UHM Celebrates Muʻumuʻu Month with Historic Exhibit Chosen by Waipahu Students

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa opened a student-curated Historic Fashion Collection of vintage muʻumuʻu in Miller Hall, bringing nearly 30 Waipahu High School students into the center of Muʻumuʻu Month and exposing them to career pathways in design, retail and sustainable textiles. The exhibit, which was selected by students and opened on January 18, is on display through the rest of January and showcases garments spanning decades of Hawaiʻi fashion.

The collection includes a 1990s black muʻumuʻu made in Hawaiʻi with a screen-printed pheasant and bamboo motif, a 1980s Mamo muʻumuʻu formerly sold at Carol & Mary featuring Hawaiian quilt designs, a 2000s Hilo Hattie piece with a kapa-like print of honu, hibiscus and monstera leaves, and a 1980s pink muʻumuʻu made in Hawaiʻi with leaves and a white yoke. Those familiar patterns connect island families to remembered wardrobes while illustrating how local design has evolved alongside retail and tourism markets.

The Fashion Design and Merchandising program, housed within the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience, framed the exhibit as part of a wider effort to link Hawaiʻi’s agricultural heritage to modern fashion. “It is our kuleana to help students succeed and find what they want to do in life,” said Fashion Design and Merchandising professor Andy Reilly. “We do this through the lens of fashion. Fashion starts with ‘dirt to shirt’ - from the people growing cotton to those developing new textiles from coffee beans.” The program also introduced students to computer-aided design for fashion under associate professor Ju-Young Kang, allowing digital sketches, textile patterning and three-dimensional visualization before fabric is cut.

Waipahu High School fine arts teacher Alice Iraha emphasized the cultural and career benefits of the project. “I want to expose them to the history of our state and our fashion here in Hawaiʻi,” she said. “I wanted to expose them to the culture and the costumes that we wore here in Hawaiʻi.” Iraha added that learning industry tools can lead students into art, entrepreneurship or retail roles in local markets.

Muʻumuʻu Month began in 2014 when Kauaʻi designer Shannon Hiramoto challenged herself to wear a different vintage muʻumuʻu each day in January. What started as a social movement has become a statewide effort to preserve the garment’s history and keep vintage markets active. For the Big Island economy, cultivating design skills and sustainable material innovation at UHM can feed local apparel entrepreneurship, support value-added agricultural uses and reduce reliance on imported textiles over time.

For readers, the exhibit is an opportunity to view island fashion history while noting how education, culture and commerce intersect. The student-curated collection in Miller Hall offers a tangible example of workforce development in creative industries and a signpost for future collaborations that could expand local design, retail and sustainable textile production.