Korowai (cloak with decorative tassels)

This korowai (cloak with tassels) shows how a completed korowai looks with all its hukahuka (tassels). The concentration of tassels on opposite borders accentuates the top and bottom of the garment, while the outer overlapping tassels indicate the kurupatu (plaited hem on the cloak edge) that would be worn over the shoulders.

Wearing korowai
There were three main ways of wearing a korowai: draped over the shoulders and tied at the chest; under one arm and attached at the opposite shoulder; or draped over one shoulder and tied at the other shoulder.

Hukahuka
Hukahuka are made by the miro (twist thread) process of dying the muka (flax fibre) and rolling two bundles into a single chord. Korowai seem to have been rare at the time of Captain Cook's first visit to New Zealand because 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 dying process speeding up the deterioration of the muka.

Pre-European colour
Before the arrival of European settlers and modern materials such as wool, colours were sourced from indigenous materials. Paru (mud high in iron salts) provided black, raurēkau (shrub: Brachyglottis repanda) bark made yellow, and tānekaha (celery pine: Phyllocladus trichomanoides) bark made tan. The colour was set by rolling the dyed muka in alum (potash).