Alumni News

 Dr. Ju-Young Kang and Dr. Shu Hwa Lin of the FDM program won the Paper of Distinction award for the culture track at the 2022 annual ITAA conference for their paper entitled “3D Virtual Technology in Costume Museum Exhibition: Qing Dynasty.” This project aimed to create a digital costume museum platform that incorporated 3D virtual technology. This project was based on the authentic costumes at the UH historic costume museum. Our UH historic costume museum is one of Hawaii's largest historical and ethnographic costumes and textile collections. We will continue to develop a 3D platform for diverse collections of the UH costume museum. To learn more UHM Costume Collection, watch a video. This is Dr. Kang's third Paper of Distinction award since she’s been at the CTAHR/UH—she previously won this award in 2014 and 2017 (consumer behavior track) at the ITAA conference. Also, this is Dr. Lin’s second Paper. of Distinction award —she previously won this award in 2020 (sustainability/social responsibility track) at ITAA. Congratulations!

FDM 437 Small Business Start-up class recently opened their new retail brands, Hidden Essentials and Artists Collective, which features handmade products created by the FDM students and selected merchandise sourced from local/national vendors.

Hidden Essentials is an online boutique run by 10 fashion design and merchandising students at UH Mānoa. This includes our e-commerce team: Michelle Kinumatsu, Makali'i Saunders, and Hoku Serna; our marketing team: Kanako Yoshitsugu, Melanie Simmons, and Jisoo Kim; our merchandising team: Cailin Kaneshiro, Jada Rogers, and Danielle Gersonde; and our team leader, Sabrina Weaver. The Artists Collective is a joint shop created by Olivia Maguire, Jordan Casteen, Crystal Lam, Enzo Silvestro, Riana Kawamura, Megan Medrano, Blaise Sugita and Dominique Au....[For the full article, click "Read more"]

Four holokū from the Historic Costume Collection are on display through January 2023. When missionaries arrive on the Islands in the early 1800s, Queen Kalākua women asked the missionary women to make her a dress in their style. The women sewed a loose-fitting dress using woven fabric. Eventually, a train would be added and the garment named the holokū, translated as a loose dress made of foreign fabric. The four holokū on display in Miller Hall include a 1920s floral print and a 1998 vivid orange creation; 1950s eyelet lace dress made in a Mother Hubbard design with images printed images of Hawaiian women; and 1970s Mamo Howell with cowl neckline and printed with shell lei.

Welcome to our inaugural issue. We view this as a means to stay connected with our stakeholders and share our program achievements and highlights. 

Students and faculty were very excited to be back and filled with energy, as we began the fall semester in person after two years of online and hybrid learning. Fall also marked the revival of the FDM Advisory Board, composed of community stakeholders, whose function is to act as a sounding board and provide advice on program direction. Many members participated in our 5-year review. Actually, this time the review became a 7-year review due to delays caused by the pandemic. In the review process we reflect on our mission and outcomes and include feedback from our stakeholders. An external review team composed of faculty from other universities visited the campus in October to assess the College, and were overwhelmingly supportive of the program and provided excellent feedback.... [For the full article, click "Read more"]

Congrats to Mark Thorne on a Partnership Award for Multistate Efforts! His National Connections Teams for Forest & Rangeland Resources team was recognized by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture for developing the web-based conference series, “Strengthening RREA programing Through Enhanced Connections.”