Page 4 - MidWeek Kauai - April 12, 2023

4 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK APRIL 12, 2023
Story By GINGER KELLER Photo by ANTHONY CONSILLIO
“I think lei has had a resurgence ... and a lot of people started celebrating lei more. I felt like I was just in the right position to talk about it and share it,” says Estes. “I wanted something to cap- ture all of this beauty — it’s such huge part of our culture and it runs so deeply in so many ways.”
tice with the world.
“I by no means consider myself a
master lei maker,” says Estes. “I just have been really lucky to share this skill, the way Hawai‘i shares aloha.”
Engrossed in the local lei scene, Estes noticed there hadn’t been a book cele- brating lei since Marie McDonald’s Na Lei Makamae: The Treasured Lei, which came out 20 years ago.
Often called “the curator of modern aloha,” Meleana Estes is flourishing these days, thanks in part to a fragrant new offering:
a book that celebrates the flowers
and lei of the islands.
In Lei Aloha, which is written with author Jennifer Fiedler, Estes offers an inside peek into Hawai‘i’s lei culture, the history of flowers and island traditions. Each chapter explores a grouping of flowers and lei, such as plumerias picked by neighborhood keiki, strands of white and yellow ginger for a candle-lit party, or lei haku made for hula performances.
By definition, when a flow- er blooms, it’s in a state of beauty, freshness and vig- or. It’s basking in warmth, bright in color and celebrating its moment
for my 14 best friends and, of course, puakenikeni lei for all my guy friends.
of glory.
By comparison, Meleana Estes is in
“The energy, love and devotion she had to adorn us for events was amaz- ing,” Estes continues. “It was the way she showed aloha. It wasn’t just buying a random lei — she really cared and wrapped it in a pū‘olo. It was an event, receiving a lei from her. I’ve been told that by many people.”
“I love to style, to entertain, put crazy things together, so putting this together was essentially 12 gigantic photoshoots and concepts, which was really fun for me,” shares Estes. “On the writing side, what has to be noted is how many wonderful people helped me, and the amount of people who I got to sit with and spend time with and hear their knowledge, their mana‘o, their stories. It helped bring this book to life. I feel so blessed that people opened up their homes and hearts. It’s the most touch- ing thing in the world.”
full bloom.
Hot on the heels of launching a jewel-
ry line, Estes’ first book, Lei Aloha: Cel- ebrating the Vibrant Flowers and Lei of Hawai‘i, debuts April 25. It’s essential- ly a hardcover, 256-page love letter to her tūtū, the late Amelia Ana Ka‘ōpua Bailey, a meticulous and magnificent lei maker who shared her passion and expertise with Estes, along with the love and aloha that came with it.
In 2015, a few years following her tūtū’s passing, Estes, a fashion design- er-turned-stay-at-home-mom, wanted to get back in the groove of things. That’s when a friend, Courtney Monahan, who owns Kaka‘ako-based botanical boutique Paiko, suggested she hold a lei workshop at her storefront.
Anything worthy of a celebration warranted a lei from tūtū. At her baby lūʻau, a 1-year-old Estes donned a tilted haku that barely fit her tiny head. When her Punahou School paddling team won the championship, the entire team was dressed in lei po‘o as they gripped and lifted their oars in victory. And while at- tending college on the East Coast, Estes received a FedEx box on her birthday containing fresh lei that was shipped thousands of miles across the country.
“I was like, ‘Who’s going to pay for that? Whatever, sure,’” recalls Estes. “But so many people came — and a lot of them said they used to make lei or did one time for a May Day performance when they were kids, but they didn’t have the chance to sit and make lei in a really long time and needed a refresher.
In a heartfelt tone, Estes shares how she feels nervous about the future of lei making, and believes there’s ample room for budding lei makers to join her.
“What’s also kind of cool is that peo- ple were like, ‘Whoa, this takes so long.’ And I’m like, ‘See! These are not easy. This is a huge treat to receive this.’ And I think people really understood that when they make a lei, a lot of aloha goes into it.”
“I really do hope this inspires and continues a lei love to be ignited in young people,” says Estes. “In what- Eever way this could possibly facilitate that, I’d be stoked. I would feel like I did my job in the world.”
“My friend who I went to college with recently reached out to me on Ins- tagram to congratulate me on the book ... and he was like, ‘I still remember the herds of you walking into gradua- tion with haku lei on your caps,’” shares Estes. “My tūtū came and made 14 lei
stes, who’s often seen wearing well-fitted, vogu- ish vintage mu‘umu‘u
Estes went on to teach countless workshops in Hawai‘i, the mainland and Asia, and, by doing so, continued her tūtū’s legacy and shared the prac-
(check out her Instagram, @meleana_hawaii), is a Honolulu so- cialite who spent much of her young adulthood in the bustling streets of
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