Love Island USA is the current cultural talk of the town. From friendship to tattoos, everyone has something to say about the latest season of the popular dating show. But what has everyone talking once more about this show is Amaya's Muʻumuʻu or “mumu” as it's often spelled. When she stepped into the villa wearing the flowy garment during episode 28, she didn’t just make a fashion statement, she pulled the entire internet into a deep frenzy. Online creators applauded her for her use of the popular dress, which notably is seen as a house dress in American culture. It also has deep cultural history across many groups of people, which is why most of the internet was talking about it. And while there are so many variations of this dress throughout varying cultures, many people aren’t fully aware of its roots. Below we’re diving into the deep history of what the internet is referring to as “Amaya’s mumu dress.”
The Original Muʻumuʻu
The muʻumuʻu originated in the 19th century when Christian missionaries in Hawaii encouraged native Hawaiian women to adopt looser, more modest clothing. What began as the “holokū,” a floor-length, high-necked gown, evolved into the muʻumuʻu: a shorter, more casual offshoot with a relaxed silhouette, no yoke, and fluttery sleeves. For Native Hawaiians, the muʻumuʻu became a garment of both daily practicality and cultural expression. They were often made from bright, floral fabrics and passed down between generations. Today, it remains a staple at Hawaiian celebrations like luʻaus, graduations, and weddings, and a wearable artifact of cultural pride and storytelling.
The Kaftan and it's Coloquillized Renaming
While the muʻumuʻu is rooted in Hawaiian tradition, its silhouette and spirit have also found a lasting home in Latin and Black American households, especially through the use of a “house dress.” In the South and across the diaspora, loose, floral-print dresses became a daily uniform for grandmothers, aunties, and matriarchs. The look was popularly worn while cooking, cleaning, or lounging around. Often passed down or bought from local markets, these dresses offered ease, practicality, and a stylish indoor outfit. And while the outfit is officially known as a Kaftan, Western culture has taken on a new name casually, referring to it as a “mumu” or “moomoo.”
The kaftan holds its own as a centuries-old garment that has crossed continents and cultures. Originating in ancient Mesopotamia and later popularized in Ottoman Turkey, Morocco, and West Africa, kaftans were long worn by royalty and commoners alike — marked by flowing sleeves, ornate fabrics, and regal structure. By the 1960s and ’70s, kaftans became a symbol of Afrocentric pride and diasporic identity among Black Americans, especially during the civil rights and Black Power movements. Icons like Diana Ross, Andre Leon Talley, Maya Angelou, and everyday church women wore them to reclaim cultural roots and to embody elegance with resistance. While the kaftan is not the same as the muʻumuʻu, their fashion DNA shares a deep reverence for comfort, grace, and lineage.
Grandma-Core Meets Love Island
In the episode of Love Island USA, Amaya refers to her kaftan dress as a “grandma dress” which awoke the internet fashion trend lovers. The TikTok “grandma-core” took over our “for you page” for months, so with Amaya referring to the mumu as such, we’re bound to see a resurgence in the grandma core trend with a kaftan twist. And while her exact dress is not available, it’s quite easy to find a few similar options online.
For Amaya, her “grandma dress” might have just been a cute outfit, but for viewers, it was a moment. Paired with her natural curls and glowing skin, it echoed the Island Girl aesthetic in the most literal and aspirational sense.
