Interviewing the winning teams as they prepare for the big show in Huntington Beach

Hawaii may be laid back, but Pearl City is pulling out all the stops to win this competition. With school out and summer upon them, these Walk the Walk finalists are hard at work, preparing for the upcoming show at the US Open in August. Pearl City can’t wait to get out to California and show the other schools what they are made of. To get a sneak preview, we met up with the team’s producer, Chelsea Hatori.—Chloe Barton

HURLEY.COM: TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN DOING TO PREPARE FOR THE BIG DAY IN AUGUST.
CHELSEA HATORI: Well, we are taking it step by step. First, we decided on a theme but we have found that our theme constantly molds and changes a little at every practice. This last week, we practiced our runway walk and sort of drafted how we want our show to look.

HOW IS THE RUNWAY PRACTICE GOING?
Most of our models have no runway experience so this is all very new to them. We have been working on choreography so our models will have some direction when they get out on the runway. We even included some special twists and turns in the performance, and so far our models have nailed them all. They seem like naturals.

ARE YOU WALKING IN THE SHOW?
I am not going to walk in the show because I will be backstage making sure that everything is going smoothly. I will be there to help the models with anything they need, like quick-changes, hair and makeup, gathering props, etc.

A LOT OF WORK GOES INTO A PRODUCTION THIS BIG.
Seriously! I didn’t realize all the different aspects of putting on a fashion show. In addition to models, you need set designers, choreographers, people to do hair/makeup, people to pick out music, etc. Next year, I am going to community college to study hair and makeup so this has been a particularly great experience for me to get exposure to the hair and makeup world.

THAT’S AWESOME. ARE YOU GUYS EXCITED TO MAKE THE TRIP OUT TO CALIFORNIA?
Yes, we are all counting down the days until we leave. Most of our team, including myself, has never been to California so this will be a totally new experience. At each practice, as it gets sooner and sooner to the trip, the hype builds and everyone becomes more excited. We cannot wait to get out to California and show the crowd at Huntington Beach what we’ve got.

Check out Pearl City’s winning videos here.