On any given sunny beach day whether it’s California, Florida, the Gulf Coast or here in Hawaii, you can see a young girl or woman wearing a beautiful cover up, commonly known as a sarong. For that matter any beach or swimming pool in the world, Australia, South America, Bahamas, or Mexico you can find someone wearing a sarong. These colorful sarongs make for beautiful swimsuit wraps, bikini wraps or beach wear.
No matter where in the world you are from or what you call them, sarongs, pareaus, lavalavas, saris, pareos or just plain “wraps”, sarongs are the most comfortable cover-ups that any girl or woman can wear at the beach, pool, lake or river. Here in Hawaii, the local girls not only use the sarongs as a beach wrap, but the sarong doubles as a beach blanket and towel.
Basically sarongs are long pieces of cloth, usually around 66 inches wide by 46 inches long. Sarongs are often wrapped around the waist and worn by men and women throughout the world. Depending on what part of the world you are from or visiting, sarongs have many names. In Samoa they are called lavalavas, in Eastern Africa it is called a kanga, a malong in the Philippines, in Fiji a sulu, in Tahiti a pareo or pareu, and here in Hawaii the traditional name is the kikepa.
Sarongs can come in many colors and prints. Here in Hawaii, floral prints with the Hibiscus or Plumeria flower are popular. Ocean theme prints are also in abundance, with sarongs printed with dolphins, fish, shells, and the most popular, turtles or as they are called, honu (the Hawaiian word for turtle).
Of course, sarongs come in many other print designs: geometric, checkered, animal designs and even solid colors to name a few. The solid color sarongs, especially the solid black sarong make it easier for women of all ages to accent that hard to match one-piece swimsuit or two-piece bikini. Many hula dancers and contemporary dancers love to wear solid color sarongs for practice as well as dance competitions.
The fabric can be either cotton or rayon, with rayon sarongs being the most popular here in Hawaii and elsewhere. In fact, when the rayon sarongs were introduced in Hawaii, girls that never wore a pareau or lavalava (the two most common terms in Hawaii for a beach wrap) started wearing a rayon sarong. Because of this the popularity of sarong grew even more.
In a little bit of history trivia, sarongs became very popular in America during the 1940’s due to one person: Dorothy Lamour. In 1936 this beautiful actress wore a sarong in the role as Ulah (a female Tarzan) in the movie Jungle Princess. The sarong became a trademark of Dorothy Lamour as she wore a sarong in many of her 1940’s “Road to…..” pictures starring opposite Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
Sarongs are so multi-functional that they can be worn as skirts (long or short), or dresses. On a cool evening sarongs can be worn as a shawl. They can be worn at either an informal or formal gathering. Here in Hawaii you can see women wearing sarongs everywhere. Besides wearing a sarong as a swimsuit cover up, you can see women wearing them for a quick run to the grocery store or fast food restaurant.
Sarongs are a favorite for many of Hawaii’s outdoor weddings. Whether it be at a beach or one of the many parks or scenic venues in Hawaii you will find the bride and her bridesmaids wearing sarongs during the wedding ceremony.
To further prove it’s versatility, many homes and apartments in Hawaii are adorned with sarongs as curtains, table covers, or table runners. Sarongs also make great picnic blankets and baby blankets. When we travel my wife never leaves home without at least 3 or 4 sarongs. She always has them in her carry on luggage and I’m sure happy for that as they make great lap blankets on those cold airline flights to the mainland.
As you can see sarongs are flexible in their use. Because of this every woman should have a sarong. So now I’ve given you a little bit of information about sarongs. I’ve expanded your knowledge a bit and in my next posting I’ll have some information regarding how sarongs are made and how to tie a sarong.
Tags: bali sarongs, beach sarongs, beach wear, beach wrap, bikini wraps, cover-ups, dresses, hawaiian wear, how to tie a sarong, hula, lavalavas, pareaus, pareos, pareus, sarongs, shawl, skirts, solid black sarong, swimsuit wraps, wedding dresses
February 13, 2008 at 3:52 am
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