A SUMMER COVER-UP FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE TO SEW

By the Mother Earth News editors

From MOM'S tour to the islands of French Polynesia, we bring you a wardrobe as inexpensive

Going native, in the Polynesian fashion, can be a glamorous and comfortable experience... as participants in our South Seas Seminar discovered this past winter. It seemed like we'd barely arrived in that tropical, flower-laden paradise before most of the female tour members began learning to wrap themselves in the versatile native pareu!

Although the colorful clothing was once made exclusively of tapa cloth (produced from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree), the modern pareu is usually cotton, and features white or yellow floral designs on a red or blue background. Nowadays, however, the traditional attire (which, in its various permutations, is worn by men and women) can also be seen in a rainbow of hand-printed, batiked, and tie-dyed materials . . . including jersey, polyester, Indian gauze, and French voile.

The garment starts as a piece of cloth slightly over two yards long (1.90 meters, to be exact) and 45 inches wide. (If you're very tall or very short, you may want to try a different width.)
And there's certainly no reason at all to keep this tropical wraparound confined to a South Seas island... or even to the beach and back yard. It could also provide a beautiful, appropriate (according to how it's tied), and thrifty outfit to wear to a picnic, to a dinner party, or even for a night out on the town.

So, since we figured that many of MOM'S readers would be glad of a chance to increase the versatility of their wardrobes at little cost, we asked Marline Post-ma—a French Polynesian woman who, with her husband Richard, helps run the Hotel Bora Bora on the little island of the same name—to demonstrate just a few of the ways in which her national costume can be worn.

A LONG SKIRT
This hipline style involves wearing the pareu widthwise. Start as you do when tying the “short and sweet” version, knotting the “bunny ear” at whatever spot will allow you to secure it to the back corner for a good fit. But at this point take what’s left over…. Fold it in two vertically…and truck the upper edge of the panel over the knot, letting the long fold drape down your leg.

SHORT AND SWEET
You can produce a short style if you hold the pareu lengthwise and fold it in two . . . put the fold on your hipline . . . and tie a "bunny ear" at a point on the front of the material which will—when knotted to the back corner—allow the garment to fit snugly. Then you can take the remaining material, force it up and under the knot, pull it until it's even, and unfold it into a neat drape.

SIMPLE AND STRAPLESS

Centering the material in the back, grab two little "bunny ears" of cloth from the top of the front "flaps" . . . twist these around each other a few times until the material is closed tightly across the bustline . . . tuck them in ... and arrange the front folds neatly.

THE SIDE SPLIT
Some mere modern versions of the Polynesian garment require working with the pareu lengthwise. To create a simple (but elegant) dress, just tie it on one shoulder…then lift the skirt slightly to make it the desired length, and fold it across the hipline. Conclude the garment with another knot at that point.

OVER ONE SHOULDER
One of the most popular ways of donning the pareu is to simply hold a corner of the material in front (or in back) of a shoulder…wrap the cloth almost twice about your body…and then tie it over your shoulder.

THE BIKER
When your day will include bicycling (or any activity which requires that your legs be unencumbered), you can tie the pareu in the back as a strapless top (or around the neck as in the crisscross version below) . . . then pass the material back between your legs . . . bring the end around to the front . . . and tie it off at the waist.

Martine showed us quite a few other ways to drape, tie, and wear this simple attire that we don't have room to describe here. However, with a little experimentation you can likely come up with some versions of your own that no one else has even thought of! For example, by using a piece of material three or more yards long, you can actually devise a variety of floor-length gowns.

Better still, you can join our South Seas Seminar next January 23 and—in addition to enjoying some of the finest snorkeling in the world and participating in stimulating discussions with John and Cheryl Holdren and Paul and Anne Ehrlich—get your pareu inspiration straight from the source. (For tour details, see page 70 and/or check out our South Seas report in MOTHER NO. 74, page 66.)

Remember, too, that a pareu can substitute as a beach mat, towel, tablecloth, curtain, or turban . . . and—as someone once suggested—in an emergency it could even be used as a sail!

THE CRISSCROSS
Center the material in the back. Then just stretch one corner neatly across the chest and over your shoulder. Now, hold that tab in place with your chin while you cross the other piece over your unadorned shoulder, and tie the two "straps" behind your neck.