magazine top









Flower on her side-hair


'A hair ornament of hibiscus' makes me remember Hawaiian model, Agnes Lum. She was also popular as a pin-up girl in Japan, the 1970s. Her sexy shots in bikini attracted men's eyes, at least my eyes. But when I check her pictures now, can't find so much photos with the flower. Memory can be exaggerated in the mind.


Sorry for describing with the personal memory. Imaging costume of Hawaiian hula dancer must be a better example. The woman put tropical flower on her side-hair. You may also find same kind of flower ornaments on the women in welcome ukulele band when you arrive on a Polynesian airport.
I thought the flower on the side-hair was a kind of prop which show up Polynesian culture. Not for everyday life but for the show biz.


However I often came across women with the flower ornament when I walked downtown in Samoa. So I thought "There are so many tourism related people in the country" But as I spent days there, I noticed how the flower ornament was actually wore. High school students or older, women put the flower on the side-hair when they go out. In the end, I knew it's an authentic style of Samoan women.
The flower was sometime artificial at the other time real. In Hawaii putting side was depend on whether married or not, I read later. Although in Samoa, looked like there was no exact rules about the side.


The thing which I was the most impressed was a sequence of actions that Samoan woman took a flower in the garden and put it on the side-hair before going out. Never hesitate to choose and put it on perfect position without hand mirror.
It's neither expensive jelly nor artist's craftworks but a wild flower. It must be an identity as Samoan, or Polynesian, who live with island nature.


Then I sang a phrase of Agnes Lam's Japanese number 'Downtown after the rain'.



May 2019


Today's piece
" Portrait "  Maninoa, Samoa  2019

Polynesia vol.1




fumikatz osada photographie