It’s Hawaii Time!

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I am not a beach person. Salty seawater threatens to strip my dyed hair of its color. Sand hides glass shards that could cut your feet open, not to mention it could worm its way into my many expensive and indispensable electronics. I could not fathom why everyone rush to the beach at the first sign of summer. That is, until my recent visit to Hawaii.

At Ka’anapali Beach.

At Ka’anapali Beach.

When you go to Hawaii, you’ve got to go to the beach. Friends and locals alike recommended Ka’anapali Beach, some even said the mile-long beach in Maui has surpassed the popular Wailea Beach in Waikiki, Oahu. We decided to give Ka'anapali Beach a shot.

I opted for a comfortable and simple outfit (read easy to change out of and carry around) for an active day at the beach, emphasizing subtle details instead of bright colors like I did with my outfit for the first day of our trip. The off-shoulder dazzlin top from last summer features a pretty floral fringe and lightweight fabric, and their denim jumpskirt from the fall creates a beautiful mermaid silhouette.

At the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa.

At the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa.

I put my hair up in a bun around a dazzlin headband (2017) and added some red heart hoop earrings, also from dazzlin. Keeping your hair up is a must since temperature on a sunny day can shoot up to the 80s and most places are open air with no AC. It felt refreshing: It was not super humid, and there was always a breeze. The environmental consciousness (e.g., clean energy, recycling) in Maui was truly inspiring, but more on that later.

True to its reputation as a resort town, Maui makes it very easy for visitors to hop between resorts, beaches, and shopping. The resorts are close to each other, and a free shuttle connects several of them and attractions in Ka’anapali and Lahaina, which include the Sheraton and Whalers Village.

At the Black Rock Grill in the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa.

At the Black Rock Grill in the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa.

As a result, many people in Maui simply wear their bathing suits with a cover-up or T-shirt to go from beach to street. As much as I love my elaborate Japanese fashion, I like to kick off my high heels from time to time and enjoy a more casual style. Wearing nice clothes and shoes comes with its own stress like the need to keep them in their pristine condition. In a way, it prevents me from interacting with the environment around me, and in this case, it’s nature.

The surroundings in Maui constantly reminded me of that—there was no keeping my carefully curled hair curled (even with the strongest hairspray), there was no predicting how high the water rushing towards me would reach, and there was no stopping little grains of sand from infiltrating every part of my feet. For the first time in a long time, I let myself stop worrying about my hair, enjoy the warmth of the sand with my bare feet, and welcome the ice-cold ocean waves.

Everything I ended up choosing to wear everything from Uniqlo (things that can be washed and dried easily): the Princess tam.tam collaboration tropical-print bathing suit, embroidered shorts, and a gauzy cardigan. To hop in the ocean, all I had to do was take off my shorts and cardigan. When I needed to head to Whalers Village for lunch, I just put them back on.

My time in Hawaii taught me that everyone needs to take a real break once in a while. Go somewhere far away, and do things that you normally don’t do like going to the beach (for me). Coming from a busy city, it also means taking it slow and easy for me. Someone told us that people in Hawaii are on “Hawaii time.” After trying it out for a few days, I am a believer. We rush here and there day in, day out, and miss out on a lot of wonderful things and people around us. The breath-taking scenery in Hawaii makes you stop and marvel at it; it's a reminder that we need to take a moment to appreciate and be grateful for what we have and how lucky we are.

Ka’anapali Beach in the distance.

Ka’anapali Beach in the distance.

Next time, I will continue to show you how you could pair items from previous seasons with those from the current one. I will also introduce a different part of Maui. For now, I will leave you with a photo that brings a smile to my face even after I returned to New York. 

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