R Magazine is sponsoring its first fashion show Friday at the Royal Hawaiian Center.

On  the runway will be local designs selected by Aloha Aina Boutique, fashion-forward clothing from bebe, swimwear from Allure and cute wirebags from Anteprima.

There will be a photo booth from Shutterbug Photos where you and your friends can pose together. Copies of R Magazine will be available to inspire your shopping. Shoppers who spend $250 or more at participating Royal Hawaiian Center stores will receive a free swag bag. The fashion show and photos booth will be held from 4:30 – 5:45 p.m. in the Royal Grove.

Information: 922-2299.

- Paula Rath

There is so much exciting news from Myanmar (formerly known as  Burma) these days! A U.S. ambassador to Myanmar was named yesterday. There will be an American Embassy in Yangon for the first time in decades. This will undoubtedly mean more Americans will be traveling there. Best to go asap!

I visited Myanmar about four years ago and it still hangs onto my heart. It turns up as the subject of my paintings. Longing to return, I often meditate myself back to Inle Lake and Bagan.

I also love Burmese food and was happy to learn that this weekend there’s an opportunity to sample Burmese food at the  Lemongrass Cafe in Chinatown, located in the Pacific Gateway Center, 83 North King Street..

Burmese Chef Aye Aye Maw is presenting a five-course Burmese Pop-Up Dinner in the Cafe on Sunday, May 20 at 6:00 p.m.

The menu will feature Chips and Tomato-Cilantro Dip, Bayar-Kyaw (Lentil Fries), Parata and Chicken Potato Curry and Banana Cake for dessert.

Beer, wine and soft drinks will be available for purchase at the Lemongrass Cafe bar.

Dinner is $20 per person and reservations are required. Call 851-7010 or email myaing2@pacificgatewaycenter.org.

- Paula Rath

It’s a different sort of birthday, the first one following a life threatening injury.

It’s all about gratitude. Not gratitude for gifts or good wishes alone, but a bigger sense of gratitude and appreciation for every moment life brings.

It’s amazing to be sitting here at my computer, gazing out at Jerry’s Zen garden, writing with hands that are functional, though  numb and tingling.

It’s amazing to plan lunch with my dear friend Chris Oliver, sunset cocktails at House Without a Key and dinner at Taormina with Jerry.

It’s amazing to revisit my beautiful box of get well cards and to recognize once again that there are so many people who care about me and helped make the miracle happen with their thoughts and prayers.

And, oh my, all the amazing flowers! I have dried many of them as a reminder…..

It’s amazing that my CT Scan yesterday showed a normal brain, although there had been fears of a subdural hema toma.

It’s amazing that Jerry and I spent much of yesterday making plans for future trips in the fall and beyond.  We can’t wait to travel to Panama, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, New Zealand and New Mexico.

I am so grateful for the medical team, lead by Dr. Mark Gerber, that provided such amazing care. Dr. Gerber calls me his “miracle patient,” but it’s he who performed a miracle with a spectacularly successful surgical procedure. The exemplary  teams at Straub (ER, ICU and third floor) and Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific carried on the work of helping me heal. And now the able folks at Rehab are catapulting me forward with excellent physical therapy and occupational therapy.

Perhaps most of all I am grateful for family. Jerry has been an amazing caregiver in every way. He is patient and kind every moment of every day and it isn’t easy. I can be really impatient with myself.  I wake up pretty stiff and cranky sometimes after sleeping in my neck brace. I get frustrated with my lack of independence. My mother Jacky, sister Berta and sister-in-law Ginger have been such a tremendous help. And of course we learned that my son Duncan is an exemplary care giver as well! What would I do without my fabulous family?

Although I lost many readers during my health hiatus, I am so grateful to those of you who have stood by and continued reading paularath.com. I’m so fortunate to be here for you and to have your loyalty and appreciation. Please stick with me and the blog. I will soon be able to drive again and will out and about scouting all sorts of new designers, artists and events for you to enjoy. There are also big plans for expansion of the Wear Aloha initiative!

With gratitude to YOU!

- Paula Rath

Lyla Prather, M.D., with her family.

Lyla Prather was not looking for another career. The busy M.D., with a practice in Kalihi specializing in Internal Medicine, is also the mother of three children, the wife of a man who is just starting a new career after retiring from the military, and owner of two cats and a dog.  Did she really need  more to do? Nah.

Yet she was missing something essential to fulfilling herself as a woman. “I was missing my girly side,” she said during an informal interview in my living room. Ever since her days at Punahou School, Lyla has been all about “Pink and angora sweaters and makeup,” she said with a girlish grin. As a busy mom and physician, her life had become more about “Sweatshirts and pony tails and medicine and mommy. Where’s the me?”

It was quite by accident that Lyla discovered a way to get back in touch with her feminine side. A college sorority sister who now lives in Virginia introduced her to Stella & Dot jewelry. Stella & Dot is an innovative jewelry company that enables women to go into business for themselves without high upfront costs. Like Tupperware, Stella & Dot is based on the party or trunk show concept, in addition to online sales. (See below for more on the business.)

Stella & Dot Lindsay bangles

Lyla loved Stella & Dot jewelry right away. Initially, she said with frank honesty, “I intended to take the jewelry and run. But I held a party in my office with friends, nurses and neighbors, and the party brought in $4,000.” Seeing the fun and excitement the trunk show brought to her friends, she was hooked. “My initial goal with the business was to pay for all my kids’ after school activities but I reached that goal and found I was having such a ball blinging myself out and meeting my goals and helping other women create a business to meet their own goals…” she said, all in one breath. Long story short, she immediately immersed herself in the Stella & Dot business.

Lyla is now Hawaii’s highest ranking person in the Stella & Dot sphere. She has twelve active stylists (the term the company uses for their entrepreneurial sales staff) working with her. She holds about six trunk shows a month and loves turning other women on to the fresh business concept. One of the benefits of the business model is that all the orders are written up by the stylist then sent in to the corporate headquaters, where they are gift wrapped (the wrap is adorable) and shipped to the customer. This takes much of the day to day hassle away from the stylist. There  is also an active online and social media component at which Lyla excels.

Stella & Dot Fatima necklace

Stella & Dot is constantly coming out with new seasonal styles. Each season about 20% of the inventory is retired and a sample sale of 50% off is held. Stylists spend $199 up front and receive $350 worth of jewelry. After their initial purchase, they can buy all the jewelry at a 50% discount. There are no large inventory requirements or quotas.

“You decide exactly how much work you want to put into it. It’s all up to you,” Lyla said.

Lyla Prather with Stella & Dot founder Jessica Herrin in San Francisco.

Another thing that sold Lyla on Stella & Dot is the work of the Stella & Dot Foundation. It helps fund organizations that encourage women in small businesses, in addition to providing funds for latch key kids in low income neighborhoods as well as orphans in Central America. Her favorite grantee, Lyla said, is Girls Incorporated, a nonprofit she describes as “Empowering women, giving them more self esteem. My whole life all I have heard is ‘girls don’t shoot baskets’, ‘girls don’t do this or girls don’t do that.’ I grew up in a machismo culture with all male cousins. ”

The company founder and CEO is Jessica Herrin of San Francisco, a Stanford grad who created weddingchannel.com. Co-designer is award winning jewelry designer Blythe Harris, who has put together a team of designers from firms as diverse as Marc Jacobs, Prada and DeBeers, according to Lyla.

Stella & Dot has arrived on the radar of national fashion magazines such as Lucky, In Style, Vogue, Elle, Real Simple and Marie Claire. Herrin has also been interviewed in the New York Times, WWD and the Wall Street Journal. It’s a business that’s building fast.

Lyla is fortunate that she has never required a lot of sleep. This gives her more hours in each day. But I still have to wonder how she does it all. Her kids, Joey, age 17 (graduating this month from St. Louis and heading to the culinary program at KCC), Aiden, 5 and Ayla, 3, who attend Holy Family, all keep her going nonstop from football, wrestling and track to gymnastics and play dates. Add to that a cat with diabetes requiring twice daily insulin and, on the plus side, a very supportive husband and physician mother who shares her medical practice. Whew!

From the web site, here’s a description of how Stella & Dot works:

Stella and Dot, an Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Company, is a San Francisco based social selling company that creates flexible entrepreneurial opportunities for women. Our boutique-style jewelry and accessories line is available exclusively through in-home Trunk Shows by Independent Stylists and online. Our one of a kind collections are designed by celebrated New York designers and featured in Gossip Girl, In Style and Lucky Magazine as well as on the wrists and necklines of today’s hottest celebrities. The Today Show, Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have praised Stella & Dot for our innovative social shopping concept which brings together the best of ecommerce, social media, personal service and passionate earning to create the ultimate home based business for today’s modern woman.

If you are interested in holding a trunk show with your friends, or would like more information about getting involved as a stylist with Stella & Dot, contact Lyla Prather at www.stelladot.com/hulagirlstyle.

Lyla sums up her interest and enthusiasm for Stella & Dot this way: “The jewelry sells itself. It speaks for itself. The business is about the cathartic nature of women getting together with other women in a healing, nurturing environment just for girls.”

- Paula Rath

The Rath family at Mermaid. Photos by Jerry Mayfield

We are so fortunate to have our mother with us. At age 91, she really is amazing. She creams us at Scrabble and loves to go holo holo to Waikiki and Waianae. We treasure our time with her.

We spent a lovely Mother’s Day at Mermaid in Neiman Marcus. It’s Mother’s favorite restaurant so when we found out they were serving high tea (her favorite meal) there, we jumped on it. This is the second year we have celebrated this way.

The menu was fabulous, with platters of savories followed by a plethora of sweets.

And here are the flowers that lined the window seats. They just scream “spring” don’t they?

I hope all of you mothers had a lovely, sybaritic day being spoiled by your kids.

- Paula Rath

Honolulu industrial designer, artist and teacher Melissa Rivera was a contestant on The White Room Challenge on HGTV Tuesday night. Having written about Melissa and followed her work ever since we shared an evening at Pecha Kucha, I had to watch and cheer her on. I absolutely thought she was the winner of the “Trip to the Candy Store” challenge. Her vision was clear and unified, her design aesthetic shone through and her robot room was an embraceable place any child would love to inhabit. She was also the most upbeat and positive contestant!

The judges selected her as the runner up but she was the winner in my book.

Melissa (left) and the other three contestants.

Melissa had a show opening at Fishcake on Wednesday night, May 9. Sadly, it conflicted with my Style Workshop at Place so I couldn’t go, much less cover it. But Malie Moran generously sent me these photos taken during the event to share with you.

One of Melissa's adorable robots.

Melissa's T-shirts are still available for sale at Fishcake.

Unleash is the name of Melissa's design studio.

To see more of Melissa’s work, go to unleashstudio.com.

- Paula Rath

If you haven’t been to Tutuvi-Sitoa for a while, here’s a great reason to get there. We don’t often get to see a collection of Jerry Vasconcellos’ sculpture.

In addition, when’s the last time you saw Colleen Kimura‘s beautiful hand screened Pacific Island prints? Her shop is bursting with beautiful fabrics, clothing, jewelry, note cards and home furnishings, all with a sophisticated island vibe.

Located at 2636 S. King Street, between Puck’s Alley and a 7 – 11 store. Open Tuesdays – Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Phone 949-4355.

While there, pop in to Spices for lunch or dinner. Love their food!

- Paula Rath

Photos by Harold Julian

The first time I saw Akihiko Izukura’s silk tunnels  - part of his installation at U.H. Manoa last January – I thought what a fabulous location  they would make for a fashion photo shoot.  I saw a group of students shooting a video inside the tunnels and hoped to see more creative efforts emanate from them.

Enter photographer Harold Julian, model Eva Avery of Premier Models and Talent, makeup artist Jessica Hoffman of Premier Models and Talent and stylist Tyson Joines of Wilhelmina Hawaii.

Together they captured some of the magic of Izukura-san’s hand woven, natural dyed silk tunnel.  Here are four of the photos from that shoot, with a huge mahalo to all the creatives involved.

An interesting aside about the silk tunnel: One would think that a soft, gentle fiber such as silk would not hold up to the kind of wear it would take in a tunnel. Not so! The silk can handle being walked on, sat on, fondled and grabbed.

The bamboo, however, often became problematic. Izukura-san usually uses bamboo from China and Japan to create his fiber sculptures and structures. However, being a purist (as he most certainly is) he wanted to use Hawaii bamboo while in Hawaii. The Hawaii bamboo broke, shredded, shattered and had to be constantly repaired. It seems the bamboo that grows in China and Japan is much more hardy and tough than Hawaii bamboo. It has to adapt to inclement seasonal weather, whereas island bamboo is accustomed to mild weather only. When putting stresses on our bamboo, it simply can’t handle it. Who knew?

- Paula Rath

It’s always exciting when a locally owned business opens up in Waikiki. Welcome Pipeline Leather to the Royal Hawaiian Center.

The store is all about leather for both men and women, from top to toe. The store offers a wide range of styles and brands, including UGG, Red Wing, Birkenstock, Danner, Schott and Allen Edmonds. There are business shoes, work boots, even hiking boots.
And of course leather jackets, which we all love to wear on our trips to Paris, New York, Las Vegas or Timbuktu.

Find Pipeline on level 2 of Building C. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Remember, parking at the Royal Hawaiian Center is much more reasonable than you might have thought. The Center’s validated parking promotion offers one hour free parking with validation and $1 per hour for the next three hours, for a max of four hours. After four hours, it gets really expensive, like $6 per hour. No minimum purchase is required for validation so a cup of  coffee or stick of gum will work.

- Paula Rath