Bodice

This is a child size bodice made of siapo (tapa cloth) sewn together with a sewing machine. It is coloured with dark brown dye and decorated with strings of red seeds (possibly lopa Adenanthera pavonina) sewn onto the outer surface (1). There are holes in the tapa cloth and some of the seeds are missing.

European and Tongan inspired

In the 19th century, Sāmoans used siapo (decorated tapa cloth) to make a variety of garments from lavalava (wrap arounds), faufau tu (turbans) and tiputa (ponchos). This siapo bodice may have been inspired by European style bodices that were popular in Sāmoan society in the late 1800s. As one observer noted, “Another article of female dress was coming greatly into vogue, just before I left Samoa, introduced from Tonga – a short, sleeveless bodice, rather loosely cut, trimmed with a lace edging. Some of these bodices are of great splendour, made from brilliant silks and satins; a favourite material is black velvet (2).”

Siapo decoration

Siapo is made from the bark of the u‘a or paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera) although in the past it was occasionally made from the inner bark of the breadfruit or banyan tree. It is decorated using dyes made from a variety of trees and plants. The brown dyes come from several sources, the first being the bark of the o‘a tree. Scrapings of bark from this tree produce a reddish brown colour. Other sources of brown were the mangrove tree (Rhizophora mucronata) and the candlenut tree (Aleurites moluccana). A source of red-brown colouring was an earth ochre called ‘ele. While it is not found everywhere in Samoa, it was traded quite widely throughout the archipelago.

Acquisition history

This bodice was registered into the collcction in 1963, but there is no record of its acquisition history.

References

1. Nonnative Species - National Park of American Samoa (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

2. Churchward, William My Consulate in Samoa: A record of four years sojourn in the Navigators Islands, with personal experiences of King Malietoa Laupepa, his country, and his and his men. Richard Bentley and Son. London, 1887.