Let Them Eat Cupcakes is giving out free passes to see the film "Beautiful Creatures," for anyone who stops in and says "Beautiful Creatures" when they purchase a cupcake today for their sweetheart, or BFF, or whatever.

The offer is good while tickets or supplies last. You might want to check out @LTEatCupcakes to see if there are any left.

Bracelets from 3Strands aim to stop human trafficking, while helping its victims start a new life.

My story in the paper today is about 808 Urban's Mai'a Project, which aims to pair young artists with social justice organizations toward products geared toward raising consciousness.

It's a way of getting more people thinking about how to utilize their talents for greater good, and how the fashion industry can transcend commercial interests to send important messages.

In the case of the inaugural Mai'a Project, which celebrates its launch from 2 to 9 p.m. Sept. 8 at The Refuge, 683 Auahi St., young women partnered with the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery (PASS) to create a T-shirt design reflecting the journey from darkness to light.

Another brand that aims to put an end to human trafficking is 3Strands Global, which puts designs to work supporting organizations such as Agape International Missions (AIM). AIM’s programs help provide women with a safe environment to live and work after they have been rescued.

3Strands was initially created to fund the Agape Training Center operated by AIM in Svay Pak. The Agape Training Center  is a small jewelry and apparel training center that employs the women eight hours each day. During that time they receive counseling and educational services, as well as lunch and medical benefits. Their salaries are three to four times higher than what typical garment factories located in Cambodia pay. This community, where rehabilitation meets vocation, is built upon respect and compassion for one another in a family environment.

A recent documentary called "The Pink Room" focuses on the efforts of AIM and has received awards and recognition by international film festivals.

With the sale of every 3Strands handmade bracelet and gift box ($18 online), money is raised to help empower, teach and employ young women who have been rescued from sex trafficking.

The first of the 3Strands products, wax-cotton woven bracelets with a signature 3Strands metal closure, are all handmade by rescued young women. Each bracelet is made to remind the wearer of the trafficking survivor who made it.

The three pieces of cord comprising the bracelet symbolize the freedom, love and empowerment these women experience, braided together and not easily broken. The incorporation of a single red string, barely visible inside the center of each bracelet, illustrates the souls of these women,  invisible to those who bought and sold them in the past.

Every bracelet also incorporates one fragile, red seed from the pods of sandalwood trees native to Cambodia. One would never guess these glossy seeds come from colorless pods that are cast away, reminding the women of their journey and their beauty within.

Nadine Kam photos
Megumi Hosogai, in her Megumi-O polarized shades and T-shirt, takes a break at The Modern in the middle of her sales tour of Waikiki.

I never did like selling as a little kid going door-to-door trying to peddle candy or whatever for school fund-raisers. Some of my friends were lucky to have parents who bought their whole allotment and did the selling for them to friends and co-workers. But my parents were not like that and I had to do all the hustling, which wasn't easy in Waipahu, where all the families had kids my age who had their own fund-raisers to consider.

So I feel for every fledgling designer who not only designs but has to act as his/her own marketer, manufacturer, accountant and salesman. Of all those tasks, for me, selling for me, would be the worst (though strangely enough I sold residential real estate here for five years). But selling seems the easiest thing in the world for  Megumi Hosogai, whose story about creating her Megumi-O Asian-fit eyewear brand appears in the paper today.

She's offering a 15 percent off Megumi-O promo ending July 8 at 11:59 p.m. Hawaii time! Use promo code: 15StarAd
at http://megumio.com/megumi-o-polarized-uv400-italian-acetate-sunglasses-black.html

I interviewed her when she was in town for her 20th Punahou reunion, and watched with awe and amazement as she made the rounds of top-tier hotels to place her shades.

She honed her skills selling commercial real estate in L.A., and as a result says she has no problem with cold calling. She has boundless energy anyway, so even though I was amused that she wore her high school prom dress to her reunion—who does that?—I wasn't surprised that it still fit her!

Then she showed me a photo of her prom dress, and let's just say her Rachel London's Garden dress wasn't very typical of promwear circa 1992! As brash as her form-fitting all-over floral dress was, her classmates didn't remember it when they saw it again!

Just goes to show you, social media and blogging are good things. Posting photos and happenings will help jog your memory when it starts fading.

I tend to remember a lot, but when I think about the first half of my life, it feels like I'm a third party looking at a different person.

Photos courtesy Megumi Hosogai
Megumi Hosogai at her high school prom below, and 20 years later, at her Punahou reunion in her prom dress.

A drama queen then and always.

With friends in her Punahou reunion photo booth, with and without her Megumi-O shades.

Megumi-Os on singer-songwriter and actress Roselyn Sanchez.

And on "The Hunger Games' " Isabelle Fuhrman.

Nadine Kam photo
Armor for German warriors and their horses, by Kunz Lochner, dated 1548, on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Below is a Met photo of a suit of Italian armor from the 1400s.

It's amusing and somewhat sad that I've come to relate to some aspects of history in terms of pop culture and film. When I think of medieval armor, for instance, I never gave much thought to the heft of it and how it might have felt to wear and move in it. That's because, without much suspension of disbelief when watching such period films, I just thought of it as light, flimsy Foamcore props.

But in New York recently, where I dropped in the the Metropolitan Museum of Art to check out the "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations" exhibition, I was mesmerized by a walk-through of the armor galleries, with all manner of shields, chainmail and weaponry.

It's only upon seeing the real thing that I had a better idea of how much they weighed and how strong men had to be to carry both shield and sword while maneuvering in armored suits that I'm sure would have made it pretty difficult to get up if they toppled from their horse.

People were much smaller at the time, so much of the armor is no bigger than a 21st century woman.

Seeing the exhibition made me anxious to see the costumes for "Snow White and the Huntsman." Yes, it's one of those movies where you go for the costumes, not the story or acting, although I think it might have been better if "The Hunger Games' " Jennifer Lawrence had been cast as Snow White instead of the single-expression, somnambulent Kristen Stewart. She was so unbelievable in the part of a beauty radiating inner innocence that she was like a thorn in the film.

The real star was Charlize Theron's costumes as the evil queen Ravenna. Costume designer Colleen Atwood must have been thrilled to be able to dress her, with seemingly no limitations as to cost, materials or imagination. It was almost like a fashion show because Theron had to do little to impress but stand there and glower like a model with attitude.

Kristen Stewart in "Snow White and the Huntsman."

Charlize Theron's costumes by Colleen Atwood were sinister but breathtaking.

Her wedding gown was part reptilian, part armored exoskeleton