Beyond Words

The aloha shirt is the unofficial symbol of the spirit of the Hawaiian Islands—celebrate it!

The aloha shirt is the unofficial symbol of the spirit of the Hawaiian Islands—celebrate it!

Aloha puts into one word the warm sense of greeting, love, and playfulness for which Hawaii is so well known. In The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands, the history of this marvelous cultural icon is woven with the mystery and allure of Hawaii and the stories of those who have lived there. For those who came from the far corners of the world, nothing painted a more vivid picture of the Islands than these bold shirts with their colorful Island images.

A flamboyant group of designers created this memorable art during the Golden Age of Aloha shirts, from the 1930s through the 1950s. The Aloha Shirt includes more than five hundred color images from the golden age of Hawaiian shirts, the 1930s through the 1950s, when sunsets, beaches, flowers, and rain forests met fine artists such as John 'Keoni' Meigs, Elsie Das, and Vera Stone Cook.