Velcro fastened black cloth head band covered with red feathers and yellow bast, with oyster shell decoration.
Donor's notes for E433870 and E433871: "Pare/ head dress & necklace. Consists of imported red feathers (these come from imported feather stoles which come in a range of colours); sometimes the feathers come from feather dusters which have to be taken apart. Saves our local chickens and other birds! Getting feathers from a bird means killing it - messy work. The yellow fibre in the costume is dyed kiri'au (beach hibsicus) bast. The dye used is imported, probably synthetic. Also, carved and polished black lip oyster shell (the same which produces the black pearl). The long white strands at the top of the headdress and also in the bustle at the back of the skirt are rito (immature leaves of the coconut tree which has been cooked & left undyed). The sub-structure of the whole costume was made by Mrs Vaine Clarke (b. 1945), a former dancer, now dance troupe manager (of Ta'akoka Dance Troupe, which has been around for 30 years) & choreographer. She also attached the white Astralium/Turban shells, kiriau, rito & feathers in the headdress, girdle & necklace and bra & she knotted the rope under the bustle. We dismantled about 200 glued-on white shells of foreign type (not present here) from the costume and replaced them with local pupu shells and cowries. The black-lip oyster shells and triangular chips, white cowrie shells, yellow raro ara and pupu rengarenga were attached by me (b. 1964) with the help of my friends Essie Mokotupu (a local, b. 1964) and Shawn Duntz (b.1960), an American visitor whom I befriended (she is staying for 6 months and is volunteering here at the Cl [Cook Islands] Library & Museum Society)."
