Korowai (cloak)

This particular cloak is made almost entirely of candlewick and wool with a small amount of muka that is fringed at the top of the cloak (the kurupatu). It has yellow and black looping along the sides and bottom of the garment. Known as paheke, the rolling looped and cross thread decoration using wool developed after the arrival of Europeans. It became a major decorative element for less formal and quickly evolving korowai therefore it can attribute this cloak to the contact period of the 1860's to 1890's.

Muka
Muka is derived from the sword shaped leaves of harakeke (NZ flax: Phormium tenax), an evergreen found mainly in swampy or low lying areas around New Zealand. It was made by stripping the outer layer of flax with a shell (often a mussel shell). The fibre was then washed and pounded with a muka patu (blunt stone club) to leave a fibrous thread that was silky and soft to touch. The thread was then bound together into a sturdy chord and sometimes dyed before weaving.