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Rex Features
Hawaiian shirt creator Alfred Shaheen has passed away, aged 86.
Shaheen is credited with bringing the colourful and wacky fashion to the masses. He opened Shaheen's Of Honolulu in 1948, which printed, produced and designed aloha shirts.
Many World War II servicemen and women returned with aloha shirts in the 1930s, but they were often regarded as tacky souvenirs until Shaheen raised them to high fashion by using high-grade materials and artistic prints.
Elvis Presley famously donned a Shaheen shirt for his Blue Hawaii album cover in 1961. Originals from the designer can now fetch over £500 at auction.
When Hawaii became a state in 1959, Shaheen had more than 400 staff working for him and was earning $4 million a year from the industry.
"Before Shaheen came along, there was no Hawaii garment industry. There were mom and pop stores but no real modern industry, " Linda Arthur, a professor of textiles and clothing at Washington State University, told the Los Angeles Times.
