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Fashion signals status and aspiration – where you’ve gone and, in most cases, what it took to get there. The aloha shirt’s more widespread appeal stems from this notion, particularly the expense and celebrity-like endeavour it used to mean to make the journey from the mainland United States. At the same time, the garment is more than an allusion to an Elvis movie or a cruise starting off the coast of California. Rather, its lightweight, silky construction and prints evoking both the islands’ history, multi-ethnic heritage, and landscapes embody the Hawaii of the 20th century – specifically, an East-meets-West-meets-Polynesian cultural confluence – and the pervasive need that, no matter where you’re from, you’ve got to stay cool when the tropical sun is beating down on you from above.
