A team of 10 with Maui-based fashion brand Pulelehua Maui is headed to New York Fashion Week on Thursday.

Owner, Gemma Alvior, is pulling together 30 looks for The Model Experience event, happening Sept. 11, 2022 in Brooklyn, NY.

According to Alvior, other Hawaiʻi brands have been featured in New York Fashion Week events, but this is the first time a Maui brand has been invited, and the first time a Hawaiʻi brand is doing the Brooklyn event.

The fashion show takes place at 3:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. HST) and features some 60 designers. Tickets can be purchased to watch virtually, but friends can also view the Pulelehua portion of the event live on Facebook and Instagram.

Pulelehua Maui started in 2016 with inspiration from the fashion featured at the annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. Alvior was there as a member of Hālau Kekuaokalāʻauʻalaʻiliahi.

“I always wanted to be a designer when I was young. I went to Long Beach State, which has a very good College of the Arts, and there’s also a fashion designers school in Long Beach, but I was too scared to do that because I can’t cut straight and I can’t draw,” said Alvior, who later embraced her ability to visualize and manifest the designs that she wanted.

After finding a seamstress, she then found a company on Oʻahu that could print designs. At first she would make pattern and…