The Art Of Traditional Pareo Wrapping In Bora Bora

The paréo — a single rectangle of printed cloth — is one of the most recognisable symbols of French Polynesia, yet it is also one of the most misunderstood. The word itself was first written down with its current spelling by Pierre Loti in 1880, according to the Dictionnaire historique de la langue française (Le Robert, 2022, p. 1787), but the garment it describes is far older than any European account. In Bora Bora, the paréo (or pareu in Tahitian) is not a beach accessory reserved for tourists. It is a large, flowing cloth worn daily by both men and women, tied in ways that range from practical workwear to formal ceremony. At the InterContinental Bora Bora Le Moana Resort, hosts demonstrate these tying techniques as part of broader handicraft presentations, offering visitors a direct look at how a single piece of fabric can replace an entire wardrobe. This article covers the history, cultural significance, and practical wrapping methods of the paréo in Bora Bora, and explains why understanding it changes how you experience the island.

That timeline — from a Tahitian daily garment to a European fashion sensation in under fifty years — reveals how thoroughly the paréo was reshaped by outside expectations. The version sold in resort gift shops today is a descendant of that 1934 two-piece swimsuit collection, not a direct line from pre-contact Polynesia. But the cloth itself has older roots. In New Caledonia, a similar garment is called a manou, a loincloth tied around the waist and covering from hips to knees or ankles, differentiated from the paréo mainly by its colours and patterns. In Southeast Asia, the equivalent is the sarong. The paréo is one of several regional variations on an ancient idea: a single piece of wrapped cloth as the foundation of daily dress.

The Paréo and Ma’ohi Cultural Context

The indigenous people of Bora Bora are Ma’ohi Polynesian, and their culture places profound value on hospitality and communal sharing (‘ōrero). The paréo fits into this framework as a garment that is both personal and communal — given as gifts, shared between family members, and worn in ways that signal social status, marital availability, or participation in ceremony. Traditional Polynesian society was organised around the concepts of mana (spiritual power and prestige) and tapu (sacred prohibition). Chiefs (ari’i) held high mana, and the cloth they wore — including the paréo — carried that spiritual weight. Today, the garment has largely lost that sacred association, but it remains an important marker of Polynesian identity.

What a visitor will actually notice in Bora Bora is how casually locals wear the paréo compared to tourists. A resort guest might fumble with a complicated knot for ten minutes. A local woman can wrap one in under thirty seconds while holding a conversation. The difference is practice, not complexity. There are roughly a dozen standard tying methods, and most Polynesians learn three or four as children. The cloth itself is typically cotton or a cotton-synthetic blend, printed with floral patterns, geometric motifs, or designs inspired by traditional tattoo symbols like shark teeth (niho mano) and ocean waves (ara moana). Authenticity in a paréo is less about the fabric and more about the print — locally designed patterns use colours and motifs tied to specific islands.

Where to See and Buy Paréos in Bora Bora

The main city of Vaitape is the commercial centre, and from the InterContinental Bora Bora Le Moana Resort, guests have easy access to its shops. Vaitape includes souvenir shops, a supermarket, art galleries, and tattoo artists, along with snack shops and restaurants. Most souvenir shops stock paréos priced between 1,500 and 5,000 CFP francs (roughly $15–$50 USD), depending on fabric quality and whether the print is locally designed. The cheaper options are mass-produced in China and sold across the South Pacific. The higher-end ones are printed in Tahiti and use designs specific to the Society Islands. You can tell the difference by the label: Tahitian-printed paréos will say “Fabriqué en Polynésie française” and often include the name of the designer or workshop.

For a more immersive experience, several major hotels in French Polynesia, including those on Bora Bora, host demonstrations on how to knot a paréo. These are usually free for guests and last about thirty minutes. The knotting styles taught are the beachwear versions — the ones that correspond to what a visitor would actually wear poolside or to dinner. What is rarely shown is the working wrap: a thigh-length knot worn by men fishing from the reef, or the shoulder-cover style women use when entering a church on Sunday (when many local businesses close and services are taken seriously). If you are interested in those, you will need to ask specifically, and the host may or may not know them. The resort demonstrations are designed for tourists, and they reflect what tourists want — not the full range of Polynesian wrapping techniques.

Practical Wrapping Styles and How to Learn Them

There is no single correct way to tie a paréo, but there are a handful of styles that appear again and again in Bora Bora. The most common is the basic hip wrap: fold the cloth in half lengthwise, hold it behind your waist, bring the ends to the front, twist them, and tuck. This takes about fifteen seconds once you have done it twice. The second most common is the halter-neck dress style, which involves tying the top corners behind the neck and wrapping the lower portion around the waist. This one requires more fabric and is typically used with larger paréos (roughly 1.5 metres by 1 metre). The third is the one-shoulder dress, which involves knotting two corners at one shoulder and wrapping the rest diagonally across the body.

Resort demonstrations teach these three styles almost exclusively. They do not teach the men’s loincloth wrap (which is shorter and tighter, designed for physical activity) or the shoulder-cape style worn over a dress to church. Those are considered either too niche or too casual for the tourist audience. If you want to learn them, your best option is to ask a local guide or a staff member who grew up on the island. Many will oblige if you show genuine interest, but expect to be taught in Tahitian or French — the English vocabulary for wrapping techniques is limited.

History and Global Journey of the Paréo

The paréo as the world knows it did not originate in Polynesia. It was born in Paris. Paul Gauguin immortalised Tahitian cloth in his paintings between 1891 and 1903, but it was the journalist Titaÿna (Élisabeth Sauvy-Tisseyre) who introduced the garment to the Tout-Paris during a conference on Tahitian women at the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro in 1929. Five years later, the great couturier Jacques Heim launched his collection of two-piece swimsuits and matching paréos in 1934, described in Vogue Magazine (July 1934, pp. 28-29) as the “Heim sarong.” Dorothy Lamour, later called “the sarong girl,” wore the paréo in the 1936 film The Jungle Princess, cementing its association with the beach, the South Seas, and the eroticised pin-up girl.

The Club Méditerranée, starting in the 1950s, made the paréo one of its symbols. The idea came from Claudine Blitz, the second wife of founder Gérard Blitz, who had spent time in Tahiti in the 1940s. She also introduced the greeting of members with flower necklaces, imitating Tahitian arrival customs. The “gentils organisateurs” (GOs) wore the paréo, and the “gentils membres” (GMs) bought it in the Club’s stores. This is the direct ancestor of the resort gift-shop paréo sold in Bora Bora today. It is a garment that has been mediated by European fashion, Hollywood cinema, and mass tourism — but that does not erase its Polynesian roots. It complicates them.

Frequently Asked Questions About Paréos in Bora Bora

Is the paréo a traditional Tahitian garment?

Yes and no. The concept of a wrapped cloth garment is ancient in Polynesia, but the specific paréo sold in Bora Bora today was shaped by 1930s European fashion and Hollywood films. The cloth and the knotting methods are Tahitian; the marketing and the context are not.

Can men wear paréos in Bora Bora?

Yes. The paréo is worn by both men and women in daily Polynesian life, though the tying styles differ. Men typically use a shorter, tighter wrap around the hips. In resort settings, men wearing paréos is less common but not unusual.

What is the difference between a paréo and a sarong?

The terms are often used interchangeably by tourists, but they refer to different regional garments. The paréo is the Tahitian version, printed with Polynesian designs. The sarong is its Southeast Asian equivalent. In New Caledonia, the same garment is called a manou.

Are the paréos sold in Bora Bora made locally?

Many are mass-produced in China and imported. To find a Tahitian-printed paréo, look for labels that say “Fabriqué en Polynésie française.” The smaller boutiques in Vaitape are more likely to carry locally designed prints than the larger souvenir stores.

Why did the paréo become associated with tourism?

Club Méditerranée adopted the paréo as a uniform for its staff in the 1950s, and the garment became a symbol of the South Seas holiday. The association was reinforced by Hollywood films and fashion magazines from the 1930s onward. The tourist paréo is a genuine Tahitian garment, but it arrived at the resort through a circuitous path.

Beyond the Beach Wrap

The paréo is not a single object with a single meaning. It is a Tahitian working garment, a French fashion accessory, a Hollywood costume, and a resort souvenir — all at once. Understanding that layered history does not diminish the experience of buying one in Vaitape or learning to tie it at a hotel demonstration. It makes the cloth heavier with context. The same paréo that covers a tourist’s shoulders at a resort dinner might have been printed from a design inspired by traditional tattoo motifs, tied in a style popularised by a 1930s Parisian couturier, and sold by a shopkeeper whose grandfather wore a different version of the same garment while fishing the reef. That is not a contradiction. That is how culture moves. For a deeper look at how Polynesian traditions persist through material objects, read about cultural heritage in palm leaf weaving.

Sources and further reading

Handicrafts and shopping at InterContinental Bora Bora Le Moana Resort. InterContinental Hotels Group.

Paréo — encyclopedic entry on the garment’s history and global spread. GIS Études Touristiques.

Bora Bora natives: culture, language, and traditions. Far and Away Adventures.