page_title: Pareo
section_title: Styles
hierarchical_section_title: Pareo / Styles
caption_attribution_description: Marquesans dressed in pāreu performing a haka dance - not to be confused with the New Zealand Māori dance form of the same name.
context_page_description: The pāreu or pareo is the Cook Islands and Tahitian word for a wraparound skirt. Originally it was used only to refer to women's skirts, as men wore a loincloth, called a maro. Nowadays the term is applied to any piece of cloth worn wrapped around the body, worn by males or females. It is related to the Malay sarong, Filipino malong, tapis and patadyong, Samoan lavalava, Tongan tupenu and other such garments of the Pacific Islands such as the Hawaiian Islands, Marquesas Islands, New Zealand, and Fiji.
context_section_description: The Tahitian pāreu are among the most colourful and bright of the Pacific. Originally flower patterns, the hibiscus flowers in particular, or traditional tapa patterns, were printed in bright colours on a cotton sheet of about 90 or 120 cm wide and 180 cm long. Nowadays they are also made in Tahiti itself and dye painting with varying colours is popular as well.
  A pāreu can be worn in many ways. Women will usually wrap it around their upper body, covering it from breasts to above the knees. Either they rely on their breasts for it not to slide down, or they may wrap a corner around their shoulder or their neck. In more traditional surroundings the covering of the upper body is less important, but the covering of the thighs is. Then it is worn as a longer skirt. Men wear it as a short skirt, or may even make shorts out of it, especially when fishing or working in the bush where freedom of movement of the legs is needed. But during quiet, cooler nights at home, they may wear it as a long skirt too.
  The ends of the pāreu are normally tied in a knot to keep it in place.
caption: Hiva Oa dancers dressed in pāreu around 1909
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