After more than 25 fashion shows, countless parties and other events, Hawai’i Fashion Month will come to a close Wednesday with the Governor’s Fashion Awards taking place at 7 p.m. at The Modern Honolulu. Beyond recognizing professionals in more than a dozen categories that make the industry run, the event will celebrate Hawaii’s fashion past, present and future.

Special presentations will honor a trio of anniversaries, with ‘Iolani Sportswear marking its 60th year in the islands, Hilo Hattie celebrating its 50th birthday and relative newcomer Fighting Eel marking its first decade.

Companies and individuals from Hawaii’s fashion industry will receive recognition in 13 categories: major retailer, boutique retailer, emerging designer, established designer, lifetime achievement, contemporary wear designer, aloha wear designer, couture/formal wear designer, jewelry designer, photographer, wardrobe stylist, beauty and outstanding professional.

The return of the awards, after a six-year hiatus, is a mark of renewed vigor in the fashion community and shows what can happen when government and private sectors work together toward a common goal.

The Governor’s Fashion Awards started in 1987 with the administration of Gov. John Waihee in partnership with the Hawaii Fashion Industry Association and later the Retail Merchants of Hawaii. It continued as a government/private-sector endeavor until 2006.

Former Retail Merchants of Hawaii President Carol Pregill, who retired in August, said that at that time "the garment industry had changed dramatically. There was not a lot going on as far as the scale it was in the ’80s and ’90s, so we decided not to do the awards."

Fashion businesses now compete with other businesses in the group’s annual Ho’okela Awards, taking place at noon today.

"It’s indicative of the way the economy has gone. We once had a thriving contracting industry. Those rooms full of people have been replaced by machines and laser cutters. It was an art, all of it was an art, and we’ve lost a lot of expertise."

Even so, she believes Hawaii fashion fills a niche and that it would be sad to cede territory to outside brands that are already profiting from the spirit of aloha, leisure and the sun-and-surf culture synonymous with Hawaii style since the birth of the aloha shirt in the 1930s.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie sees reinitiating the awards as a first step toward building a billion-dollar industry, as well as offering another dimension to the tourism industry by promoting the islands as a potential fashion destination with the addition of shopping and factory tours that he said are popular across Asia.

Among state-led initiatives to promote the fashion segment was the establishment of a Hawaii pavilion showcasing local designers at trade shows in Japan. The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism will be participating once more in the JFW International Fashion Fair in January, which puts Hawaii designers in front of 26,000 buyers from throughout Asia.

DIRECT sales from new business and new exports for the companies participating in the event amounted to $710,600 last year and approximately $809,786 this year, according to Dennis Ling of DBEDT’s Strategic Marketing and Support Division. Although the numbers may seem low, Ling said the educational value is high, as novice designers learn what the Asia market expects from them. Now with contracts in hand, they can begin to ramp up production.

Although the governor came into office with the intent to boost fashion exports, Ling said the creation of a Hawai’i Fashion Month would not have been possible without the enthusiasm of the private sector, led by the Hawaii Fashion Incubator.

"What makes it exciting is that the industry came together as a group to push in a coordinated effort to help new designers, to show what Hawaii has already done and what we can do again in the future," he said.

It makes a lot of sense to boost an industry that affects so many, according to Ling.

"We look at the fashion industry as being much broader than just apparel, to include many different areas of fashion such as jewelry, handbags, accessories and all the jobs they create for photographers, stylists, beauty professionals and marketers.

"Government can do certain things, but not if we don’t have industry support. We can be a catalyst to bring people together and use whatever influence we have to do what needs to get done, then get out of the way and let industry take over."

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For full list of nominees, visit fashiontribe.staradvertiserblogs.com.