Mehana Jumpsuit

Wahine Toa

This jumpsuit was designed by Nita Pilago of the Hawaiian label, Wahine Toa, which is Maori for ‘strong women’. In 1993, Nita attended the World Indigenous People’s Conference on Education in Aotearoa New Zealand. During the conference, Hinewirangi Kohu, a prominent Maori poet, activist and artist, encouraged her to attend a theatre play called Wahine Toa. The play resulted in several recurring dreams which led to her changing her company from Anela Designs, after her husband, to Wahine Toa Designs.

Nita Pilago began making women’s wear, but expanded into men’s wear due to demand.

 A tribute to voyagers

This sjumpsuit features a print called the Wa`a e Hiku. The print was inspired by Nita Pilago’s son, Ian Kaleo Pilago's voyage on the Hikianali, the Polynesian Voyaging Society's sister canoe to Hokulea. Kaleo is an active member of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, which 'seeks to perpetuate the art and science of traditional Polynesian voyaging and the spirit of exploration through experiential educational programs that inspire students and their communities to respect and care for themselves, each other, and their natural and cultural environments'.

This print depicts elements used for navigation including bird flight patterns, moon phases, sun, wave patterns and the constellation known as Na Hiku, or Na Hiku-ka-Huihui-a-Makalii, the Cluster-of-the-Seven-of-Makalii and ‘The Big Dipper’. Pilago designed the print to honour to all voyagers who navigate by the elements.

Te Papa also holds a men;s shirt in this pattern (FE013097/1). 

Keeping it in the family

Nita Pilago runs Wahine Toa from her home in Kona on Hawai’i Island. Many of her family members are involved in the business, from creating design work to helping staff the company’s popular pop-up stalls at events such as Merrie Monarch and the MAMO wearable art show (the company does not have a store nor do they wholesale).

‘The art … is done by myself, my husband, Angel, my son Kaleo and my son Che. All four of us contribute to the art of my clothing, my line. So that’s a fun part of the designing too, using my family art in the whole process.’

While designed in Hawai’i, this garment was individually hand painted and printed using the Batik wax process in Bali, by another family run business.

Co-collecting in Hawai'i

This shirt was acquired by Te Papa during a co-collecting trip to Hawai'i in 2017. Te Papa worked with Noelle Kahanu, a cultural specialist from the University of Hawai‘i, to develop collection of aloha shirts that reflects the ways in which Hawaiian culture has been historically represented, and misrepresented, through the aloha shirt, and the ways in which contemporary native Hawaiian designers are utilising the aloha shirt to communicate indigenous cultural values. This shirt was purchased directly from Nita Pilago.

Te Papa’s co-collecting programmes are guided by the principle of mana taonga – the sharing authority with stakeholder communities.