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Spring Edition, March 20, 1985
Men's hats in style top designer affirms
By United Press International
ATLANTA — Indiana Jones wears a hat, and so does J.R. Ewing. Even Snoopy's cousin in the desert den le chapeau.
But what about the average guy? It's safe to walk the streets in a fedora, a porkie or — heaven help us — a straw boater?
In other words, are hats in this year?
Of course, she does design hats for a living. In her 10th year in the business under the company name Makins Hats Ltd., Akins is regarded as one of the finest hat designers around, and she bristles at the mention of hats being "in" or "out."
Marsha Akins says yes. Definitely, yes.
"That's a crock," Akins said in an interview during the Men's Fashion Association Spring and Summer Preview. "Every time I turn around, people are telling me hats are coming back. I'm tired of hearing about it.
"Hats are not back, they were not in and they were not out. Hats are part of the head-to-ear look. People should have hats for different douts, different outfits and different feelings. Men have different sweaters, why not different hats?
"Have you ever seen a man put on a hat for the first time and go out in the street?" Akins said. "He looks around like he's really hot, and everybody sort of looks at him admirably. I've seen that happen lots of times."
For spring and summer, Akins has designed men's hats in subtle colors with wider brims and higher and deeper crowns. Most prominent are those made of linen and straw — but not necessarily the same kind worn in "The Real McCoys."
Hers hats retail for about 600, and she said hats sales tend to reflect the economy more than style. But Akins said the hat business looks good for spring and summer and she's expecting a "whopping" business come fall.
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Island prints ride fashion tide to KU
By PEGGY HELSEL
Terry Burkart/KANSAN
Staff Reporter
It's difficult not to get a case of spring fever after walking down Massachusetts Street.
Block after block, window after window, visions of palm trees and exotic paradises beckon to shoppers passing by.
But these scenes aren't on travel posters from Tahiti or the Caribbean. They're on clothes.
Hawaiian print shorts have gained increased popularity and are sure to become a more common sight as the warmer weather of spring approaches. The legs belong to Laura Coggin, Glencoe, ILL., freshman; Shaunna Mcintosh, Mission freshman; and Erin McCue, Overland Park senior.
Making what may be the biggest waves in fashion waters this spring is the resurging popularity of Hawaiian print clothing.
Shirts, skirts, pants and shorts in garish colors and wild prints can be found in nearly every clothing store in Lawrence.
They are in the most conservative shops, hanging next to the $100 cotton skirts, and in sporting goods stores, between the bicycle tires and hiking boots.
The fabrics, with their bright colors and bold prints, are popping up with increasing frequency 1,000 miles from the nearest beach.
"They're selling like hotcakes," she said recently.
DAVE NASH, owner of the Lobby,
a sportwear shop in Columbia, Mo.
sells boxer-style shirts made from
the island-inspired material. His wife, Maureen, visits campuses in Kansas and Missouri to sell them at fraternity and sorority houses.
Dave Nash said the most noted name in the colorful apparel was Jams, the drawstring swim trunks that are popular even in such landlocked states as Kansas.
"I've been in the apparel business 20 years," he said, "and the only thing I've seen like it is the blue jeans craze of the '60s. There's the same reaction and element of appeal with the Jams shorts today."
"THERE'S BEEN spontaneous appeal," he said. "he says the kid see it, identify with it, relate to it. If the fit and print are loud, bizarre and obnoxious, they'll buy them."
Nash said the shots originated in Hawaii in the 1950s. They were called bongo pants because of their shape and quickly gained fans among the surfers in Florida and California.
Nash said the shorts had since become a staple in the wardrobes of students in Southern schools.
Herrick and his partner, Doug McCauley, a graduate student in personnel administration from Wynne, Ark., have put faith in the consumer appeal of the tropical gear.
Mike Herrick, Streeter, Ill., junior, is doing his part to see that their popularity spreads to schools a little farther north — as far north as the University of Kansas.
On March 4, they opened a clothing store dedicated to the flamboyant
fashions, and Herrick says he's optimistic about its future.
Their store, Hawg Wash, 17 W. Ninth St., carries only Hawaiian clothes. The name of the store comes from the owners' Arkansas heritage. Herrick said. Both have lived in the Razorback state and they wanted the store to reflect their background.
Herrick said he had no doubt about the appeal of the Hawaiian wear to KU students. He said that for some, it's more than a flash-in-the-pants trend.
"It's a way of life," he said
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