Muumuu
- Mumu redirects to this page. For the Mumu computer worm, see Mumu (computer worm).This word can also be spelled "moo-moo".
The muʻumuʻu (more often spelled as muumuu, muu-muu or mumu) is a loose dress of Hawaiian origin that hangs from the shoulder. Like the Aloha shirt, muʻumuʻu exports are often brilliantly colored with floral patterns of generic Polynesian motifs. Muʻumuʻu for local Hawaiʻi residents are more subdued in tone. Muʻumuʻu are not as widely worn at work as the aloha shirt, but may be worn as a uniform by women working in the hotel industry. Muʻumuʻu are also popular as maternity gowns because they do not restrict the waist.
Etymology and history
The word muʻumuʻu means cut-off or amputated. Originally it was a shorter, informal version of the more formal holokū. Holokū was the original name for the Mother Hubbard dress introduced by Protestant missionaries to Hawai'i in the 1820s and 1830s. The holokū featured long sleeves and a floor-length unfitted dress falling from a high-necked yoke. Over the years, the holokū approximated more closely to European and American fashions, as worn by the Hawaiian chieftesses. It might have a fitted waist, and even a train for evening. As the holokū became more elaborate, the muʻumuʻu, a shortened version, became popular for informal wear.
In popular culture
- The cartoon character Zippy always wears a yellow muumuu with red polka dots.
- In The Simpsons cartoon series episode "King-Size Homer", Homer Simpson wears a muʻumuʻu after becoming more obese than he usually is.
- In The West Wing episode "The U.S. Poet Laureate", there is a classic scene in which Josh describes the moderator of a fansite devoted to him as "a dictatorial leader who I'm sure wears a muumuu and chainsmokes Parliaments".
- Jon Fishman, drummer from the jam-rock group Phish, is often seen wearing a muʻumuʻu while playing, as he feels it lets him move freely.
- Pleakly, an alien from Lilo and Stitch, often wears it.
- In the fifth book of the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, imp Nº1 wears a muumuu and a bonnet to conceal his true identity from humans.
- In Married... With Children most fat people are described by Al Bundy as wearing a mumu.
- In the cartoon Daria, the recurring character Mrs. Johanssen was a massively obese, hypoglycemic woman who was only ever seen wearing a muumuu.
External links
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