a loft while sipping gin and wearing vintage Helmut Lang… well, before the economic. (Actually, perhaps afterwards.)

THE MEANING

We realize, of course, that some people have a hard time listening to music in a language they don’t understand. Consider, for instance, how many people listen to American music around the world without knowing much English.

But we’re not ones to leave people lost in translation. The video does a good job at conveying the jist behind “OK.” A young Nordic vixen with smoky eyes reminiscent of Helena Christensen and guys with tats and a pissed off attitude, who, despite all their big words and macho posturing, still get paint thrown right in their face.

When we put the lyrics for “OK” through Google Translate, we were faced with a stormy tale of love, jealousy, sex, and betrayal, covered by silence but immediately revealed by a simple look in the eyes–all understandably laced with a dash of tasteful profanity.

THE VIDEO

MORE ON SELVMORD

• Check out the band’s YouTube page by Copenhagen Records right here.
• “OK” and Selvmord’s self-titled album is now available on iTunes.

Today’s Hawaiian word of the day is kai a Pele, or tsunami or tidal wave.

The inspiration for today’s choice was obviously the events of this past February 27, 2010, following the oceanic surge sent throughout the Pacific Ocean by the Chilean quake. On a side note, I must say that some celebratory champagne from the night before had led me to think of something more sinister concocted by Kim Jong Il when I was awakened far too early by the sirens’ metallic screech at 5:50 in the morning. Hence, I was “relieved” to learn that the crisis at hand was actually natural.

Before I get complaints from the scientifically-inclined, I’d like to underline the difference between tsunami and a tidal wave. While tsunamis are generated by geological disturbances, the key word in the layman’s term is tidal, referring, of course, to the tides. Since tsunamis are not caused by the tides, tidal wave is discouraged as term to describe the phenomena. (At the same, tsunami literally means “harbor wave” in Japanese, so here’s to the scientific community’s selective recognition of etymology.)

Now that the digression is over, back to the ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i. Though the Hawaiian word for wave is nalu, the Hawaiian terms referring to tsunami or tidal waves found in Pukui and Elbert’s Hawaiian Dictionary use instead the word kai, or sea.

Besides kai a Pele (literally “sea of Pele”), other terms are kai e‘e (mounting sea) and the variant kai ho‘ē‘e. As a verb, ho‘ē‘e can be to rise or swell. I do recall hearing some Ni‘ihau speakers dropping the word kai and using either e‘e or ho‘ē‘e on its own to refer to the destructive wave. Interestingly enough, the Hawaiian term is closer to the actual nature of the tsunami, a swelling of the sea that surges ashore as opposed to one crashing wave. The receding of the ocean that precedes the tsunami is called kai mimiki.

Personally, I prefer kai a Pele because it refers to the wahine kapu (sacred woman) of Kīlauea herself, Pele, and her awesome powers. Not only the creator of new land, Pele also makes the earth tremble in ōla‘i, or earthquakes—the generator of the tsunami.  In the lower case, pele refers to lava and eruption. And if my understanding of Hawaiian grammar is right, the possessive a suggests that the destructive sea does not just belong to Pele but is created or generated by the goddess herself. Though the hula kahiko “Aia la ‘o Pele” refers to eruptions, I think it’s meditative inquiry “I hea kāua e la‘i ai, ‘ea?” (Where can we find peace?) is equally appropriate for kai a Pele.

Fortunately enough, the Pacific was spared from the kai a Pele this past weekend. Since I was already awake Saturday and suffering from my own ōla‘i (of notably French origin) between my temples, I jumped online to see what was occurring in French Polynesia because of the region’s closer proximity to Chile. The Gambier Islands only recorded 26 cm. The harbor in Pape‘ete, Tahiti only noted marginal rises. The minimal waves Because of their topography, the Marquesas, or Te Fenua Enata, recorded the strongest waves, measuring up to four meters at Ua Pou. On Radio Polynésie, a local resident reported seeing tourbillons, or whirlpools, form in the water. A day later, La Dépêche de Tahiti published the following photos—not exactly kai a Pele but curious enough.

Sources:

• Flickr – Clearly Ambiguous – Under Creative Commons License
• La Dépêche de Tahiti
• Pukui and Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary

Tikahiri, my favorite Pa’umotu goth band – and perhaps the only Pa’umoth goth band that ever will exist – is about to release their second studio album dubbed Merahi Kerekere. According to the band’s Facebook page, the discs are sous douane, which I’m liberally interpreting as “stuck in customs”. Luckily, three tracks are already up for listening on Reverb Nation. Two  of the  tracks (“A Tauahi Mai” and “Kareho Koe”) are in Pa’umotu, the language of the Tuamotu archipelago where lead members Aroma and Mano Salmon grew up. The other  (“Falling in Love”) is in English. (Note: no tracks in French, so Tikahiri’s right on par with indie bands in France métropolitaine.)

I must say that Tikahiri in English feels different than Tikahiri in a Polynesian language. The latter feels breezy and fresh, even in its darker moments, sounding as if it is out of 21st century Tahiti where the band lives and records. Tikahiri in English, on the other hand, tends to transport me to L.A. somewhere in the 80s – a curious, though not unpleasant, experience, to say the least.

Linguistic matters aside, Tikahiri seems to be following in the tracks of their debut Tamaki Hope’a, as they remain faithful to their acoustic aesthetic all the while developing it further. As if taken out of some modernist composition, the cellos riffs that open “Falling in Love”, for instance, add a sense of urgency unheard on their debut.

Until Merahi Kerekere is finally released and, hopefully, on iTunes for easy download, I suggest checking out the clip of the making of “Kareho Koe” up on the Facebook page as well. You get to follow band, crew, and, of course, attractive young female model up to the mountains outside of Pape’ete for a late night shoot. I must say that it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a Polynesian man rock a goth look with black lipstick and vintage military jackets, all the while retaining the testosterone factor. (Of course, many of us have seen a few with significantly brighter shades of lipstick, but that’s a different experience altogether that one should be in the mood for.)

Tikahiri is…

• Aroma Salmon – Vocals, Guitar
• Simon Pillard – Cello
• Stephane Rossoni – Drums
• Mano Salmon – Vocals, Bass

New songs on Merahi Kerekere

If I’m guess right from my Hawaiian and basic Tahitian, tupapaku is pa’umotu for “corpse”. So going off the track names,  you have a gothic medley of love, life, and death… and whatever track nine is about.

1. Kareho Koe
2. Falling in Love
3. A Tauahi Mai
4. Beautiful Lady
5. Merahi Kerekere
6. Tupapaku
7. In Love
8. You Make My Life
9. Penetration
10. Take Me Away
11. Beyond Reach

More of Tikahiri on Kaila Hawaiʻi

• Tātau and leather – “Tapea te paari”, Tikahiri’s debut clip
• Polyneisan Paradoxes: Tikahiri

Sources

• Tikahiri’s Facebook page

UPDATE

Merahi Kerekere is now available in the United States for digital download via iTunes and Amazon.

The marvelous blog I Want To Be a Roitfeld featured this tee in an earlier post this month, and I had to share. As much of a fan as I am of Ms. Carine Roitfeld – rédactrice-en-chef of French Vogue – I’m not entirely certain that I could sport this. Of course, the resemblance is not 100%. I’m sure the image would just make many think of some character from the film Avatar.

One of the supreme highlights of Francisco Costa’s women’s ready-to-wear show for Calvin Klein Collection was the appearance of Polish model Monika Jagaciak, or simply, “Jac”. She opened the show, which turned out to be one of Costa’s most minimalist and spare since he took over as women’s designer from Mr. Klein himself in 2004. In my eyes, it seemed as an evolution of ideas first presented in his fall 2007 and spring 2009 shows. (Cecilia Dean, founder of the luxe fashion magazine Visionaire had appopriately described the latter show as “soft geometry” in an interview.) While the show seemed geared towards pragmatic but ever-so-cool dressing for everyday, Jac did sport one of Costa’s three spare, elegant evening dresses in silver silk Lurex. Calvin Klein’s live webcast, unfortunately, did not capture the intricacies of the fabric’s delicate grid pattern. It is good to know that, even with technology, you still need to be there in person to truly see it… That is, until houses start broadcasting in high-definition.

In the meantime, Jac can also be seen as the face of Calvin Klein Collection’s 2010 Spring Collection campaign.

Sources:

• Style.com | Photos: Marcio Madeira &  Greg Kessler, FirstView.com