At some point, coconut bras and grass skirts became synonymous with Hawaii. Movies, TV and advertisements have used the iconic image of a hula girl dressed in this garb as a symbol of Hawaii.

The misconceptions come from the way Hawaii is marketed and presented to outsiders. Travelers, who see vacation brochures with photos of grass skirts, coconut bras, Samoan fire-knife dancing and ...

Did Hawaiian dancers traditionally wear grass skirts? Illustration by Salina Perera Did Hawaiian dancers traditionally wear grass skirts? Christopher Maurer | Lacey, Washington Pacific Islanders ...

With her flower crown and grass skirt, the hula girl has ... We never danced with cellophane skirts and coconut bras.” Hawaiian cultural organizations are now reclaiming and safeguarding a ...

coconut bras and plastic leis. Think Blue Hawaii, a 1961 Elvis movie, or the Brady Bunch's ill-fated trip to the islands, complete with a Tiki curse and Alice in a grass skirt. Until recently ...

Brown said Hawaiian hula dancers most likely started wearing them in performances while traveling on the U.S. mainland vaudeville circuit. The skirts ... clear where coconut bras came from ...

His father, Sadrian, was among a group that traveled from Hawaii to perform. In American entertainment, hula is often reduced to “coconut bras and grass skirts,” Kaimana Chee said, but the ...

By around 1915, Hawaiian music was outselling all other recorded music in the U.S., and Hawaiian performers were in high demand at venues ranging from small-town theaters to Broadway stages.