If you missed the premiere of the 55th annual UHM Fashion Show, it’s not too late to catch the designs and virtual show of our talented students. Tune in this Sunday, May 16, at 5:30 p.m. on KFVE. The show also airs multiple times on ‘Olelo channel 53. Or, you can visit Hawai’i News Now. The virtual fashion show features collections from three senior undergraduate students in the Fashion Design and Merchandising program of the Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences, as well as 2020 fashion design student graduates. The runway footage was shot by the students — all on their smartphones.

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With the recent publication of his latest book, Fashion, Dress, and Post-postmodernism, Andy Reilly of the Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences caught the attention of instructors at the Lebanese American University. Andy was invited to provide a guest lecture for the university's new course, Fashion Studies Seminar, and – given the ubiquity of online access, he was able to speak with the students in Beirut, while never leaving Honolulu. For his lecture, “Attention Deficit Fashion:  Post-postmodernism in the Fashion Industry,” he presented his work and discussed the students' own projects. 

“We are leaving postmodernism behind and entering a new phase called post-postmodernism,” Andy told the class. “One of the outcomes of this new condition is rapid turnover of retail stock due to shortened attention spans and an industry desiring to meet the need for constant newness, resulting in micro-trends that disappear in a few weeks and are quickly replaced by something new. And of course, that relates to excess waste.”

The class ended with an invite for Andy to visit the university and its students – in person – when it is safe to travel again. Andy’s also been invited to lecture at Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, Germany.

Want to social distance at the absolute height of Island design? Feel good knowing that 20% of net proceeds will be donated to the Hawai‘i Food Bank? Then check out Fighting Eel’s new line of unique local-print scrubs and face masks, designed by Fashion Design and Merchandising alumna Lan Chung.

The stress from COVID-19’s impact on our health, finances, and way of life is affecting many Hawaiʻi individuals and families. So the question for Human Development and Family Sciences is, “How can we help?”

“Practicing mindfulness is like weight-lifting for the mind’s frontal cortex,” says Thao Le of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. “Mindfulness provides the tools and resources to navigate through the ups and downs, the uncertainties of life, as we are now during this crisis.” And that’s where The Pause Space comes in. A calm retreat located at Kuykendall Annex, The Pause Space offers guided mindfulness meditation to the UHM community.