The Story Behind Your Dress
More Than a Graduation Dress
For more than 60 years, Princess Kaiulani Fashions has created Hawaiian garments that have become part of some of life’s most meaningful moments.
For many students, a graduation dress may seem like something worn for one special day. But behind each dress is a much longer story—a story of Hawaiian culture, craftsmanship, the people who make it, and generations of students who have taken part in this tradition before you.
We hope that before you wear your graduation dress, you will take a moment to discover a little of the story it carries.
How I Came to Understand This Tradition
My relationship with Princess Kaiulani Fashions began before I ever imagined becoming its owner.
I was first drawn to the brand because of its dresses. To me, they had an elegance and dignity that made them stand apart from other Hawaiian dresses.
Over time, I built a relationship with Jill, the previous owner. As she prepared to retire, she began talking with me about the future of Princess Kaiulani Fashions and eventually asked if I would consider taking over the brand.
It was Jill who first told me about the school graduation dresses.
Until then, I had never seen an ʻIolani graduation. Curious, I searched for it on YouTube.
What I saw deeply moved me.
I saw a large group of young women in Hawaiian dress standing together, with many performing hula. It was unlike the graduation ceremonies I had known. To me, it felt like much more than a school ceremony.
I was watching a new generation experience Hawaiian culture together at an important moment in their lives.
That was when I began to understand why these dresses mattered so deeply to Jill.
Even as she stepped away from much of the rest of the business, she continued making the school graduation dresses. When she considered selling Princess Kaiulani Fashions, she had an important condition: whoever took over the brand had to continue making the school graduation dresses for at least three more years.
She was ready to retire, but she was not ready to simply let this tradition disappear.
After seeing the graduation for myself, I understood why.
I did not want to see something so meaningful disappear either.
That became one of the reasons I said yes.
What I Learned After Taking Over
I became the third owner of Princess Kaiulani Fashions around the time of the pandemic.
It was an extraordinarily difficult time to take over a business, but it also gave me an experience I might not otherwise have had.
Because of the unusual circumstances surrounding fittings and preparations, I had opportunities to meet many parents more individually.
Again and again, I heard words like:
“Thank you for continuing to make these dresses.”
“Thank you for continuing this tradition.”
Those words stayed with me.
I grew up in Japan, and when I first took over Princess Kaiulani Fashions, I did not fully understand the cultural significance of what I had inherited.
I began to understand it through the people and stories that came to us.
I realized that I had inherited not only a company, but a cultural legacy—and with it, a responsibility to help keep it alive.
A Dress Becomes Part of a Life
Over the years, we have heard stories that have changed the way I think about clothing.
Families have chosen a favorite Princess Kaiulani dress for a beloved mother or grandmother for her final farewell.
Former students have returned years after graduation with the dress they once wore as teenagers, asking us to alter it so they could wear it again at a wedding or rehearsal dinner.
Others have worn their graduation dresses again while performing hula at their weddings.
These moments taught me that Princess Kaiulani Fashions carries more than clothing.
It carries people’s memories and a connection to Hawaiʻi’s culture and history.
A garment can begin as something made for one day and become part of a person's story for decades.
Culture Lives When We Participate in It
Culture stays alive when people experience it, practice it, and pass it forward.
Hawaiian dress is one example of that.
Every time someone chooses to wear Hawaiian dress or muʻumuʻu—whether for graduation, hula, a wedding, a celebration, or simply as part of life in Hawaiʻi—that tradition continues.
And those choices reach further than we sometimes realize.
They help craftspeople continue practicing skills developed over generations. They help preserve knowledge of patternmaking, sewing, construction, and Hawaiian garment making. And they allow local brands rooted in Hawaiʻi to continue into another generation.
The graduation dress is therefore part of something larger.
Students participate in the tradition.
Families create memories around it.
Craftspeople continue their skills.
And another generation experiences Hawaiian dress as something living—not simply something from the past.
The Hands Behind Your Dress
Every dress begins long before it reaches you.
Patterns are prepared. Fabric is cut. Pieces are sewn together. Details are checked, adjusted, and finished.
Behind those steps are people—some of whom have spent decades developing the skills required to make these garments.
Their names may not appear on the dress, and you may never meet them.
But their hands are part of its story.
Local garment manufacturing in Hawaiʻi has changed dramatically over the years. Skilled sewing professionals are becoming harder to find, and preserving these skills has become increasingly challenging.
That is another reason traditions like this matter.
When garments continue to be worn, the knowledge of how to make them has a reason to continue as well.
The Name We Carry
Our brand carries the name of Princess Victoria Kaʻiulani.
We do not take that name lightly.
For us, carrying the Princess Kaʻiulani name means that Hawaiian culture cannot simply be treated as a design or aesthetic. We have a responsibility to continue learning about the history behind what we make, to respect the people and traditions connected to it, and to share those stories with the next generation.
Princess Kaiulani Fashions itself is only one small part of a much larger Hawaiian story.
But we hope that by continuing to make these garments—and by sharing what we learn—we can help keep a connection to that story alive.
Hawaiian Dress & Its History
Why does Hawaiʻi have a style of dress unlike almost anywhere else in the world?
Holokū. Holomuʻu. Muʻumuʻu.
The clothing worn by generations of women in Hawaiʻi reflects layers of history—the Hawaiian Kingdom, encounters with Western cultures, Hawaiʻi’s climate and way of life, music, hula, and the changing lives of the people who have called these islands home.
Fashion is not simply about trends.
Clothing can tell us how people lived, what they valued, how cultures influenced one another, and how traditions changed over time.
Understanding the history of Hawaiian dress helps us understand why these garments continue to have meaning today.
What Happens After Graduation?
After graduation, your dress belongs to you and your story.
You may keep it.
You may wear it again.
You may alter it.
Or someday, you may pass it on to someone else.
There is nothing wrong with letting a dress begin another life with another person.
In fact, we hope these garments continue to be worn rather than simply forgotten.
We only hope that before you decide what its next chapter will be, you know a little of the story it carries.
And if you pass it on someday, perhaps you can pass a little of that story along with it.
Because when a garment is passed from one person to another, its story does not have to end.
It can grow.
Take Hawaiʻi With You
After graduation, some of you may leave Hawaiʻi for college. Others may eventually build careers, families, and lives in places you cannot yet imagine.
Whether this dress remains in your closet years from now is not the most important thing.
Because what we truly hope you carry forward is not only the dress.
It is the experience of growing up in Hawaiʻi.
Of being surrounded by its music, hula, clothing, traditions, people, and spirit.
Of standing together at graduation in Hawaiian dress and taking part in something generations before you also experienced.
And perhaps someday, wherever life takes you, you will find your own way to pass something meaningful forward.
Learn With Us
Hawaiian Fashion × History × Culture × Craftsmanship
We believe clothing can be a doorway into learning.
Princess Kaiulani Fashions hopes to create opportunities for students and educators to explore Hawaiian fashion through history, culture, craftsmanship, and sustainability.
Topics may include the history and evolution of Holokū and Muʻumuʻu, how a garment moves from pattern to finished dress, sewing and local manufacturing, sustainability and garment reuse, and the role fashion can play in carrying culture into the future.
Fashion × Hawaiian History × Culture × Craftsmanship × Sustainability
It May Be Just a Dress Today.
Years from now, it may remind you of your classmates.
Your family.
Your school.
Your graduation.
Hawaiʻi.
And the person you were when you stood together on that stage.
Today, it may feel like just a dress.
Someday, it may mean much more.
And we are grateful to have been a small part of its story.