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HANDMADE IN UPSTATE NY

MORE MODERN MU'UMU'U

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Woman wearing a sleeveless teal mu'umu'u dress with a disco ball print on the back

FEATURED PRINT

disco

Woman in a modern mu'umu'u dress with bold floral print reclining in front of a bookshelf

FEATURED STYLE

emilie dress

NOW IN STOCK

LIMITED BATCH KAFTANS

Colorful kaftan dress with geometric polka dot print on mannequin, v-neck, loose fit
Kaftan sunrise Sale price$290.00
Woman in water wearing a modern muʻumuʻu dress with colorful geometric Hawaiian print.
Kaftan in rainbow Sale price$290.00
Bright pink, orange, and yellow kaftan with abstract Hawaiian print on mannequin
Kaftan in mango Sale price$290.00
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News

Two women in colorful outfits with text overlay on Pantone website

We were a Spotlight Artist for Pantone in 2024. What an honor for our work to be recognized by the industry standard for color.

Woman in a red and white polka dot muumuu dress standing indoors by tropical mural

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.

anatomy of a dress

Print dress on a mannequin with text labels showing its features on a gray background
Print dress on a mannequin with text labels showing its features on a gray background
Watteau Dress showcasing back view with cascading pleats and on-seam pockets, hits at knee.
Origami Dress displayed on a mannequin showcasing its open back, maxi length, and architectural pleats.
Collage of women wearing colorful modern muumuu dresses and Hawaiian prints outdoors

see us in irl -- IN REAL LIFE

from our journal

Art Direction, behind the scenes

Art Direction, behind the scenes

Behind the scenes from our Charlot House shoot in Honolulu. We made a whole deck. We described it at length. And then somehow, it actually looked exactly like what we imagined. Straight magic.

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All the Wrong Reasons

All the Wrong Reasons

New plans for this year. We are bad at quitting. Is it stupidity or genius, you decide.

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Alewa: History in a Print and a Pleat

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...

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Outdoor seating area with chairs and a disco ball, leading to a rack with hanging clothes.

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.

Colorful silk scarf with mosaic tile print draped on dress form, modern wearable art

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.