New Traditionalist
August - September 2011Amos Kotomori Brings Zen Aesthetic to the Aloha Shirt
Tiger when we look into the eyes of the tiger, do we see ourselves? the fierce survival instinct that goes beyond the basics? or do we just accept who we are, and be fierce with kindness?
Ink Japanese my mother said to ink the body is wrapping one’s self with memories, omens, messages for all to see. the ultimate commitment. she told me, “choose wisely.”
Dream Cloud Dragon as a child i saw dragons in the mountain greens, moving clouds and restless ocean. i saw the imperial dragon chase the pearl of wisdom, not knowing that it would lead me to my destiny. to discover that jewel. to be that child again.
On Tommy: The Fifth Element Orange beyond earth, water, fire and wind awaits the fifth element: space. i was brought up to believe that we are put here to silently observe the stillness in life. for only then do we understand the fifth element. once there, i ask myself: what am i meant to do in the space? On Amos: Feathers if i wore feathers, could i fly to that special place where i become invisible? where i’m able to feel everything around me?
FASHION EDITOR & WRITER: NADINE KAM
PHOTOGRAPHER: LEAH FRIEL
MODEL: TOMMY MAHEARY
HAIR & MAKEUP: CHRISTINE GARDNER OF FLAUNT
All product descriptions by Amos Kotomori
JETTING TO PARIS IS EXCITING ANY TIME. But for Amos Kotomori, his first trip in the mid-1980s was nothing short of life-changing. Invited by worldrenowned fashion designer Issey Miyake, caught up in a swirl of fashions shows, Kotomori was swept up in a wave of Japanese designers that were being hailed as the new avant garde-Kenzo, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo among them. Yet Kotomori also was making a name for himself-with hand-dyed textiles-that earned him contracts with Cardin, Dior and Ted Lapidus.
Although the young designer from Honolulu felt at home in this luxurious setting, his purse from which to draw finances from suggested otherwise. Unable to afford the garments that glittered on runways and in designer boutiques, he could only afford to splurge on one thing; French underwear. Thus, seemingly overnight, he became the male equivalent of Madonna; adopting an underwear-as-outerwear approach to dressing, accessorized with the repurposed linings of a silk kimonos as a scarves.
“I gave it a little style and made it work,” he recalls.
His time in Paris was cut short when his mother called him home, following his father’s passing. But he never forgot the experience. So when he introduced his men’s line last fall-his first collection in more than a decade-he knew he wanted other men to experience that same sense of luxury that had such an effect on him more than 20 years ago in Paris.
Just as the aloha shirt marks its 75th anniversary, Kotomori is moving the genre forward with his contemporary designs. His giclée-print shirts are carried exclusively at Neiman Marcus, and are made with Swiss double-weave silk-cotton fabric and French seams that leave no raw edges to scratch the skin.
Beyond physical ease, there is a spiritual comfort in his designs, inspired by Tibetan prayer flags, each bearing a message for its wearer and those who see it.
Even a tiger design channels the animal’s ferocity in a way that challenges our traditional notion of strength.
“How do we find the animal instinct within ourselves to be fierce with joy and kindness? It’s a different kind of mindfulness,” Kotomori says, adding his disdain that so many view acts of compassion and kindness as a display of weakness. “When people are motivated by greed and meanness, who really wins?”
It’s important to him that the shirts convey a message, though wearers’ interpretations vary, from the divine to the down-to-earth.
“I can’t tell you how many people tell me, ‘It’s my lucky shirt. I’m wearing it to Vegas.’ Different people feel good in different shirts,” he says.
Kotomori also has been busily completing the construction of a luxury bed-and-breakfast destination in Ubud on Bali.
His Villa Bodhi is littered with crafts made by local villagers, many of whom specialize in wood, stone, batik and ceramic work. The property, which comprises of four cottages, showcases Balinese antiques as well as his own furnishing designs. How it all came to be is another story worth telling.
Kotomori literally followed his dream to arrive at this venture, having hopped on a plane two weeks after dreaming he would find a mysterious round object within a square object. He spotted precisely this in a shop in Bali, which led him to an antique door-which serves as the sole inspiration for the design of his B&B.
And while building in a foreign country proved to be a challenge, it was an important step in his self-proclaimed development.
“I don’t want to repeat old habits. When you do, you don’t grow. You’ll never meet new people and you’ll never experience new joy,” adds Kotomori.
Jewelry, including rutillated quartz with gold bead bracelet, ebony and silver pendant necklace, sandstone shell necklace and carnelian and silver necklace, all from the Amos Kotomori collection.
