"This one here, she has so much color but there's some sun damage," she says of the yellow, long-sleeved muu with intricate orange-and-white plumeria lei prints. There's obvious greenish-blue color bleeding at the hem. "People might think these kinds of muu are only good for scrap fabric, but I have sun damage, too! Whether you're a person or a beautiful dress like her, life happens," says Camo. "The damage is part of her story."
The precious muu is next to well-known designer brands like Manuhealii, Nakeu Awai Designs, Mamo Howell and Puamana Crab, along with other homemade muu and thrift store pieces that Camo collected as a teenager-the origin of Camo's Muumuu Library.
"I was always drawn to loud prints and colors," says Camo. "Even as a teenager, I'd see these muu at the thrift stores and I would think, 'Oh my gosh, I have to save her.'" As her personal collection grew, so did a revival of interest in muu through the 2010s. In 2021 she collaborated with the Daughters of Hawaii to start a program called Hoonanea: A Vintage Experience at Queen Emma Summer Palace, where women could borrow a muumuu for a day at the palace. In June 2023 she connected with the Puuhonua Society, a nonprofit that supports artists and Hawaiian cultural practitioners. With their help and support from Na Mea Hawaii, a shop showcasing Native Hawaiian arts, Camo was able to open the Muumuu Library on the first floor of Ward Village in Honolulu.
Marion Camo, seen above with her daughter at the Muumuu Library in Kakaako, where members can make, repair and borrow muumuu.
Down the stairs lies the entrance into a brightly lit room with tables and chairs, sewing machines, materials and patterns—everything you need to create your own muu. The library is a muu lover's safe haven where, for a fee, members can borrow a frock for special occasions, donate their beloved dresses and, on Wednesdays, repair discarded and damaged muu.
"History happens when women gather together, you know," says Camo, referring to the American missionary wives who came to Hawaii wearing high-necked holoku, otherwise known as Mother Hubbard dresses—the predecessors of the muu. "It was that friendship between the missionaries' wives and the alii wahine [chiefly women] that paved the way for them to form the Hawaiian alphabet and written language. Hawaii became the most literate place in the world," she says, pointing to her larger aim in maintaining a library of the Islands' signature dress. "It was through that connection of dressmaking and sewing circles. We want to keep fostering that environment of women coming together, being creative and helping each other. It's actually one of the most powerful things that we can do."
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