Tiki-Kate's Great Big Collection of Tikiwear (Image Heavy)

I was completely inspired by Tikiwahine's shirt post. I have been putting together a collection of clothing that I can never wear to work for about 10 years now.

My one rule is that it's got to have a tiki on it. Oh, and I can really only wear an XL or smaller.

The collection is mostly shirts and mostly modern. I have a few vintage shirts and a couple of homemade tops.

I know a lot of you have probably seen or probably own a good many of these, but I think it's just kind of an interesting look into one girl's closet.

Here's my Reyn Spooner collection.

I ended up with a few of the Shag Toes on the Nose shirts.

And some Shag Disneyland shirts.

The next few were from BC Ethic, Utility, etc.

And I actually do own a few vintagy things.

I collect fabric, and I love to sew. I'm just not very good at it. Here's a couple of very simple tops I made.

And, yes, sometimes I even dress like a girl.

This is my Enchanted Tiki Room dress minus eight inches off the length and eight inches off the waist.

Last but not least, the one exception to the tiki rule. I just had to own it.

Chop or keep walking.

[ Edited by: tiki-kate 2008-05-28 17:15 ]

Wow Kate, some of those I just Love! If you don't have enough closet space, you could 'store' some here. :wink:

I expect to see you wearing something from your post to the next chop. :D

And what's with that last dress, do you have 4 arms? :P

I am down for trades of aloha wear at the nwxt chop. I've got a nifty tiki aloha shirt. I'll dig up a pic for ya.

Bill, those aren't arm holes. :roll:

Erik, What size are you?

I have the first shirt pictured so I think I’m cooler than I usually do.
Thanks Tiki-Kate!

Photo © Little Lost Tiki 2006

Tiki-Kate, I'm sorry that you can never wear these to work! That's not right. I've been collecting Hawaiian, Aloha, Tiki shirts for about 25 years now. I went through a phase that lasted several years where I wore my Hawaiian shirts to work everyday. Even when there was 2 feet of snow on the ground I had my Aloha shirt on. I did stop wearing my Hawaiian shirts to work about 2 years ago. I guess I didn't realize the reputation I had acquired. I guess I was sort of the eccentric computer guy genius that always wore Hawaiian shirts. Well, I had to make a presentation to upper management about a program I was developing. For the presentation I dressed the part, shirt and tie, and when I got to work my boss said, "You're not wearing a Hawaiian shirt! I already made apologies for you to the CEO." Boy I hate being predictable. So, I stopped wearing the Tiki shirts to work.

Kate...that is a fabulous collection!!! I especially love that schizophrenic pink one about 2/3 of the way down. Glad to see your post is inspiring others to show their collections....these are so fun to look at. Thanks :D

nice Shag shirts! I love em!

great collection Kate, I have the red and white new zealand one and it is one of my favorites! great collection!

Amy

Wow, great collection. I love the toes on the Nose ones. I have some of their shirts but none as cool as those, although one of their t-shirts I have has a cool little tiki head in one the back of the neck.

I've been cooped up sick all week, and since I was on the verge of dying of boredom, I decided to spend some time updating my shirt thread with my finds from the last half of 2007.

As always, I found lots of newer shirts.

And a few more vintagy shirts.

I even found a few more girly things.

This dress was far too muumuu for me, so I had a shortened (just a little too much.)

I love this top with the slits up the sides. It actually allows you to have hips.

This is just awful, but the fabric is fabulous. It's due for a trip to the seamstress for deruffling.

Amazing collection Kate. Got any XXL's you're bored/w?

It's funny that should ask that, Hank.

I never buy XXLs because I know there's no way I can wear them, and it just kills me to leave them behind. I recently asked a friend if he would be my shopping victim so I wouldn't have to abandon the XXLs and they could fulfil their tiki destiny.

I like the white shirt in the 13th pic. It looks like an Iolani. Except the tag is black. I have two red ones. One is red houndstooth with the little tiki man at the pocket and the other is red striped that looks like a busboy's shirt. Short waist and two buttons on each hip and tiki man at the pocket.

NEAT finds
Erik the Red

Thanks, Erik.

It is an Iolani. It's tough to find them really clean. This one is in pretty nice shape. White's not really my color, but I thought it might work over a swim suit.

awesome collection kate!!

Thanks for posting & updating your collection Kate!

I've unintentionally been out of the shirt collecting loop for a little while, and miss it very much!

nice collection kate!

I thought I'd update this thread about once a year or so, but I've found so many shirts over the past month, I figured I'd better do it now before I lose track.

Seems strange, but the newer shirts that I come across so often have been a little scarce lately.

Here's one from Sven's Big Book of Tiki Clip Art. (Just kidding, Sven.)

This Reyn Spooner is one of the coolest things I've found in a long time. I've always loved the Easter Island mosaic. May have to turn this one inside out.

I've been finding vintagy stuff everywhere.

This dress breaks my tiki rule, but petroglyphs come kind of close.

Lots more shirts.

I changed jobs since I first posted this thread. Luckily, the place I work now does Aloha Friday. I'm going to try to sell them on the idea of Aloha Monday - Thursday next.

Ha! Just saw this now, with you mentioning the mosaic shirt should be reversed: Great minds think alike!
That light blue one with the Tiki stitchings is boss! Is that an Iolani? ARE those stitchings, or are they print..?

On 2008-03-09 22:34, bigbrotiki wrote:
That light blue one with the Tiki stitchings is boss! Is that an Iolani? ARE those stitchings, or are they print..?

It is an Iolani, and the tikis are printed, not stitched.

Damn....where do you find this stuff?? I find one, maybe two per year.

that last green shirt is AMAZING! ive been hunting for one just like that for a long time, what does the tag say as far as the clothing brand?

On 2008-03-10 18:55, tikithomas08 wrote:
that last green shirt is AMAZING! ive been hunting for one just like that for a long time, what does the tag say as far as the clothing brand?

It reads "Created in Hawaii for The House of Muumuus Waikiki."

Kate, I gots some cool shirts for you...I'll bring-um to the Chop.

It's been a couple of months, and it's time for another update. I'm going to have to start another thread for all of the fabulous alohawear that people have been giving me recently. Babalu was exceedingly generous, and hodadhank gave me one of the most interesting shirts I've owned in quite some time.

Here are my latest tikiwear finds.

Some newer shirts.

Gifts from Buzzy.

A gift from Boris.

Some older shirts.

The matching apron. Well, maybe not matching. The fabric is the same pattern though.

A few more dresses. Sadly, this first one didn't survive the washing machine.

And the folks at work don't mind me doing aloha Monday - Friday. For the month of April, I wore a different color every week. Made doing the laundry much easier.

A truly stunning and ever-growing collection! I have a few of those, but you're ready to publish a book! I love how you really have to look for the tikis in some of them, but they ARE there! Kinda like where's Waldo. Keep posting!

Great updates Kate!! I just love 'em.

Oh dear, I am sorry to hear that Tiki Kate's dress didnt survive the washing machine. Ive lost way too many items, from clothes to curtains, to a washer that eats things alive, even on the gentle cycle. Now I wash older vintage garments in a bucket by hand using dish liquid or woolite. Then I hang them to dry because the dryer shrinks stuff to miniature size. I just thought I'd mention that so no one else falls victim. Love all the shirts also!

It's update time once again.

I've found a few more Iolanis.

These two are from Florida thrift stores.

This one came from a local Goodwill.

I've been very drawn to the color orange lately.

This little robe is just fabulous.

Some more vintagy stuff.

And a few newer things.

This one matches my comforter.

And I found a few more dresses.

This one needs to be demuumuued.

That's it for now. I haven't been finding a lot of duplicates lately, but I've still got my list of sizes for everyone I'm shopping for.

Great collection. I wear Tiki/Hawaiian/Aloha shirts every single day to work. I don't even get funny looks any more. When I do wear a "normal" shirt I get asked if I am feeling well.

This is a fantastic collection and great thread. I second the book idea. In the meantime how about a dedicated website/wiki where we can browse the collection and you can include more about the manufacturer, pattern and material?

There's definitely a book in the works, but it's not mine. Some of my wardrobe will be included though. :)

I'm happy to say some of my crazier vintage shirts are gonna be in that book too. see ya soon kate and Sven.

...it'll be challenge to reproduce those Poly-POP!!! colors of your shirts, Bullet, but Martin McIntosh is aware of it and we will make them glow! I am going to be hunting down people at Oasis and pulling on their shirts to let me photograph them if they are cool vintage Tiki shirts....and IF i do not already have that pattern. Once you get into something deeply, things start doubling up...but sometimes that's good, too, then I have the luxury to choose the better cut. It is astonishing how man great Tiki shirts have the Tikis cut up, upside down or in all the wrong places.

Kate, Beautiful collection of shirts and a good reference source. I am envious!

Here's what I've picked up over the past few weeks.

I've only found a few newer shirts.

But there's been lots of vintage.

And something girly. Yeah!

These last few don't have tons of tikis, but I couldn't resist the colors.

On 2008-09-14 16:31, Tiki-Kate wrote:

And something girly. Yeah!

What exactly do you mean by "girly"?

Maybe you shouldn't be throwing the word "girly" around so freely.

Just a thought. :)

I usually only post on this thread when I have about 15 to 20 new items, but I bought these two shirts on line recently, and I thought they deserved their own post.

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I actually have Holy Grail shirts. The first is one of them. It's not the best example of the style, but it's the only one I've come across.

I had been watching the second shirt for ages. It was a little out of my usual price range, but I finally broke down and got it.

Thought I'd update the shirt thread again before I lost track of the newest additions.

I didn't find much in my price range over the past several months, but I have high hopes for Spring.

I really love this pattern. I also have it in a men's shirt and a little robe.

I picked up this dress back in December.

Apparently, this was a docent's skirt from the Bishop Museum.

These next three were presents from Boris. (It's good to have friends who support your insanity. :))

I came across a few newer designs.

And a few more vintage shirts.

Nice update, Kate!

I always wanted to find this one:

...since all its images are copied from matchbook covers pictured in the Book of Tiki. :D

On 2008-08-11 08:41, bigbrotiki wrote:
It is astonishing how man great Tiki shirts have the Tikis cut up, upside down or in all the wrong places.

I've taken Tiki-Kate's edict to heart and I'm only purchasing tiki shirts with actual tikis on them... I don't have that many yet (it's hard to find my size, small) but three of them have a tiki that is covered by the pocket!!! Without the pocket, they would be the most prominent tiki on each shirt.

I removed the pocket of one... tempted to do the same with the others... but then where am I gonna put my little umbrellas as I finish each mai tai?!?

Great collection, Kate! I covet it! (Great, one more thing to covet... I know where I'm going in a hand basket)

I know. One of the frustrations of the TIKI shirt collector is HOW MANY of them have the actual Tikis printed upside down, located on seams or edges of the shirt, sliced in half --it sometimes seems they are obscured on purpose!

On 2009-03-09 07:42, Tiki-Kate wrote:
I even found a pair of trunks. (I tried them on, and they're actually pretty darn cute.)

Tiki Kate

Tiki-Kate,

You need to add a swim suit edition to your shirts!

DC

Guess what?

Tiki Butt!

Tiki-kate, mahalo for sharing! What an amazing collection!


One of my shirts.

It's that time again.

First, I'd like to thank a few enablers.

Leleliz sent this shirt to me just out of the blue. That was awfully sweet of her.

Then Kikkietiki sent this one along with a pile of mug swap goodies.

Joe Banks and I were out thrifting a few weeks ago, and he picked this one up for me.

A few odds and ends. Some shorts and a couple of dresses.

Some newer shirts.

And more vintage shirts.

I have only been able to find dups of the ones you already have ..but I am still looking for ya!

I am really loving your recent vintage finds.