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![\"Polynesia](\"https:\/\/www.worldatlas.com\/r\/w1200\/upload\/a4\/e9\/f8\/melanesia-micronesia-polynesia-map-peter-hermes-furian.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTraditional Skirts<\/h3>\n
Today we think of a grass skirt\u00a0as a costume or garment\u00a0made from layers of plant fibers or grasses that is fastened at the waist. However the term \u201cgrass skirt\u201d has always been a misnomer.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, Polynesian cultures used strips of natural fibers, barks, leaves, and other materials to create various types of skirts. There is a skirt-like garment in\u00a0the Maori culture which is made of woven or plaited flax\u00a0fibers. It is called a\u00a0piupiu<\/em>\u00a0and is worn during\u00a0Maori cultural dances. Both men and women in the Nauru culture\u00a0wear a bushy skirt made of thin strips of palm-leaves. Called a ridi<\/em>, it can be short, knee-length or ankle-length. In\u00a0Tonga, the skirt is called a\u00a0sisi pueka<\/em>\u00a0and is worn in dance performances. Woven from tree fibers, kapa<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>cloth skirts for women and malos <\/em>(loincloths) for men were the traditional garments of Hawaiian\u00a0hula kahiko<\/em>.<\/p>\n This traditional Maori skirt from the Lam Museum collection is made from flax wrapped in cane segments.<\/p><\/div>\n More than just decoration, the purpose of such skirts was and is to accentuate a dancer\u2019s movements.<\/p>\n This grass skirt in the Lam Museum collection is from Samoa.<\/p><\/div>\n Grass skirts were introduced to Hawaii by immigrants from the\u00a0Gilbert Islands (small atolls that are part of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati today) in the 1870s and 1880s although their origins are attributed to Samoa as well.<\/p>\n Historians note that by the end of the 19th<\/sup> century Hawaiian dancers in both Hawaii and the mainland US began wearing grass skirts while performing on the\u00a0vaudeville circuit. Because traditional Hawaiian skirts were made with fresh\u00a0ti<\/em> leaves, which were not available in the United States, skirts were made with grasses. Grass skirts were notable in the 1893\u00a0World’s Columbian Exposition\u00a0in Chicago where Hawaiian hula dancers played into American stereotypes by wearing the costume. Some hula dancers still wear grass skirts today.<\/p>\n This Samoan grass skirt from the Lam Museum collection was made to sell to tourists.<\/p><\/div>\n Starting in the late 19th-century and through World War II, grass skirts became a symbol of the South Seas and Polynesian cultures. Many sailors and servicemen returning from duties in the Pacific brought grass skirts home as souvenirs. The war helped to create a national interest in Polynesian food and d\u00e9cor. During the 1950s and 1960s, books, musicals, TV shows, films, and restaurants continued to fuel the US\u2019s interest in Polynesian cultures. That interest continues even today.<\/p>\nWhy Grass Skirts?<\/h3>\n
Popularity of Grass Skirts<\/h3>\n