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Aloha! Vintage Hawaiian Apparel Isn't For Stuffed Shirts

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 20, 2007

Gary Moss bought his first vintage Hawaiian shirt in 1976 at a New Jersey antiques show to replace a sweaty golf shirt on a humid summer day. He took a fancy to it and began buying more at shows and shops.

Today he owns 75 of them and has sold others for $150 to $4,500.

On Saturday, Moss will present "The Culture of Aloha Shirts" at noon at the Florida Memorabilia & Highwaymen Show, which continues Sunday at Sunken Gardens Botanical Park in St. Petersburg. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days.

In addition to presenting a slide show, Moss will display Florida shirts from the 1940s, featuring postcard art of St. Petersburg, Miami and Silver Springs.

BayLife, Page 1

•Moss collects vintage rayon threads with pineapples, palm trees and statues of King Kamehameha. Most were manufactured from 1935 to '53.

•Moss' shirts were exhibited in 2004 at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Mass., and included in the book "Hawaiian Shirts: Dress Right for Paradise," by Nancy Schiffer.

•The show includes free art appraisals.

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