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anatomy of a dress
News
Read our manifesto on this durable continuum of a dress called Mu’umu’u - a garment recognized by its vibrant prints and relationship to Hawaiian identity.
We were a Spotlight Artist for Pantone in 2024. What an honor for our work to be recognized by the industry standard for color.
How our dresses are are informed by history but built for the twenty-first century. And we love pockets. We explain it all in The Rules.
from our journal
Alewa: History in a Print and a Pleat
the strangely anachronistic watteau pleat persists on the modern holokū form. Its stubborn resilience intrigued me. I knew it must have some strong semiotic meaning to survive unaltered for 200 yea...
Rainbows: the Original Hawaiian Supergraphic
I have a tendency to overthink things. I decided I needed to make a simple print. I was hoping for a “banger” print. So I decided to work with rainbows.
Please see Pareo Part I and Part II for context. At long last I have found an original fragment of one of the pareu prints that I couldn’t find in any collection - only in photographs being worn...
more modern mu'umu'u
Language of the Birds makes print driven, ethical clothes. We were founded in Honolulu and our studio is now an unheated barn in Upstate NY. We design all our prints. We cut and sew our dresses in the US.
our prints
We are concept driven and our development may span years. We love history and embrace a research heavy process. Our prints are held in a museum collection and our work has been recognized by Pantone.
our dresses
We tie our lineage back to the history of feminism and the “reform dress.” We take the essence of historic Mu’umu’u forms and make them modern. Forms are suitable for all types of work and play.