In this installment of My Heels Are Killing Me, Sonia Sly heads to Te Papa to find out about historical and contemporary views on the Aloha shirt.
In this installment of My Heels Are Killing Me,Sonia Sly heads to Te Papa to find out about historical and contemporary views on the Aloha shirt.
Clothing can send a powerful message about who we are and where we feel we belong in the world, acting as a cultural signifier and a means to express our identity. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Hawaiians have been proudly wearing the Aloha shirt as a way to connect to their culture.
Heading down to the bowels of Te Papa, through a stream of what seem like endless hallways I'm taken to a room to meet Claire Regnault, one of Te Papa's curators, and Sonya Withers, an intern who traveled to Hawaii last year as part of a research trip on the Aloha shirt.
Donning rubber gloves, Sonya and Claire slip covers off a range of shirts. There are a variety of styles from long sleeves to short and even a hooded Hawaiian shirt.
In total the team collected 16 items with the addition of a onesie.
"The Aloha shirt sums up the spirit of Hawaii," says Claire.
Through the Aloha shirt, Hawaiians have been able to express their values and cultural ties and Te Papa were interested in how that culture has been represented and also misrepresented.
The Aloha shirt has a rich and complex history, according to Claire who says people aren't sure of the exact history of the garment, which has a number of stories attached to it.
"Some say the design elements came from the Palaka shirt which was worn as a work shirt on the plantations," she says.
The Palaka shirt has origins that pre-date the Aloha shirt. The very first Aloha shirt was said to have been created by a Japanese immigrant, Chōtarō Miyamoto who began producing the shirts in Japanese silk fabrics.
But Te Papa's area of interest lies primarily in the Aloha shirt as an expression of Hawaiian culture.
The team met with 10 Hawaiian designers, including Manaola and Sig Zane.
Each designer has a different take on the aloha shirt. Some have based their prints on particular species of protected native plant species, while other designers have looked to inspiration from family history, hula traditions or other aspects of Hawaiian culture.
Importantly, the designs have specific meanings and stories attached to them.
"They are just so rich and you can spend a lot of time looking at them and learning so much," says Regnault…