Exhibitions
Last Chance to View Latest Installation in Hawaiian Hall: Elsie Krassas’s Vernacular Style
# Last Chance to View Latest Installation in Hawaiian Hall: Elsie Krassas's Vernacular Style
The Bishop Museum installation features seven distinct hats created by Krassas in the early 20th century, honoring Native Hawaiian art and crafts, and the cultural practitioners of the time.
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi — Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum announces the final week of the latest installation in its historic Hawaiian Hall, Elsie Krassas's Vernacular Style. The third-floor installation features seven distinct hats created by Krassas in the early 20th century, influenced by the environment of the Hawaiian Islands: its textures, colors, and culture.
"Fashion designer Elsie Krassas actively collaborated with local practitioners to support the proliferation and visibility of Native Hawaiian art and crafts, while also expanding Hawaiʻi's already existing hat culture," said Sarah Kuaiwa, Bishop Museum curator of Hawaiʻi and Pacific cultural resources, and curator of the installation. "The hats on view showcase the diversity of materials that Krassas used in her designs, including feathers, natural fibers, shells, and even beach plastic."
Oklahoma-born Elsie Krassas moved to Hawai'i with her young family in 1929, after training as a milliner's apprentice in Portland and San Francisco. She first opened the Elsie Krassas Shop located at 1013 Fort Street, Honolulu, in 1932, and sold an array of fine goods from Asian imports to local creations such as Ni'ihau shell lei and lau hala hats. Her work attracted both local and visitor clientele, including Hollywood stars Bette Davis, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour.
Kuaiwa worked with exhibit designers Brad Evans and DeAnne Kennedy and graphic designer Susan Yamamoto to create a storefront look for the installation, with inspiration from Krassas's time during the peak of the Art Deco movement.
"This latest installation highlights the application of traditional practices and materials in the contemporary uses of the 1930s, as well as the continuing stories told by Hawaiian Hall of the history and culture of Hawaiʻi," shared Kuaiwa. "We invite local ʻohana and visitors to come explore Hawaiian Hall, Pacific Hall, and all of Bishop Museum's Signature Galleries, as new content is added and new stories are told on a regular basis."
Elsie Krassas's Vernacular Style is on view on the third floor, Diamond Head end of Hawaiian Hall through Sep. 4, 2023. For more information on Bishop Museum and its cultural collections, visit BishopMuseum.org and follow @BishopMuseum.
Invitation to Media
Media are invited to view Elsie Krassas's Vernacular Style; curator Sarah Kuaiwa is also available for in-person or virtual interviews on a limited basis. Additional photos of the installation are also available. For all inquiries, please contact Krislyn Hashimoto at Stryker Weiner & Yokota Public Relations via the information above.
About Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, the State of Hawaiʻi Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Bishop Museum’s mission is to inspire our community and visitors through the exploration, celebration, and perpetuation of the extraordinary history, culture, and environment of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. The Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in memory of his wife Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a royal descendant of King Kamehameha I. Today, the Museum thrives as an educational center for the community and is widely regarded as the world’s premier institution for Hawaiian and Pacific content.
Bishop Museum’s vast collections of more than 25 million objects and specimens represent nine disciplines and include more than 22 million biological specimens, over 2 million cultural objects, 115,000 historical publications, and 1 million photographs, films, works of art, audio recordings, and manuscripts. These collections tell the stories of the cultures and biodiversity of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific as well as the proud legacy of scholarly research spanning 130 years.
Bishop Museum proudly serves more than 200,000 visitors each year, including 20,000 children on school visits. Guests are encouraged to pre-plan their trip to #HawaiisMuseum with its free digital guide, available through Bloomberg Connects.
To learn more about the Museum’s research, collections, exhibits, and programs, visit BishopMuseum.org, follow @BishopMuseum on Facebook and Instagram, visit Bishop Museum’s YouTube channel, or call (808) 847-3511. Bishop Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Bishop Museum is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer, and welcomes applicants from the military, veterans, and those with disabilities. Learn about careers at Bishop Museum at BishopMuseum.org/Careers and on its LinkedIn page.
Bishop Museum Press is Hawaiʻi’s oldest book publisher and one of the first scholarly publishers in the Western Hemisphere, and has published over 1,200 titles and distributed over 1 million books in 72 countries worldwide. Bishop Museum hosts a restaurant and gift shop on campus, Tūtū’s Place by Highway Inn and Shop Pacifica by Nā Mea Hawaiʻi.