Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands, The

Dale Hope

Hardcover, 384 pp.

The most colorful and complete book published on the most enduring souvenir ever invented: the Hawaiian shirt.

Beautifully illustrated with hundreds of images, this book recounts the colorful stories behind these marvelous shirts: as cultural icons, evocative of the mystery and the allure of the islands, capturing the vibe of the watermen culture and lifestyle — casual, relaxed, and fun. Valued by professional collectors and by millions of vacationers and fashionistos, these shirts are enjoying a fashion revival.

Drawing from hundreds of interviews, newspaper and magazine archives, and personal memorabilia, the author evokes the world of the designers, seamstresses, manufacturers, and retailers who created the industry and nurtured it from its single-sewing-machine-shop beginnings to an enterprise of international scope and importance and its revival today.

The Aloha Shirt is both a dazzling, fun-to-browse art book, and a fascinating chronicle of the world’s love affair with Hawaii.