MANAOLA at New York Fashion Week

Celebrated among Hawai‘i’s next generation of designers, Manaola Yap is lending a new voice as a storyteller, cultural practitioner and luxury fashion designer.

Guided by native wisdom to share Hawaiian fashion with a global audience, MANAOLA is honored to announce our journey to New York City this September for New York Fashion Week 2017. He will debut an exclusive MANAOLA runway collection at New York Fashion Week, selected from more than 8,000 designers worldwide to showcase his work with Oxford Fashion Studio.



Manaola will be the first Native Hawaiian designer to present authentic Hawaiian culture at New York Fashion Week. His unique design process distinguishes his work as cultural practitioner and fashion designer, utilizing a traditional Hawaiian stamping method known as 'ohe kāpala and drawing inspiration from repetitious patterns found in nature. Yap hand-carves these patterns onto bamboo laths where they are stamped and digitized into bold prints. MANAOLA is defined by its connection to purpose and place through the practice of native Hawaiian values, using the lens of fashion to protect, cultivate and sustain indigenous culture through purpose driven practices.

MANAOLA is humbled by this opportunity to represent Hawai'i with the brilliant artists who have supported his vision and hopes that this platform will open new doors to shine a light on the incredible creativity of our local community.  Your support will allow us to represent Hawai'i through the many talented hands who will join us on this momentous occasion, including local hair stylists and makeup artists, models, musicians and more.

We invite you to support MANAOLA's journey to New York Fashion Week and his mission to perpetuate Hawaii’s culture and heritage on a global stage.


MANAOLA will list supporters who contribute a minimum $10 donation on manaolahawaii.com.

Mahalo piha for your support!