Watteau Dress
Made to order, limited number available.
Based on the “fashion” Holoku, our Watteau has a modern loose body. The iconic watteau pleating down the back speaks to Hawaiian history. The back is intentionally lowered to allow for the proper wearing of a lei. Knee length. On seam pockets.
Due to the scale of the print, print placement varies on finished garments.
Print: Rainbow True
100% cotton. Printed in Italy.
Wash gentle cold and hang dry.
Size Guide | Shipping & Returns
Made to order, limited number available.
Based on the “fashion” Holoku, our Watteau has a modern loose body. The iconic watteau pleating down the back speaks to Hawaiian history. The back is intentionally lowered to allow for the proper wearing of a lei. Knee length. On seam pockets.
Due to the scale of the print, print placement varies on finished garments.
Print: Rainbow True
100% cotton. Printed in Italy.
Wash gentle cold and hang dry.
Size Guide | Shipping & Returns
Made to order, limited number available.
Based on the “fashion” Holoku, our Watteau has a modern loose body. The iconic watteau pleating down the back speaks to Hawaiian history. The back is intentionally lowered to allow for the proper wearing of a lei. Knee length. On seam pockets.
Due to the scale of the print, print placement varies on finished garments.
Print: Rainbow True
100% cotton. Printed in Italy.
Wash gentle cold and hang dry.
Size Guide | Shipping & Returns
The Print
Rainbow harkens back to the super graphics of the 1970s- thank the heavens for Barbara Stauffacher Solomon. The twists and turns of the rainbows wink at us, when is happiness a straightforward proposition?
Although this print is infused with nostalgia its outrageous scale and the full use of the spectrum could only be made now digitally. It uses pigment to explain light. Its transparency between layers of rainbows suggest luminosity instead of color.
Stauffacher Solomon for Sea Ranch.
The Watteau
There is nothing more iconic than the watteau pleating that adorns the Hawaiian Holoku form. At first you might think this pleat is some ossified detail linked to a romanticized notion of Hawai’i’s Victorian past. In actuality the pleat has a more complex and nuanced history.
Watteau pleating was adapted by Hawaiians from 1820s missionary sacque dresses. By the mid 19th century the garment had been so naturalized it was read as “a Hawaiian dress.” Since the 1893 illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom the pleating signals a respect for “old Hawaii.” It is, in part, kept alive in the form as a subtle protest.
