Dress Sense (or is it non-sense??)

 

Time for some more thoughts from Mama Vivienne. Now if you didn’t know, along with the wonderful title of ‘mama’ goes the even more wonderful privilege of wearing a Mother Hubbard dress – at Talua, at least. In case you are unfamiliar with it, let me describe this garment for you. There is one basic pattern – the front and back yoke are in 1 piece, with a v-shaped neckline in the front and a square neckline at the back. The middle piece is gathered or pleated from the bottom of the yoke at about armpit level and falls to somewhere between waistline and hips. The skirt is also gathered/ pleated on to this piece and drops to midcalf length. The hem of the dress is often shaped in a scalloped pattern and the sleeves are puffed and gathered in a bit above the elbow. There are often decorative flappy bits added on at the hips (right where you really don’t need to add on any extra bulk!). These do seem to also be of some practical use: wiping hands, moping sweat, wiping pikinini’s noses…

 My Australian neighbour, Rachael, who has perfected the fine art of making the Island Dress (as the locals call it), tells me that there is no pattern necessary and no shaping in it at all. Each piece is a rectangle of varying sizes, gathered or pleated into the appropriate size. I guess this simplifies things as all material is sold by the yard and is a standard width.

          The dresses are individualised by the choice of colourful, tropical patterned material, and also by the addition of various ribbons and laces – mostly to the yoke.

There are often long ribbons hanging from the sleeve. These are a pain and actually quite dangerous when you think of the gas cooking elements, the sink for washing dishes, the toilet….

          I was warned by Rachael before coming to Talua of the expectation for female expat staff members /wives to wear the Island dress. I had one dress in my possession that Jon had been given for me on his trip to Vanuatu last year, and I presumed I would buy more when I arrived if I needed to. Rachael gave me a couple of her dresses when I arrived and I was also presented with a couple of new dresses by the former principal’s wife – Mama Helena. I was very grateful for her generous gift with just a touch of wondering if this was a not so subtle way of ensuring that I wear the Island dress. These 2 dresses are beautifully sown and one even has a hand-stencilled pattern on it. Unfortunately one is in brown and tan tonings, and the other is in bright orange. Anybody who knows me will know that these aren’t colours that I’d chose for myself!!

But really, colour is not a high priority here. I went looking in town for material to have a dress made for me. What I thought was a nice pattern with turquoise blue and flowers in pinks and yellows, turned out when made up, to look like some exotic tropical cocktail! Jon thinks that I’ll never get lost in that dress as I can be seen for miles around!! Madelyne our house gel, made that dress for me, for the pricey fee of 300VT – about NZ$4.00.      

So, how do I feel about wearing this all covering, not very flattering dress? Well, in strictly physical terms, it is cooler to wear a dress than a skirt and top, because it is loose around your waist - if the material is light and cool. Ironically, the material available to be made into these dresses doesn’t always seem to be pure cotton. Pure cotton is the best for the humid heat of Vanuatu, and either these new dresses of mine are not pure cotton or else they are a very coarse weave of cotton that is taking a very long time to soften up with washing and wearing. They are still rather uncomfortable and prickly. One ready-made dress that I bought is Rayon, I think and feels noticeably hotter when I wear it. It happens to be my Sunday church dress and I come back from church wet with sweat.

The reason this dress has become my church dress is that it is my only dress in blue colours. Most of the Talua women wear a white Mother Hubbard for church on Sunday, but apparently blue is an acceptable alternative. This seems to be only a Talua tradition as women in other churches wear a variety of colours, although often plain colours rather than patterns.

 Children don’t wear the MH dresses much except for Sunday. The girls most often wear skirts and tops and occasionally shorts. Connie was also given a small MH by Mama Helena.  For some reason she has always called them Mother Behubbard dresses, and so hers quickly became a ‘Baby Behubbard’! It is very cute to see her wearing it, but, like mine she finds it hot and prickly and so it doesn’t stay on for much longer than church.

I am wondering if they are made from this material that is a bit coarse so that they can cope with the hard life they get from being hand washed. This is not hand washing, as I have previously known it – literally rubbing with the hands. Every day around the campus you hear the sounds of scrubbing as the mamas and house gels scrub at the clothes on a wooden board with a scrubbing brush. It is pretty hard on the clothes and lots of our stuff will not last the year out. I presume that the situation is similar in the villages where a lot of washing is still done in rivers on stones.

So, is Talua representative of the rest of Vanuatu in its conservative dress style? Well, I can’t really say for the rest of Vanuatu, but from what I’ve seen, times are changing. Around Luganville, our nearest town and 2^nd largest in Vanuatu, I would estimate that 50-75% of older women wear the Island dress. Amongst younger women I would think it would be more common to wear skirts and T-shirts. But for teenagers and young unmarried women it is quite uncommon to see them wearing Island dresses, except at church. Many young women wear long board shorts. I expect that the more remote islands and villages off the beaten track are more conservative, whereas Port Vila is more influenced by its tourist population. We once asked Madelyne if she wears Island Dresses at home and she said that it’s mainly when she’s working at Talua - that’s expected. At home she wears mainly skirts and tops.

We understand that Pasta Fiama the principal of Talua is quite open to modernising the dress code here. His wife isn’t too keen on wearing Island dresses all the time because they are too hot. I have looked and not found any written expectations but I’m sure they are on paper somewhere. Personally, I don’t mind that they are rather unflattering too much, except when I’m feeling particularly hot and bothered. I think a little bit of modesty doesn’t hurt in this age of bare midriffs, low riders, and showing as much bra strap or boxer shorts as you can get away with. But practicality and comfort should be of greater significance.

I have struggled to know what to do about swimming. I want to be modest, and certainly don’t want to embarrass myself or anyone else, but I’ve tried swimming in the dresses and it’s a right pain. The kids thought it was very funny the first time I swam at the reef nearby in one of Rachel’s handed on, slightly too big Island dresses, and ended getting one of the dangly ribbons all caught up in the snorkel I was using. I don’t feel that I am a confident enough swimmer to want any extra weight around me, especially as there is often quite a significant swell. One other time I was wearing a dress in the sea while we were trying to body surf. Jon is sure that wearing the dress helped me to catch some of the waves – acting like a parachute! So much for modesty when the dress ends up around your waist anyway! My most recent practise is to wear a shirt and shorts, wearing a skirt over top to and from the water. This seems to be far more reasonable, and I think that is what most young women wear swimming outside of Talua, with older women swimming in skirts or dresses.  The women do still usually swim in different areas to the men though, so modesty prevails anyway.

I have adopted the practise of wearing a normal skirt and top when we go into town. I think that it is modest enough ( no bare shoulders or short skirts) and doesn’t immediately identify me as a ‘missionary’ – because these are the only Western women who would choose to wear MH’s. Once we all went into town and our visit happened to coincide with a cruise ship visit. Town was swarming with scantily clad Aussie tourists. I was wearing a MH and, while one hand it was something to distinguish us from the tourists, it did make me feel a little self-conscious. More and more I am appreciating a break from wearing the MH anyway, a chance to be a little bit more of an individual.