There were two types of garments that were worn and woven: • A knee-length kilt-like garment worn around the waist and secured by a belt • A rectangular garment worn over the shoulders. This might be a cape-like garment or a long cloak-like garment of finer quality. Men's belts were known as tātua and women's as tū. The man's belt was usually the more ornate. Belts were usually made of flax but occasionally other materials were used such as
kiekie and
pīngao. Flax belts were often plaited in patterns with black and white stripes. The belts were secured with a string tie. Women often wore a belt composed of many strands of plaited fibre.
Pākē / Hieke To meet the cold and wet conditions of the New Zealand winter, a rain cloak called pākē or hieke was worn. It was made from tags of raw flax or
Cordyline partly scraped and set in close rows attached to the muka or plaited fibre base. In 2000 a cloak-weaving event called
Ngā Here o te Ao at
Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum of New Zealand, Dawn Schuster-Smith created a pākē which Te Papa now hold in their collection. The technique to weave it created a very strong foundation in the garment, which is needed to hold the weight of the six layers of undyed hollow lengths of harakeke.
Piupiu in 2016. Piupiu are a modern Māori garment usually worn around the waist as a skirt and often forms part of the costume for Māori cultural performance,
kapa haka. Piupiu came into prominence after contact with Europeans. Prior to piupiu were rāpaki and pākē kūrure which were 'garments of free-hanging strands'. The strands of the piupiu are usually made from the leaves of
harakeke (flax) that are prepared to create a cylindrical strand with the
muka (flax fibre) exposed in some sections to create geometric patterns. The waistband is often decorated with a
tāniko pattern. The harakeke un-scraped cylindrical strands make a percussion sound when the wearer sways or moves. The geometric patterns are emphasised with dyeing as the dye soaks more into the exposed fibres rather than the dried raw leaf. The first two captains of
HMS New Zealand, a
battlecruiser funded in 1911 by the government of New Zealand for the defence of the
British Empire and which took an active part in three battles of the First World War, took into battle a piupiu (as well as a
hei-tiki, Māori traditional pendant). The crew attributed to this the
New Zealand being a "lucky ship" which sustained no casualties during the entire war. The piupiu went into the collection of the
Torpedo Bay Navy Museum in Devonport, Auckland.
Fine cloaks / kākahu There are a number of different types of fine cloaks including korowai (cloaks decorated with tags), kahu huruhuru (cloaks made with bird feathers) and kahu kurī (dog-skins cloaks). Kākahu are precious taonga of New Zealand and they exhibit intricate weaving work. Some kākahu may take years to make and are for people of rank. They are treasured, and have been sometimes exchanged for important items or services. In modern times, they are worn on special occasions, as part of some university graduations, and by important figures such as the
reigning monarch. Kākahu are created using downward finger-weaving
weft twining techniques (
whatu), primarily using two methods:
aho pātahi (single-pair twining) using two intertwined threads, and
aho rua (double-pair twining), using four. Hukahuka are made by the miro (twist thread) process of dyeing the muka (flax fibre) and rolling two bundles into a single cord which is then woven into the body of the cloak. There are many different types of korowai that are named depending on the type of hukahuka used as the decoration. Korowai kārure have tassels (hukahuka) that appear to be unravelling. Korowai ngore have hukahuka that look like pompoms. Korowai hihima had undyed tassels. Korowai seem to have been rare at the time of
Captain Cook's first visit to New Zealand, as they do not appear in drawings made by his artists. But by 1844, when
George French Angas painted historical accounts of early New Zealand, korowai with their black hukahuka had become the most popular style. Hukahuka on fine examples of korowai were often up to thirty centimetres long and when made correctly would move freely with every movement of the wearer. Today, many old korowai have lost their black hukahuka due to the dyeing process speeding up the deterioration of the muka. In English, the term is often used to describe other kinds of kākahu, even if they do not have hukahuka made of muka.
Kaitaka Kaitaka are cloaks of finely woven muka (
Phormium tenax) fibre. Kaitaka are among the more prestigious forms of traditional Māori dress. They are made from muka (flax fibre), which is in turn made from those varieties of
Phormium tenax that yield the finest quality fibre characterised by a silk-like texture and rich golden sheen. Kaitaka are usually adorned with broad tāniko borders at the remu (bottom) and narrow tāniko bands along the kauko (sides). The ua (upper border) is plain and undecorated, and the kaupapa (main body) is usually unadorned. There are several sub-categories of kaitaka: parawai, where the aho (wefts) run horizontally; kaitaka paepaeroa, where the aho run vertically; kaitaka aronui or pātea, where the aho run horizontally with tāniko bands on the sides and bottom borders; huaki, where the aho run horizontally with tāniko bands on the sides and two broad tāniko bands, one above the other, on the lower border; and huaki paepaeroa, which has vertical aho with double tāniko bands on the lower border.
Kahu huruhuru Fine
feather cloaks called kahu huruhuru were made of muka fibre with bird feathers woven in to cover the entire cloak. These feather cloaks became more common between 1850 and 1900, when cloaks were evolving in their production. Some early examples include kahu kiwi (kiwi feather cloak), which used the soft brown feathers of the kiwi (
Apteryx spp). Kahu kiwi were regarded as the most prestigious form of kahu huruhuru. Other kahu huruhuru incorporated the green and white feathers of the
kererū (New Zealand pigeon:
Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) and blue feathers from the
tūī (
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae).
Kahu kurī A prestigious pre-European cloak is the kahu kurī, made from dog skin from the now extinct
kurī (Māori dog). They were prized heirlooms. There are three different construction techniques for these cloaks: one where the whole dog skins were sewn together; one made from the dog tails tufted together called a kahu waero; and one with woven strips of hide. Some of the names for the types of kahu kurī include tōpuni, ihupuni, awarua, kahuwaero, māhiti, and pūahi. ==Notable Māori weavers==