Father Damien becomes a man of the cloth in a new aloha shirt design by Reyn Spooner
By Lisa Benoit
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Get ready. Coming soon to a store near you — the Blessed Damien de Veuster aloha shirt.
Designed by well-known local artist Dietrich Varez for local shirt-maker Reyn Spooner, it may be a fashion first — the image of a beatified Catholic priest as the primary motif of an upscale commercial Hawaiian dress shirt.
“It is an attractive image,” said Kirk Hubbard, senior vice president of the Hawaii-based clothing manufacturer. “We have introduced the line to trade shows and it was very well received. We have had a lot of fun bringing it to the marketplace.”
The multicolored reverse-print shirt is being sold in three color themes — red, navy and black — at Reyn Spooner stores, Macy’s, the Navy Exchange at Pearl Harbor and Bishop Museum. About 1,500 shirts have been made.
“I do feel that this is an unusual shirt,” Varez said. “Not too many times do people tackle religious subjects in shirts. I think this is kind of a first in that way and I am proud to be doing that.”
Varez, who lives in Volcano on the Big Island, created the original artwork as linoleum block prints on hand-made rice paper. Known for many years for his depictions of Hawaiian culture, beauty, myths and legends, Varez also has used Father Damien, the missionary priest who served Hansen’s disease patients on Molokai more than a century ago, as a subject for more than 10 years.
The idea to transform Varez’s images of Blessed Damien into something that would wear well, was introduced by Tim McCullough, president and CEO of Reyn Spooner. He in turn credited the inspiration to a Damien admirer.
“About two years ago, we had a store promotion and introduction and a customer came in and suggested a Damien shirt,” he said. “This newest design is a result of that conversation and my interest in Damien.”
Damien as Carpenter, Farmer
The shirt is sold in both of Reyn’s traditional button-front and pull-over designs for $69. It is locally made at the company’s manufacturing center in Mapunapuna.
The shirt displays four scenes of Damien, in religious cassock and full-brimmed hat, serving people with Hansen’s Disease in Kalaupapa, Molokai. One setting shows the 19th century Sacred Hearts missionary priest as a carpenter, another shows him bandaging a resident’s foot, the third shows him as a taro farmer digging with a shovel. The last is of Blessed Damien serving fish.
Though Father Damien was a Catholic priest motivated by his faith in Christ, the shirt-maker purposely toned down the Christian symbolism for his multi-cultural and multi-religious market.
“We tried to depict Damien as a good guy who was helpful to others,” McCullough said, “how he served others” through medical care, farming and building houses.
The four prints are divided by intricate tapa print borders with a shark tooth pattern.
Varez said that the first step in crafting his image is to create a drawing that is transferred onto a linoleum block. The block is then carved, inked and pressed onto paper. Each of the prints takes a few days to create, the artist said, from design, to carving, then to print.
Transferring the images onto textile where they must fit into a repeatable pattern, was a process less familiar to Varez.
“Fabric pattern-making involves some mathematics and different way of laying out your work,” he said.
McCullough helped adapt Varez’s art for placement on the bolts of cloth from which the shirts are made.
Varez has familiarized himself over the years with the work of Blessed Damien, helped by his good friend, Sacred Hearts Sister Mary Dolorine Pires, who has promoted his work in Europe as well as locally.
“She has been a friend of mine for a long time — longer than 10 years,” Varez said of the Maui-born sister, an educator and scholar who now lives in Honolulu. “I’m not a Catholic, but she has been very kind to me. She distributes them all over the world.”
An article on Varez’s Damien images appeared a year ago in the Spanish magazine, “Reinado Social,” written by Sacred Hearts Father Joaquin Salinas from Madrid.
Varez said that he recently sent a Damien aloha shirt to Father Salinas and he approved of the design.
“He is the best dressed priest in Madrid,” Varez joked.
Varez said that relatives of Blessed Damien’s family were aware of the aloha shirts and that they were “thrilled.”
The Damien shirt can also be purchased off the Reyn Spooner website at www.reyns.com.