Collection item
Bodice & underskirt with tāniko design
Renowned master weaver, Emily Schuster, designed and made this bodice and underskirt. It was worn with a piupiu, that is now missing. It was worn by Linda Ritchie at the Miss Universe Contest in Miami in 1972. On her return journey to New Zealand the piupiu was stolen at Heathrow Airport. Linda recalls: "Because I was from Rotorua and a world of Māoridom I chose to wear it. Emily Schuster wanted me to wear it. She fine-tuned it, made me a bodice and underskirt, it still conveyed were I came from." Emily's son Jim Schuster told Rotorua Museum that his mother created a special shaping for the bodice of this garment in order to give a sexy look to the cleavage. Traditionally the tāniko bodices on Māori garments were meant to be flat and not shaped.
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