A Moment in Our History: Women Helping Women for More than a Century

Today a large portion of Laniākea’s Lower Level is dedicated to one of our signature programs – Dress for Success Honolulu. YWCA O'ahu has been the sole operator of this program in the state since 2003. Nancy Lublin started Dress for Success in 1996 in the basement of a church in Manhattan. She was a second-year law student and worked with three nuns and $5,000 she inherited from her great-grandfather. The program’s mission is “to empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.”

Dress for Success Boutique at Laniākea

Our history of assisting Oahu’s working women predates the creation of Dress for Success. Choosing the right attire for different occasions including business is not a new concern for us—it has long been on the minds of O'ahu’s working women.

Here are some tips from our clothes expert Miss Edwin who gave lectures on “Personal Appearances” in 1922:

“Study yourself before a mirror, critically and impersonally. When we buy a hat, we sit down and see only our heads, and the hat doesn’t suit our whole body. Study yourself as you go down the street. Store windows are fine for this purpose.”

She also had this to say about fashion:

“Styles and fashions are made by manufacturers whose business it is to keep things changing. Women will follow fashions whether or not they are becoming. The greatest compliment one woman can pay another is that a dress is just like her, whether she had made or bought the dress.”

Our personal appearance classes covered subject matters including how to budget and shop for clothes, practical care of hair, face, hands and one’s general appearance. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin: November 17, 1922/ Honolulu Star-Bulletin: January 26, 1924/Honolulu Star-Bulletin: December 1, 1922)

More women used to make what they wore. Millinery Class in 1924.

Similar to what our Dress for Success program does today, assisting women seeking employment was one of the objectives of our organization since its foundation in 1900. Our work was often done with the help of the Employment Committee. It’s documented in our board minutes as early as 1902 where it’s noted that “Many women are out of employment and apply to Mrs. Brown (our then General Secretary) for help in getting a situation.”

Employment Committee Members in 1938

Honolulu Star-Bulletin: September 19, 1924

Our Dress for Success program moved to its current home on the Lower Level of Laniākea in 2013. The program has always been in the building since its beginning in 2003 but in much smaller quarters. We spent the entire year of 2012 preparing the room to give the program much needed space.

Prior to Dress for Success occupying the space, that room at Laniākea served individuals with an interest in the arts. Internationally renowned ceramics artist Toshiko Takaezu opened a studio in 1948. The ceramics studio was equipped with five electric kilns, a large gas kiln, two raku kilns, and sixteen wheels.

Toshiko Takaezu at YWCA O'ahu Ceramics Studio

A native of Pepe'ekeo of the Big Island, Toshiko built a successful career on the mainland as an artist and won a number of awards and recognitions. Toshiko also mentored many young artists and taught at several universities and art schools including Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and Princeton University, where she was awarded an hononary doctorate of Fine Arts.

Under Toshiko’s guidance and instructions, students explored their creativity and made their own unique art pieces

Celebrating studio’s 50th anniversary in 1998

Toshiko with her students at the courtyard in 1992

The studio closed in 2008 and Toshiko passed away in Honolulu in 2011 at the age of 88. During the course of her career and through The Toshiko Takaezu Foundation – Toshiko supported our mission and activities in many ways for a long period.

The transition year in 2012 to convert the ceramic studio to create the Dress for Success boutique

The room once utilized by the leading artist of our state who made an international career now provides employment opportunities to hundreds of Hawaii’s women each year. Toshiko’s legacy and spirit continue to live in this room.

Women receiving coaching at the Dress for Success Career Center Today seeking employment/career opportunities

-Noriko Namiki, YWCA O‘ahu CEO