An idle stroll on a busy market day in Apia and one will undoubtedly be accosted by a street vendor trying to sell you an elei lavalava.
This elei patterned lavalava or shirt material was a part-time hobby by a few elderly women to earn a few sene to supplement their meagre incomes.
An incidental death of a senior pastor who presided over a funeral service that I attended, radically changed this hobby into a fully-fledged hot selling item for many businesses in the Samoan clothing industry.
This funeral service of a dignitary was conducted in a Congregational Christian Church of Samoa church.
It lasted over five hours of boring eulogies on a very hot afternoon.
Then men all wore black coats with shirts and ties and the women wore long dresses that reached down to their ankles and wearing hats to cover their faces – these were outward signs of super holiness in the House of God.
At the post funeral feast that followed, the presiding pastor directed another pastor to say grace, then whispered to me, “I have to change, I am feeling unwell, I am thoroughly wet from sweat.”
He walked away for only 20 yards then collapsed and died.
This incident became a cause for a formal dress code directive from the government.
Weeks later I announced publicly, the first National Dress Code for all Government functions: Either the existing coat, shirt and tie OR an elei shirt/dress of any colour, with the Teuila (ginger) flower, declared as the National Flower of Samoa, printed with the word “Samoa” beneath the Teuila as an indicator of ownership.
As usual in a lively democracy, opposition focused on the school uniform nature of the elei based dress code.
The elei dress/shirt or just clothing material has become the most popular gift item of choice.
Other Pacific Islands have all popularized the elei material for their stylish dress/shirt designs.
The elei clothing material comes in many different colours for any purpose intended wear.
In my memoire “Palemia” I dedicated the choice of the elei for the National Dress Code to the late Vaovasamanaia Rapi Filo, my Police Security who casually suggested the use of the elei after Cabinet rejected all the 15 designs submitted by a Minister who spent 6 months working on this project.
Our players at all International Competitions now wear the elei blue shirt/dress, the national dress code and national colour of Samoa with the Teuila, the National Flower of Samoa.
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
Leader of HRPP