Woman’s ceremonial tube skirt (lau pahikung hiamba)

Before western clothing was imported to the islands of eastern Indonesia, women wore long tube skirts that could be folded above the breast or at the waist. On the island of Sumba most skirts were dark colored and undecorated. Royal women (and on rare occasions their servants) were the only ones allowed to wear garments decorated with ikat and supplementary weft, like these tube skirts. Up until at least the 1930s these cloths were exclusively produced by noblewomen as well.

The raised white areas of the cloth are examples of a technique of supplementary warp weaving that can be found in a few other areas of Indonesia, but nowhere with as extensive and complex patterning as in Sumba. The patterns are the intellectual property of the weavers and kept on carefully guarded pattern guides.

Skirts like this were exchanged in great numbers during weddings and at funerals. Guests would bring textiles as gifts, and as many as a hundred could be exchanged at ceremonies for high-ranking people. After a funeral, the textiles would be distributed among the family of the deceased. The excellent condition of these two pieces suggest they were never worn, just used in ceremonial exchanges. The skirt on the far right was made by the queen of Pau in East Sumba.