"Wearable art" is a term that is often misused, like "couture." The true definition of wearable art is a piece that is created as art but can be worn as a garment or accessory. The designs of Shirley Gibson of Hilo clearly qualify as the real deal, art that comes to life on the body.

As a textile designer who loves creating clothes, Gibson will go to any length to achieve exactly what she wants in a garment. She shops in thrift stores, upholstery shops, or wherever fabrics are available. She'll dye, paint or write on a piece of fabric. She'll drape and cut and fold and embellish, all with her own hands.

"Sometimes I know what I want to make and I cut out the shape and begin to work around it. Other times I dye and print the cloth first and later incorporate it into a garment. This process is more spontaneous," she explained. "I'll put anything on the fabric; whatever's going on in my head right then," she added with a chuckle.

What's going on in her head this summer is hope for peace. The peace symbol is appearing as a word and symbol in many of her garments. "An artist does not live in isolation of the world. I incorporate my beliefs into my art. I believe that peace is inevitable," Gibson said.

Gibson's garments are often cut on the bias. "It allows the fabric to find the shape of the wearer and drape over it," she said.

"The bias cut allows a length of cloth to find your shape and work with it. ... I like my clothing to skim the body, not hug it," she explained. "I have a few shapes that I love and the rest is texture, color and more texture."

Wearable art is not new to Gibson. Since her childhood in Richmond, Va., she has been interested in fashion as art. As a child, she made creative dolls' clothes. As a teen she sewed her own clothes and designed fashionable outfits for friends. In college she discovered surface design.

While living in various cities on the East Coast, she made costumes for entertainer Patti LaBelle and Atlanta jazz singer Liz Spaggins. She even owned her own boutique in Richmond. At one time or another she sold her wearable art to boutiques in New York, Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania and the Bahamas.

Gibson went on to other artistic pursuits, particularly interior design and advertising, but wearable art was always at least on the fringes of her life.

Gibson's life changed suddenly and radically when her sister, Linda Gibson, who was often a collaborator on Shirley's artistic projects, died, just three months after the sisters moved to Hilo. Shirley, who had never had children of her own, was thrust into the role of mother and home school teacher to Linda's daughter, then age 15, and son, then 11. Now, eight years later, her niece has just married (on June 28) and her nephew, Joshua Abia Gibson-Underwood, is a college student who helps her with fashion sketches and hand-painted designs on fabric, offering a fresh perspective and sense of freedom. With the kids all grown up, she is free again to create artful clothing.

NOT FOR EVERYONE

Gisbon's clothes demand something of the wearer. It takes a certain confidence to carry them off; they are not for wallflowers or those who prefer to remain invisible or anonymous.

"My art cannot be consumed. You must participate in the creativity when you wear it your own special way," Gibson explained. Her customer, she said, will "appreciate the feeling that they receive from wearing something made by the hand that is born of the soul."

Shirley Gibson's wearable art is sold exclusively at Under a Hula Moon in Ward Centre.