Looking back at Alfred Shaheen

Next week the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles is opening a retrospective of textiles and clothing designed by Alfred Shaheen, a textile manufacturer specializing in aloha prints who died in Torrance in December 2008.

Shaheen, who revolutionized the textile industry in postwar Hawaii, designed a seemingly endless array of shirts, dresses, bathing suits and decorative items, many of which will be displayed in the museum exhibition. The show opens Tuesday and runs until Aug. 8. More information is at the museum website.

Click here to read the news obituary of Alfred Shaheen that appeared in The Times in January 2009. A photo gallery showing selections of his designs is here.

More information about Shaheen's life and work can be found at his website, www.alfredshaheen.com.

-- Claire Noland

Top photo: Alfred Shaheen designed the bright red Hawaiian shirt Elvis Presley wore when he posed for the cover of the "Blue Hawaii" soundtrack in 1961. Credit: Beyond Words Publishing Inc.

Bottom photo: Alfred Shaheen.