Can anyone help me ID what this print may be on the Hawaiian Shirt

[poppysvintageclothing]

I keep wondering what this print is supposed to be of...if you can help out, it would be appreciated. Is it some sort of fan? It makes me think a bit of Indonesian Batik, but I honestly am stumped with this one.

 

[amandainvermont]

Makes me think of abstract honeycomb. ???

 

[catseyevintage]

Does the shirt have a label? What fabric is it? It looks like it may be from somewhere other than Hawaii?

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

Sorry, Debbie, you cannot make it out from the photo, but it is from Honolulu, it is on the label on the lower right corner. I cannot get back into etsy at the moment to check on the fabric content. Etsy is down for me right now.

 

[lkranieri]

The brown design seems to have drawn its inspiration from tapa cloth designs. Assuming that might be so, it seems reasonable to find a Hawaiian shirt with allusions to a traditional native craft/art.

 

[The Vintage Merchant]

reminds me of a fly swatter. not familiar with Capt David. interesting. the long collar points have me thinking 70s on this one.

love those cool petroglyph buttons.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

Thanks, Lynne. I looked into tapa cloth, quite the process to make from the mulberry tree. Native to the Pacific islands including Hawaii, so that may well be the inspiration.

Thanks, Amanda....It does have nice buttons, Mary and yes definitely 70s.

 

[laurenm]

My first thoughts were woven wicker birdcage or broom.

 

[catseyevintage]

How strange - the bottom three pictures showing the button and label didn't show for me earlier. I had thought it might be Jamacian or even an Africian wax print, but apparently not.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

Debbie, the photo was there, it was just that I forgot to enlarge the photo here and left it as a thumbnail.

 

[Midge]

Seeing that pattern made me think of Lapita pottery (Lapita where prehistoric people in the South Pacific - ancestors of Polynesians etc.), which featured fine geometric patterns - but then geometric patterns also show up on tapa cloths. I saw some Lapita pottery last year in a museum and found it fascinating how fine and regular the patterns were.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

It is a polyester...so it appears it is just a print and not actually a depiction of some sort of object.

Glad I posted about it as I had never heard of tapa fabric before and so I watched some YouTube videos of the whole process.
Loads of work to make the real fabric - interesting stuff.

 

[BonniesVintageClothesLine]

Boy, I can sure see why you were stumped on this pattern, MJ! I agree with Lynne. It does resemble tapa cloth inspiration on this shirt. But, Mary is correct, too. I also see that fly swatter!!!

 

[retro ruth]

My first thoughts were woven wicker birdcage or broom.

I saw broom as well

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

The problem with it being a broom or fly swatter is that the handled part is super short.

 

[catseyevintage]

When I visited the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, they had a large exhibit regarding suspected travel and movement between the Hawaiian islands and other islands, as far away as New Zealand and Fuji and the Carribean. They believe ideas did travel between the different islands.

 

[anothertimevintageapparel]

I thought it was more of a hand fan or a depiction of an island shape?