Bamboo Sky is a small Hawaii-based, locally owned, clothing boutique with two retail shops and an online store. We specialize in offering a unique collection of contemporary women’s fashion, accessories and jewelry with top selling brands and trends that can be seen on today’s hottest celebrities and international fashionistas.

Established in 2006 by a young and ambitious girlfriend/boyfriend duo the co-owners combined their diverse backgrounds (Tiffany a designer/dancer and Shane an entrepreneur/surfer) with their mutual love of fashion, nature, arts, business and Hawaii to open the first quaint Bamboo Sky boutique. 

The first store excited shoppers with exclusive brands, unique finds, individual customer service and great value.  Bamboo Sky quickly gained popularity with Honolulu and international savvy, elite shoppers and was featured in over a dozen international fashion magazines. Demand drove the success of this cute little shop and not much after a year they out grew the original location. 

Though Bamboo Sky was courted and pursued by Malls and Shopping centers as prospects for a new location, Tiffany and Shane thought best to remain a truly independent boutique (personalized service is something we strive for) and found a great location near the Ward shopping area right in the heart of Honolulu but a little off the beaten path. The new and improved Bamboo Sky boutique has been home since April 2007. This 1100 square foot space has proven to be a vital part of our growth and success. The added space allowed us to expand our lines, carry more variety, and offer new accessories like a special collection of shoes and custom made jewelry. We could now truly dress our customers from head to toe.

We don’t advertise too much, it’s expensive and we try to keep our prices affordable. But we have super loyal customers and they do a great job with word of mouth for us. We often hear, “I’m so glad I found you, I wish I could keep you guys a secret but my friends will love it here too”. Our staff is fun, energetic and eager to please, if not a bit silly. With groovy beats filling the air you may just walk in on a Bamboo Sky dance off or possibly make a new friend.

We offer something for everyone and we travel frequently on buying trips. Tiffany’s buying eye is what makes shopping at Bamboo Sky a one-of-a-kind experience. She is inspired by her travels, animals, family, decade fashion, street style, vintage shopping and photography.  Along with sweet dresses, fun rompers, sexy denim and comfy tops, Tiffany has also offered limited finds like funky leggings straight from the streets of Harajuku and vintage silk scarves hand-picked from Los Angeles’ thrift fairs. 

Fast forward a couple successful years. Tiffany and Shane are married and with the love and support of great customers and an incredible staff the pair decided to branch into Waikiki in the summer of 2009. The Bamboo Sky Kaiulani Avenue shop is just two blocks from the beautiful beach and we see a steady flow of new customers, residents and visitors alike.  We now have tons of happy shoppers from Hawaii, California, NY, Japan, Korea, UK, Australia, Canada and more enjoying our amazing brands and styles. 

We welcome you to visit us at our two retail locations or browse through our shopping website. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments. It is our goal to make your Bamboo Sky experience a pleasant one and we are dedicated to giving you whatever your heart desires. Thanks for checking us out. Happy shopping!!!!

Ward store – 401 Kamakee Street # 104 Honolulu, Hawaii 96814  (808)591-8003
Waikiki store – 159 Kaiulani Avenue #109 Honolulu, Hawaii 96815 (808)924-6633
Email – contact@bamboosky.com

They ship to other states as well so you should definitely check out their web store.  I hope you guys like this Jean On Yelp feature.  I'm trying to figure out new ways to create as much quality content as possible and I know this feature has a few more quirks I need to work out but I'm liking it so far, the marriage between my blog and one of my favorite apps.

Have a happy and stylish day!

Aloha,

I know I don't do many fashion/style posts... That has more to do with the fact that I forget or the fact that looking at clothes is sometimes a bummer because so many of my favorite brands don't do "plus sized" clothing.  Whether you're reading a magazine, shopping or playing on Pinterest, I'm sure that you have noticed there's a growing trend of pairing contrasting colors together in patterns and prints.  Lately, the trend seems to be with super brights and black and whites.

I'm not the hugest fan of prints because they tend to make me look bigger than I am.  Anyone can pull this trend off if they get something that is cut right for their specific body shape and fits them properly.  Also consider that the larger the print/stripe, the larger you'll look.  If you're plus sized like I am, going for smaller stripes and prints is the way to go.

I spent a little bit on Polyvore tonight while I was designing a document for my "day job" and got carried away looking at all the beautifully striped, patterned and printed black and white items.  So much to choose from!!  You don't have to go for all these items though these were my faves of the night.  I wish I could pull off an utterly geometric striped dress like the one pictured above but even if I could fit it, it's not cut right for my shape.

Are you like me and think, ahh.. this trend won't work for me?  Well you're wrong!  You can take one item with any trend (even this one) and mix it with your every day staples and give new life to your wardrobe!!  The possibilities are really endless.   I would probably go for the shirt and the cuff from Forever 21.  Perhaps the shirt but with a smaller stripe that has the stripes more closely spaced together.  I'm actually the kind of person who leans towards getting trendy accessories because they're easier to pull off and (most of the time) less expensive.  Really lovin' the Ray Bans and the mustache coffee mug.

What are your favorite trends for this season?  I'm going to be trying to do at least 1 fashion/style post a week.  Let me know what you want to see!!

Until then, may you have the loveliest of Tuesdays.

Aloha,

So many people I know (including myself in the past), have lived under the assumption that you should be able to wear clothes that you just bought from the store without worry.  Despite the dark wash on jeans changing the color of your underwear or a brightly pigmented shirt causing your bra to turn into an off-pinkish shade, many women and men still buy clothes and wear them when they get home.  I must confess that I'm sometimes that person, guilty of assuming clothes I've just bought are safe to wear.

I was on Facebook last night and was reading one of those reblogged a gillion times news stories about a woman contracting parasites from wearing clothes that she had just bought but not washed.  Now, I'm a realistic person...I realize that it may not actually have been the clothes that gave her parasites but it may have been something else but nonetheless, doing some research on how safe just bought store clothes are is quite sobering...

Now if you think about it, there are chemicals not just from the dyes in our clothes and fabrics but there are also chemicals in the towels and sheets we purchase (like formaldehyde and urea resin) which the manufacturer claims they put on the fabric to "protect it from stains, keep it wrinkle free, etc.".  To be honest though, I always wash my sheets and towels before using because I can't stand the texture of the fabric from those items just out of box or off the shelf.  I need to wash it to get it softer and to give it the smell I prefer when I lay my head on my pillow.

Clothing though.. was a different story.  I often welcomed that "new clothes" smell and would wear items the day I purchased it.  I never gave much thought to the person or numerous people that had possibly tried on that very same shirt, dress, jeans, bra, bathing suit, whatever before I had and what diseases or bad hygiene they may have had.  Yuck...  Sometimes I'd come home and wash clothes because it helps keep the colors from fading and the clothes from shrinking if you wash before wear but that occurred maybe 50 percent of the time.  If you read the tags on your new clothes, most of them say "wash before wearing".  There's a reason for that.  How do you know that a person who has fungal problems hasn't just tried on that very same neon pink darling top you just grabbed off the rack?  How do you know that the bathing suit you're about to try on hasn't been tried on by someone who didn't properly clean themselves after going to the bathroom?  Scary thoughts that can make your head spin.

As a parent, this is especially concerning because you don't want anything harmful going on your child.  When my son was a baby I washed literally  E V E R Y T H I N G  he put on meticulously because I wanted to make sure it didn't irritate his skin.  As he's grown older and is nearly a tween, I've gotten rather lax in that capacity... up till now that is... It is truly truly frightening to consider what germs, chemicals, diseases may be on the fabric of the clothes you purchased off the rack.  You also shouldn't assume that because you shopped at a "high end" retailer that the clothes are cleaner because I know quite a few "rich people" with disgustingly bad hygiene.

Bottom line, if you are purchasing any clothes or other fabric items that you are going to wear/dry yourself with/sleep in, WASH IT FIRST!  Better to be safe than sorry.  I have an image of the parasite ridden woman burned forever in my brain and will not be sharing it here because I wouldn't want to expose any of you to that.  Yuck.

Here is an article from Good Morning America about this very topic.

So I am bored and up and was playing on Pinterest a lot getting some amazing inspiration for cooking, crafting and style.  I love Pinterest so much, it's such a wealth of great ideas and photos.  So many of you lovely bloggers I read create truly amazing things and pin it.  Actually, I found myself pinning a ton of items from several of the blogs I now follow as I was following everyone back from last week's Aloha Friday Blog Hop.  I wish I had the talent for creativity that you guys have.  I always get so inspired and I try a few crafts that I see and it usually ends up as a fail.

Anyhow, I decided to go to another one of my favorite sites that starts with a "P"- Polyvore- to make a board and browse around.  I haven't done a style or fashion post in what seems like forever.  Truth be told, I absolutely HATE taking photos of myself.  I think the web would be much better off without photos of me on it haha.  There's a reason I'm behind the camera taking photos!!  I miss the fashion/style aspect of posting though.  I used to run a fashion/style/beauty blog/web magazine back several years ago and then I got my current "day job" which pays my bills and provides me with financial security so I had to leave the blog/web magazine behind because I didn't have the time.  Le sigh...

So yeah... back to the board....

Lately I've been really into creamy colored dresses and shirts and when I saw the Alice + Olivia dress and decided to make a peachy inspired board.  For the record, most of the items here are things that are way overpriced and something I never could own..but still, isn't it pretty?  I could never pull off head to toe peach though but I thought all the items were so lovely I had to share.  I was going to put in a cute leather jacket to rough the look up a little and give it some edge but I decided to keep it girly and delicate.  I made a "Look For Less" option as well and to be honest, I rather like dare I say prefer some of the more affordable items!

I know quite a few lovely gals who would put this ensemble on and make it look completely effortlessly chic and cool.  I wish I had the talent or the body to pull off such a look.  I think head to toe peach would make my plus size frame look much larger than it already is though.  Time to get back to the gym! (More on that later)... You know what though?  I'm not all that stylish in person.... I often opt for comfortable tshirt and shorts for my day-to-day wear when I'm not working.  Rather boring.  I'm more of a makeup junkie than a fashion junkie although I do keep up on the trends and indulge in some cute items here and there.  My favorites lately have been Jeffrey Campbell shoes....blew a little too much of my "mad" money on a few pairs of JC shoes but I worked so hard, I wanted to reward myself.  But yeah... excuse my ramblings.

Want some effortlessly chic style inspiration?  Check out one of my favorite Hawaii style blogs, Tiff Heart Fashion.  Tiffany is so effortlessly cool and her boutiques carry some ahhh mayyyzing cute items.  She has an online shop too you can check out called Bamboo Sky {Link Here}.

So many of the blogs I follow have such amazing style though.  I think I'm going to make a list and share it one of these days because there are quite a few talented and chic ladies in my blogger feed!!

I hope you all have the loveliest of weekends and a wonderful New Years.

Aloha,

 Although the winter months are upon us, the warm Hawaiian Islands are still basking in the summer sun (well, for the most part anyway)! Whether your children are going to the beach, surfing or just out for a nice day in the sun, keeping them protected from the sun’s harmful rays is important. Without compromising on style, Snapper Rock (www.snapperrock.com) brings a stylish collection of UV50+ protective children’s wear which includes styles from hats to kaftans, board shorts and 3-piece swim sets.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen teamed up with Damien Hirst on a collection of backpacks. Photo: Getty Images/ via Just One Eye

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen could never be considered frugal or conservative.  Most celebrites these days spend more money on a shopping spree than most people make in an entire year.  It just goes to show how wasteful the rich and famous have become.  In utterly ridiculous and distasteful celebrity news, the Olsen twins have announced that their ultra-exclusive brand The Row has outdone themselves in the ridiculously overpriced handbag game.  They previously were pricing the plain crocodile skin backpack for a cool $40,000 but now in their quest to be even more ridiculous, have teamed up with designer Damien Hirst to create a super limited edition of the bag priced at $55,000!!!  What the.....

Via MTV.com

The actresses-turned-CFDA winners have debuted a brand new capsule collection of super luxe backpacks in conjunction with Damien Hirst. The Row designers and the contemporary artist collaborated on nine different styles of the carryall, embellishing the label's signature black patent Nile crocodile leather backpack with Hirst's quirky-cool designs. It's an awesome concept, sure, but just like all the other swoon-worthy pieces from The Row, the bad news is, it's gonna cost you. A lot. If you thought the Olsens wouldn't dare to top the $39,000 price tag on their other (controversial) backpack, think again...because they totally went there. The limited-edition collection of bags is listed at online design store Just One Eye for "price upon request." We called, and it retails for a cool $55,000. Gulp.

Although a portion of the sales go to UNICEF, we're still wrapping our heads around the insane price tag, and here's the thing: as crazy costly as the bag is, there are people who will buy it— after all, the label's alligator backpack sold out last season. But just to put the money into perspective, with that $55,000, you could instead buy a couple of cars, approximately 110 new iPads, 3, 055 bottles of Deborah Lippmann nail polish....  So there you have it: the super expensive backpack just got even pricier, making even the most wallet-busting pieces from Alexander Wang, Mulberry, and more seem like pocket change. 

 Other than the ridiculous price, many of these limited edition (and in my humble opinion UGLY) bags are adorned with pill appliques... What is the point of that? It's in such poor taste to release anything that is condoning or promoting drug use.  Pills have, in recent years, become many a person's drug of choice even killing one of the Olsen's close friends Heath Leger who died from an overdose of pills in 2008.

I really don't understand how or why anyone would want to purchase these bags.  Even if they were gorgeous and didn't promote prescription drug abuse, they are SO expensive and ridiculously overpriced.  I'm not saying it's wrong for anyone to want or have something nice but $55,000 for a purse?  That is beyond expensive.  That is more for 1 bag than so many people make in one year.  They justify the price by saying a "portion" goes to UNICEF yet they omit how large that portion going to charity is.  Whoever purchases these bags would benefit greatly from visiting a homeless shelter or visiting people left devastated by natural disasters or disease.  That money could go to so many other wonderful and helpful causes instead of an ugly handbag that is adorned with prescription drugs.

I personally could never spend a large amount of money on a handbag or shoes, it's just not my style.  I would rather spend my money on my son's tuition or on photography gear.  I just don't understand frivoloty of spending thousands of dollars on handbags like these.  What do you think? Worth it?  Not worth it?  I think it's so not worth it and such a bad message to send. Why adorn handbags with prescription drugs? What's the purpose in that?

Give me your feedback and take a look at these overpriced $55,000 bags after the jump.

It's summer time!  It's the time of the year when people trade their long pants in for some denim shorts and opt for loose fitting clothes instead of the layers they wear the other half of the year.  With the hot weather comes the need to cool off so pools and beaches become a necessary part of most people's summer routine.  Living in Hawai'i means it's summer around 90% of the year so most of us here have packing a beach bag down to a science.  When my lovely friend Nicole from Local Sugar Hawaii asked me to tell her what's in my beach bag, I was so excited!  I have a big canvas bag that I usually used which is already packed with my essentials though some of the products I use change depending on whether or not I have them on hand.  I know you're looking at these products and thinking why the heck does Jean take so much stuff to the beach?  Trust me, there's a method to my madness.

Photo taken PRE Grand Opening courtesy of PBN

Hawai'i is beautiful indeed.  The tropical weather, sunshine, blue water and green vegetation are a wonderful sight to behold.  Living on an island, however, poses it's challenges because of lack of space and the cost of rent for retailers.  In recent years Hawai'i has gotten quite a few chains here like Whole Foods, Target, Best Buy, and Forever 21 that we lacked before.  There are still some stores that have yet to venture to the 50th state though I wish they would.   The Container Store, Trader Joes, Kohls, Staples, Pottery Barn, Bed Bath and Beyond (technically we have one and it's small, cramped and lacking the stock and options of other mainland locations), Lane Bryant, and H&M come to mind when I think of stores that we don't have here yet that I'd love to spend my hard earned money at.

TJ Maxx opened its first Hawaii store in 16 years at the Ward Village Shops on Thursday.

The 35,000 square-foot store is the first of three new TJ Maxx stores that the Massachusetts-based TJX Cos. (TJX) plan to open in Hawaii this month.

TJ Maxx will open a 25,000 square-foot store at Pearl City Gateway on May 10, and a 24,850 square-foot stare at Pearlridge Center    in Aiea on May 17.

“We are pleased to expand our store base to Hawaii, delivering value and an exciting selection of fashion to serve the needs of Hawaii customers,” TJX President Richard Sherr said in a statement.