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grass_skirt
📅 Updated:2026-08-10
🕒 Created:2015-10-11
🆔 ID:8879
Description
Generally, "grass skirt" is an umbrella term to refer to skirts made out of plant fibers. While their common name includes "grass", they can also be made of other material such as leaves, reeds and tree bark.
Grass skirts are most commonly associated with hula, having roots when hula dancers were performing in the mainland United States wore grass skirts in vaudeville performances in the early 20th century due to the lack of the more authentically used ti leaf skirts from Hawaii. This image endured in American pop culture and most depictions of hula dancers in media are depicted wearing grass skirts. As a result, grass skirts are intertwined with tiki culture.
Despite the association with hula, grass skirts have independently emerged across many cultures in the tropics. They are most commonly associated with the Pacific and it's subcultures of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. Grass skirts are also worn by some indigenous peoples living in South America and Africa. This association with the tropics has made grass skirts a sort of "catch all" garment for any tropical dwelling people in fictional media, despite being relatively uncommon in real life, where most indigenous peoples would wear textile clothing.
