Twenty-Third International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Our paper introduces the concept of “Paradise Fashioned,” which examines the entanglements between fashion and empire in Hawai‘i. We seek to broaden the scope of the humanities to encompass a critical examination of aspects of everyday life, such as fashion and dress. As such, we emphasize the broad scope, power, and relevance of the humanities to everyday life. We note that although the workings of colonialism are commonly understood as a political and economic process, they are also deeply cultural projects. Our work approaches clothing and fashion in Hawai‘i as both an imagined and material aspect of the colonizing process. Using aloha wear as a case study, we examine how the colorful garments have historically been deployed to promote visions of a multicultural and harmonious US empire, while simultaneously rendering invisible Hawai‘i’s position as the most militarized state by camouflaging histories of genocide, white supremacy, and ongoing militarized occupation in the islands. Our paper focuses on the strategies deployed by the U.S. military and tourism industries to purposefully dress soldiers and defense workers in aloha wear when stationed on bases across the islands and Oceania. We argue that aloha shirt-wearing military personnel were used as living advertisements of the “multicultural paradise” attainable through incorporation into US empire.