Fashion Tech Instructor Maria Razzauti and student Meghan Reny working on Reny’s recycled kimono garment in the UH Maui College Fashion Tech lab ahead of their trip to Japan.Courtesy of UH Maui College
If you’ve ever thought of upping your home sewing skills to try your hand at the fashion business, we can help.
Our Fashion Tech Lab is undergoing an extensive refurbishment, expected to be completed for the Fall 2025 semester. (It remains fully operational during the upgrade.) The lab is being updated with fresh paint, new lecture and cutting tables, new ironing stations, and a brand new inventory of domestic sewing and serger machines for both our regular Fashion Tech credit program and our non-credit, low-cost classes.
Classes on sewing Knits, and Fashion Illustration are on tap for Spring 2025. A wide range of non-credit classes are also being offered – from Surface Design in Pattern and Textile, Beginning Sewing for Adults, Embroidery and Mending, Crochet, Garment Alterations, and the very popular Intro to Swimwear and Swimwear II.
Even if you’re not inclined to get into the fashion business, taking a class or two could lead to an international adventure, as it did for three of our Fashion Tech students last month.
Brielle Pacli-Donato, Meghan Reny and Aliza Clarke along with UHMC Fashion Technology Instructor Maria Razzauti traveled to Japan to participate in the Blue Green Art Project. The project is sponsored by Yamaguchi Prefectural University, which has been a “sister university” with UHMC since 2017 and where fashion design is a focus. It was thrilling for our students to join with such global and iconic fashion partners as Marimekko of Finland.
Upcycled kimono garments by UH Maui College Fashion Tech students Meghan Reny, Aliza Clarke and Brielle Pacli-Donato. Courtesy of UH Maui College
Emeritus Professor Yumiko Mizutani, the former Fashion Program Director of YPU, organized the event, the main purpose of which was to showcase upcycled garments made from old kimonos she personally donated. “The students were enrolled in my Upcycling Garments class this past Spring,” explains Razzauti. “So, the timing was perfect for them to apply what they learned and also learn additional sewing skills needed to recycle the kimonos.”
The inspiration for each student’s design was personal and evocative of Maui. Meghan Reny’s “Hōkū Moon and Her Waters” was created to honor “the beauty of the moon and the waters of Hawai’i, how the connection of moon, land and water breathes life into us, and how it is our kuleana to protect this deep relationship,” she explains.
She hand-sewed opal beads onto the lining of a recycled wedding dress to represent the luminescence of the full moon. The skirt, which is the beautiful old kimono fabric, represents the water.
“I honor the sacredness of Haleakalā and the enduring bond between the land, the sun, and the Hawaiian people,” says Aliza Clarke. She used striped red kimono fabric to represent “the layers of lava that shaped its ridges and valleys, a testament to geological forces over millions of years.” The bright yellow top of her garment “symbolizes Ka Lā (the sun), a source of light and renewal. Watching the sunrise at Haleakalā fosters a deep respect for the land and a connection to ancestors.”
Sugarcane provided the inspiration for Brielle Pacli-Donato’s “Wai Ko.”
UH Maui College Fashion Tech students Brielle Pacli-Donato, Aliza Clarke, and Meghan Reny with their upcycled kimono garments. Courtesy of UH Maui College
“The white and peach upcycled furisode reflects Maui’s official pink color. The purple michiyuki and blue textured organza symbolize the water from irrigation furrows created by workers, with pieces of the michiyuki also flowing along the dress’s side,” she explains. “At the bottom, green organza was shapely cut and sewn to imitate the sugarcane.”
This trip was about so much more than fashion.
“Japan had always been a country I wanted to visit,” says Pacli-Donato. “There were so many amazing memories. From our first experience doing the kimono tea ceremony, attending an indigo dyeing workshop, long walks through the different cities of Tokyo, visiting the Bunka College as well as Yamaguchi University and more.”
For Instructor Maria Razzauti it was a nostalgic journey. “Seven years ago, as a UHMC student, I had the opportunity to participate in a similar event with YPU,” she says. “I still can remember the excitement of being selected to represent the college, so I know first-hand what that’s like for the students. To travel to a beautiful country like Japan to exhibit one’s work as a student is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was a full-circle moment for me to help make this happen. A truly inspiring pivotal moment to be forever cherished.”
For information about the Fashion Technology credit program, visit catalog.maui.hawaii.edu/fashion-technology/fashion-technology-asc For information about non-credit Fashion Tech classes, contact Charlene cquanp@hawaii.edu For complete information about UH Maui College, visit maui.hawaii.edu/.
UH Maui College Fashion Tech students Aliza Clarke, Brielle Pacli-Donato and Meghan Reny and Fashion Tech Instructor Maria Razzauti in Japan. Courtesy of UH Maui College
UH Maui College Fashion Tech students Brielle Pacli-Donato, Meghan Reny and Aliza Clarke at a tea ceremony in Japan. Courtesy of UH Maui College
UH Maui College Fashion Tech Instructor Maria Razzauti with students Aliza Clarke, Brielle Pacli-Donato, and Meghan Reny experiencing the art of aizome (Indigo dyeing) in Japan. Courtesy of UH Maui College
UH Maui College Fashion Tech students Aliza Clarke, Brielle Pacli-Donato and Meghan Reny showing some school pride in Japan. Courtesy of UH Maui College
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