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Lifestyle // Men's

Amos Kotomori’s World: Aloha Shirts to Balinese Retreats

The aloha shirt just turned 75, and it’s having a moment. Givenchy, Charlotte Olympia, Stella McCartney and Proenza Schouler have all designed recent collections with tropicalia and tiki culture in mind. Factor in George Clooney’s wardrobe in “The Descendants,” and the aloha shirt is riding a wave of attention.

Neiman Marcus Ala Moana celebrates the milestone by bringing a new level of sophistication and artistry to the aloha shirt through Honolulu designer Amos Kotomori.

Kotomori is an artist, designer and stylist who brings all his skills to his shirts. When creating the artful prints, he pays attention to scale, using smaller print proportions on the yoke and sleeve, progressing to larger versions at the hem. The shirts are hand made in Thailand of silks, linens and cottons that come from the same mills used by Hermes. Fourteen Thai tailors sew the shirts, paying acute attention to detail, fashioning French seams, meticulously engineered prints and an embroidered logo. Kotomori recently discovered a small stash of vintage fabrics in Bangkok, reminiscent of the rayons of the original aloha shirts of the 1930s. He created an extremely limited collection of shirts for Neiman Marcus Ala Moana from these finds.

In addition to his styling, art and design careers, three months ago Kotomori opened Villa Bodhi, a four-cottage bed and breakfast outside Ubud, Bali. (Yes, that’s the town where Elizabeth Gilbert found love in Eat Pray Love, but devotees won’t bring this up, as Ubud has drawn seekers and wanderers for decades.) Tucked up in the mountains, in Tiyingan Village, where just 60 families live, Villa Bodhi has provided a quiet retreat for writers, composers and yoga enthusiasts from France, Russia, Germany and Australia. Kotomori says Villa Bodhi is like an “artist’s showcase or living showroom. Anything you see there can be made for you by local artisans and sent to your home.”

Photos by Linda Ching.