Nadine Kam photos
A model in one of the creations by Jaclyn Mae Santos, featuring her manipulated fabric.

RAW: Natural Born Artists-Honolulu is part of a national community of creatives across the world, with 77 regional communities.

The independent arts organization's mission is to provide emerging independent artists, within the first decade of their career, with the tools, resources and exposure needed to inspire and cultivate creativity.

The organization welcomes all genres of art, including independent film, fashion, music, visual art, performing art, hairstylists, makeup artists, and more, giving the artists a venue to show their work to the greater community.

In Honolulu, that means hosting a series of monthly showcases bringing musicians, visual artists and designers together for a diverse evening of shopping and entertainment.

The most recent showcase brought together a half dozen visual artists, musicians and designers, highlighted by a fashion show featuring recent University of Hawaii APDM graduate Jaclyn Mae Santos, Birdie Girls Creations Roberta "Robyn" Gray-Newman, Glass Eye Arts Shayna Nichols, and Project P Bowties.

Santos was parting with pieces from her cool girl "Alien 2 Alien" collection (if only I were 20 years younger), while also introducing her new direction, which involves dyeing, printing and manipulating fabric. She's just getting warmed up, and showed three pieces, plus a tote bag featuring her hand-block printing. All the designers staged brief, but sassy shows, emceed by Sean Douglas.

The next event takes place 7 to 10 p.m. April 13 at Aloha Beer Co., 580 N. Nimitz Highway. All ages are welcome. Tickets are $10 pre-sale online at http://www.rawartists.org/honolulu, or $15 at the door.

Designer Jaclyn Mae Santos with her models.

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Monterey Atuatasi in Project P Bowties by Kathy.

Birdie Girls Creations Roberta "Robyn" Gray-Newman with her knit hats and berets. Slouchy and rasta caps are $20, chunky knits are $10, and headbands are $15. Her felt flowers are $5 each, with bulk discounts. Kid's caps are $20.

These boys admire the lampwork pendants of Glass Eye Arts' Shayna Nichols.

Heiko Greb's somewhat sinister-looking tabletop wood-block sculptures.

Amy Davis illustration
Margeaux in a Maui Girl bikini, Ki-ele and Q-pot. jewelry, with Happy Haleiwa shopping bag and Sanuk footwear.

I have styled my fair share of magazine pictorials, but a lunch meetup with former isle resident, Paper fashion illustrator, musician, actress, and, well, all-around artiste Amy Davis led to a first, a Hawaii collaboration for her new fashion + food blog, Yummy Dress.

I write about fashion + food, so we're simpatico, though she wasn't working the food angle when we formally met a few years ago when she was back in town as a guest artist for Le Sportsac, for whom she'd created four prints over two years.

This time around, she was back in town from Santa Fe, with longtime partner in art and life, Jon Moritsugu, before heading on to the Chicago Underground Film Festival for the March 8 world premiere of their new film, "Pig Death Machine." The dynamic duo also picked up the fest's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Of course, Hawaii is full of yummy clothes, so when it came to dressing Margeaux, I suggested a few Hawaii brands and was happy to see some of them on Margeaux. Of course the best part about dressing an illustration, there was no running around picking up and droppig off merchandise, and no heavy lifting. Love it!

Nadine Kam photo
Amy Davis and Jon Mortisugu at Taste Table, when Margeaux was still a line drawing and vision in Amy's head.

A trio of Amy's Style Fiends from Paper magazine.

Nadine Kam photos
One of the works by Marques Hanalei Marzan on view at ii gallery in Kakaako.

"Lines in Time," a solo"exhibition of fiber arts by Marques Hanalei Marzan will have its grand opening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today, Feb. 7, at  the intimate ii gallery at 687 Auahi St., also home to the renovated R/D and Morning Glass Coffee.

Marzan studied traditional Hawaiian fiber art for years under such notable kupuna as Elizabeth Lee, Gladys Kukana Grace and Pat Bacon, and this exhibition shows the evolution of his work as he incorporates traditional weaving, twining and netting techniques to create works with a contemporary focus.

The show will continue 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, through March 6.

While there, check out R/D's array of art and fashion books. In addition to photo books about photography, Kate Moss and Grace Coddington's memoir, Sarah Honda point out one of the best sellers for the innovation center, the Magma Sketchbook suited for designers, graphic artists and illustrators. The $15.95 book has plenty of blank pages to fill with ideas, and some practical tools, as you'll see below. It would make a great gift for an aspiring designer you know:

The Magma Sketchbook is being snatched up by many an aspiring designer. Among its features:

In addition to note pages, there are line drawings to help the artistically challenged render their designs.

And in case you can't decipher all the symbols in a clothing care label, a handy-dandy guide tells all.

Nadine Kam photos
Jewelry designer Sonya Monique, left, with Pam Lundquist and comedian/actor Tim Meadows. You might recognize him from "Saturday Night Live" and "Mean Girls."

The Spa at Trump hosted its annual Holiday Open House Dec. 11, offering guests a sampling of its spa menu through such mini services as a chair massage, makeup touch-ups, and more.

While waiting for appointment times made in advance, guests enjoyed cocktails and pupu including sushi, mini loco mocos and spring rolls from the Trump Waikiki Hotel's Wai'olu Ocean View Lounge, and browse jewelry designer Sonya Monique's unique line of earthy "Art to Adorn the Body."

She's inspired by organic materials, using objects ranging from feathers to wood, metal, gemstones and ocean discoveries to create look-at-me earrings and necklaces that she admits are sometimes "over-the-top," which makes each piece individually suited to the person who chooses it.

I'm showing some of the bolder tribal-style necklaces here, for women who enjoy making a head-turning entrance no matter where they go. But she was also featuring more subdued necklaces of dark shells trimmed down to urchin spine length and width, and polished smooth for chic city dressing. I thought the pieces were carved from horn, reminiscent of some of the jewelry by Marni.

You can find designs by Sonya Monique online at sonyamonique.com, or at Fighting Eel or the I AM. boutique at 1221 Kapiolani Boulevard.

Sonya Monique's "Coral Nemesis" necklace of rose coral and African brass, $425.

"Agate Queen" necklace of African copper and black-and-white agates, $525.

On display at the Spa at Trump were baskets of spa products packaged for holiday gift-giving, and playful stocking stuffers such as a line of Feeling Smitten Cupcake Bath Bombs and Bath Pops. They look so scrumptious that they come with a "do not eat" warning. This large "Birthday Cake" Cupcake Bath Bomb is $13.50.

Among the edibles offered up by the Trump Hotel Waikiki's Wai'olu Ocean View Lounge were mini loco mocos comprising wok-fried beef croquettes, capped by a perfect, jaunty quail egg, sunny side up.

Nadine Kam photos
Among the vintage Shaheen garments offered up during the silent auction at "An Evening of HI Fashion" Nov. 17 at Bishop Museum, were, from left, a metallic dress, a ruffled dress, a pake mu'u, an empire waist mu'u, and Asian motif pant suit.

The Bishop Museum hosted an evening of fashion and entertainment during "An Evening of HI Fashion," Nov. 17, celebrating the exhibition "HI Fashion: The Legacy of Alfred Shaheen," which opened Nov. 10 and continues through Feb. 4, 2013.

In giving the introduction to the event, the museum's CEO Blair Collis said that although the museum is not known for fashion exhibitions or fashion shows, fashion is another way people manifest their cultural identity.

Guests were invited to "dress vintage," and that they did, with many a Shaheen garment in the audience or prints paying tribute to the master.

In connecting past and present, the show opened with the Alfred Shaheen Collection by Reyn Spooner, contemporary designs by menswear company Reyn Spooner, whose use of Shaheen prints began in the 1960s.

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Shaheen's granddaughter Brianna Rose walked the runway in one of his bombshell dresses.

Beverly Noa, hired to model exclusively for Shaheen in the 1950s, attended the event, performing a hula to "Kawohikukapulani," before the start of the fashion shows.

A collection of vintage aloha shirts and dresses loaned by Shaheen's daughter, Camille Shaheen-Tunberg, was displayed next, along with a handful of vintage Shaheen garments that were up for silent auction that evening, starting as low as $75. It's too bad I was yammering away with friends, so missed out on some steals!

Closing the show was a collection of beautiful, fluid Shaheen-inspired print garments by Andy South.

I wasn't in town for the exhibition opening, but made up for lost time by checking out the gallery, where an interactive screen allows you to "like" some of your favorite designs. There are so many to choose from, depending on whether you're a fan of the 1950s bombshell or '60s mods or '70s disco groove.

The quantity and diversity of designs would easily fill The Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute. Maybe someday its Hawaii-born curator-in-charge Harold Koda would see fit to honor this local legend whose designs once circled the globe.

Accompanying each auctioned outfit were matching accessories created by a museum staffer from period materials, such as the carved orange coral hair ornament and earrings paired with the pant suit.

Keali i McClellan with Ilana Davis, wearing a vintage Alfred Shaheen bombshell dress that she bought 12 years ago.

Joy of Sake's Jan Nagano in her vintage Shaheen.

Andy South also presented a fashion show and wears one of her designs. She's with Margaret Murchie, a former Shaheen model.

Kris Tanahara in a vintage mu'u, with Floyd Takeuchi in an Alfred Shaheen Collection by Reyn Spooner shirt, which blends vintage Shaheen prints and contemporary styling.

The collaboration between Shaheen and Reyn Spooner began in the 1960s. Inside the exhibition gift shop, museum-goers can shop the collection.

Also in the gift shop are household wares such as pot holders and table runners utilizing reproductions of Shaheen textiles, as well as yardages, above and below, allowing those who sew the opportunity to create their own vintage-inspired looks.