Mother Hubbard dress

Tahitian girls in their unadorned "grandmother's dresses" between 1880 and 1889.

A Mother Hubbard dress is a long, wide, loose-fitting gown with long sleeves and a high neck.^{[citation needed]} Intended to cover as much skin as possible, it was introduced by missionaries in Polynesia to "civilise" those whom they considered half-naked savages of the South Seas islands.^{[citation needed]}

Although this Victorian remnant has disappeared elsewhere in the world, it is still worn by Pacific women, who have altered it into a gayer and lighter (less hot) garment, using cotton sheets, often printed in brightly coloured floral patterns.^{[citation needed]}

In Hawaiʻi, it is called holokū.^[1] There, a derivative, the muʻumuʻu, is highly similar, but without the yoke and train, and therefore even easier to make.^[2]

In Tahiti, the name was ʻahu tua (empire dress, in a sense of colonial empire); now, ʻahu māmā rūʻau (grandmother's dress) is used.^{[citation needed]}

In New Caledonia, these dresses are referred to as robes missions (Mission Dresses). New Caledonian women wear these dresses when playing their distinctive style of cricket.^{[citation needed]}

In Papua New Guinea, the form of dress is known as meri blaus, which in Tok Pisin means women's blouse. It is considered formal local attire.

In India and much of South Asia, these dresses are referred to as Housecoats. Indian women wear these dresses as a convenient apparel at home, particularly around only the family members when they are not expecting company..^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ The Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary with a Concise Hawaiian Grammar by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert, and Esther T. Mookini (1975), p 30. ISBN 0-8248-0307-8
2. ^ The Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary with a Concise Hawaiian Grammar by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert, and Esther T. Mookini (1975), p 111. ISBN 0-8248-0307-8

The author Somerset Maugham refers to this dress many times in his novels and short stories about the Pacific.

External links

• Singing parade of the contestants of the Miss Tahiti Pageant 2008, wearing Mother Hubbard style dress