She’s a beauty pageant queen and the first Cook Islander to walk the Miss Universe stage, but Carmena Wong has taken those 80s memories and flipped them into a 2025 pageant walk celebrating the flair, fashion and x-factor of Cook Islands women over 55.

The title of Mama Rauti Para, which literally translates into the ripe leaves of a culturally valued ti-plant, is more than a pageant for the hundreds of Cook Islanders who have cheered on their family matriarchs amongst close to 50 pageant contestants over the last three events.

The latest Mama Rauti Para, crowned on the weekend in Auckland, is 69 year old Tuainekore Taripo Kura.

The concept began in 2018 shortly after Carmena and family migrated to Auckland, where her mum Rosie Blake was serving as the Cook Islands Consular General. Through Blake’s work, “I just witnessed and appreciated all that our elders, and especially our mamas, do here in the community. I saw how they supported and were always there for the work that had to be done. I wanted to give back and honour them ... it’s just turned into an event that owes so much to the team of volunteers and all our sponsors, who have helped to make this a night to remember for our mamas.”

Carmena says the tickets tend to be snapped up by families and community supporters as the word spreads amongst the “coconut wireless”, with a focus on a quality experience that puts the comfort of the competitors first.  

For the newly crowned Mama Rauti Para, the news of her win is still sinking in. Sharing from her living room, surrounded by her gift swags and sponsorship prizes and still taking calls from well-wishers and friends, Mama Tuainekore is emotional over her win.

She shares on the design and tailoring as it took shape and was helped along by her support team, Helen Boaza and Naomi Perfect.

“I spent a month or so working on the main Pomare dress, and I was not ‘sitting right’ with it - there was something I wanted to fix, or check or add,” she recalls. She chose to go with more subdued and classic colours, honouring the traditional materials and colour blocks of the Pomare gowns captured in black and white archives.

“The iti (lace, usually broderie anglaise) is a big part of the dress, and I had to work on where it goes, the fabric layers, the neckline and the sleeves, I was working on it until it just felt right.”

Two black bias bands are the only contrast colour in the Pomare garment, says Mama Tuainekore – in remembrance of her brothers, music legends John Lindsay, who passed in 2021, and Tom, who passed in 2018.

Other than the stories in every stitch, what tells the contestants their gown is ready? For all wearers, the words are the same, says Tuainekore: “I feel beautiful.”

The beginning

It’s estimated more than 100,000 Cook Islanders live outside their nation, and up to 95 per cent of that diaspora are in New Zealand and Australia. For the world’s largest Polynesian city, Carmena says the ways in which Cook Islands mamas come together across Auckland and the rest of the country to create unpaid wrap-around aroa for churches, fundraising, youth and visiting delegations, inspired her.

Many of those in their mid-50s and older have spent decades raising Cook Islanders who have not had the cultural context of the homeland to support language and te akono'anga Māori while living the urban life of being Pasifika minorities in New Zealand.

“Watching the mamas here, I thought of how even at home, with anything that happens, they’re always in the background. When you think about our pa metua, our grandparents and our mamas, they’re at home. They’re doing such a thankless job. They never ask for much. They’re always there when we want them, and they’re never out in the limelight,” explains Carmena.

“I wanted to do something to give love back and show our thanks for our elders who play such a big role in our lives. We have to take time (to) appreciate them and say thank you, as much as we can, while we still have them with us.”

The idea of an event with a focus on celebrating garments unique to the Cooks, through a pageant for Cook Islands mamas, started to form. “I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to do something that we can celebrate them and say ‘thank you’ to them, but also for them to come out and spend one day out of their busy lives, to actually be the showcase and be in the limelight, while at the same time looking after them and making sure they’re in their comfort zone and enjoying the experience.”

From watching and observing the gatherings attended by Mama Rosie, and chats with a support team of family and friends that remain with the event to this day, the first pageant was born.

Rauti pi, rauti para

“I looked at what makes our mamas shine, and it came through in what we wear when we gather. What better way to celebrate our mamas than getting out there and wearing something that they love because they’ve designed it or sewn it, or both,” shares Carmena.

While the TAV dress is the most iconic Cook Islands label and front of mind for generations of women across the Pacific, just over a century before the mid 80s, there was the pona Taiti, or the Pomare gown, a top to toe Tahitian take on the Missionary mother hubbard dresses named after royalty which was also modelled by Cook Islands ariki, and came to convey beauty and grace for the wearer.

The name rauti para represents the ripe or mature rau-ti, or ti-leaf which denotes respect and mana as part of public gatherings in the Cook Islands. It’s a vital part of garlanding and traditional wear during cultural events including dance, graduation, investitures and ceremonial welcomes, particularly for the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. In the Cook Islands, it’s also a term used in jest and song, with rauti-pi referencing societal reference to youth and virility as per the younger plants being green/red supple and smooth, and rauti-para being the elders as per the ripe, larger, matured ti-leaf.

The love of jest and song, the cultural significance of the rauti, and the connotation of age, provided a phrase that decided the first event in 2018, says Carmena.

“We asked a group of ladies if they would be interested in the journey, and as soon as the communities heard what we wanted to do and the idea of celebrating these ladies and their skills, their dresses, for something that was all about them, the generosity poured in, the love came in, it was amazing,” recalls Carmena.

With her team of volunteers in tow, the work of organising the 2018 and 2019 events began. With almost 25 mamas signed up, the stage was set and then as now, the winner of the night will be crowned wearing her Pomare design.

Another benefit of the event has been the confidence boost for the mamas, often shy during the update preparations and nervous at being in the limelight. “We work with them on these skills in practice like any other pageant, so they know and are comfortable with the whole idea of being celebrated.”

Covid in 2020 brought the still emerging pageant to a stop – and the organising team have been reluctant since then to bring it back over worries for elders and community rates of Covid still being high, despite the reopened borders.

“We came out of Covid but front of mind was the risk of all kinds of bugs for our elders – I knew we would have to wait a few years while immunity and getting out and about would not be an issue for our mamas,” says Carmena.

Judging

The 2025 pageant has marked the comeback of the event, and popularity is growing amongst sponsors of gifts and prizes. A growing list of donors and corporate sponsors ensures all contestants are gifted, even if not all are winners for the two key mu'umu'u categories recognising design, tailoring, and modelling excellence for two dresses – the Purotu Pareu design which invites a more contemporary and trending flair, and the Pomare traditional design, celebrating the adaptation of the missionary style mother hubbards to a Tahitian-influenced national gown.

Enter Cook Islands creative with a strong Tahiti lineage, Valerie Taruia-Pora. She’s watched the efforts of initiating and growing the Mama Rauti Para pageant, and says she has seen the influences and journeys led by the designers and the mamas themselves, since 2018. Valerie, whose hand painted glassware is part of all the swag packs for all contestants, was also strongly influenced by her mother, the late Mama Parau Tixier Taruia, whose 'pona Ta'iti' flair and Tivaivai embroidery skills made her a trendsetter for many Cook Islands women of her time.

Despite the reasons for its introduction by missionaries trying to cover up their converts in the name of ‘civilisation’, Valerie says the pareu gown, particularly the Pomare style, has evolved over the last two centuries.  

“Once Christianity came, our pa metua wore them, but our grandmothers and mothers have personalised them. They have had more choices for colours and materials, and with the sewing and tailoring options around today it’s definitely the preferred formal Island wear for our Cook Islands women,” she says.

Valerie and judges do most of their critical work and tallying of points in the days before the event, checking stitches, cutting, sewing of garments from the inside out. Each mama will model two gowns. Each gown will feature crafted flowers, accessories and features to match her design. The first is a ‘Purotu’ contemporary style gown using Pareu for colour and creative impact. The second is the traditional ‘Pomare’ category which requires the high neckline, long sleeves, bodice and lace for days. The Pomare gown should convey what its name implies – regal grace.

“Again, this year the competition really highlighted the creativity and craftsmanship of the Mama Rauti Para mamas – the Pareu Purotu designs were playful, vibrant and full of personality. The clever mixing of bright and bold fabrics created standout pieces, and we all noted the uniqueness and expressive flair in every single design,” says Valerie.

Each mama is assisted by a designer or tailor if she does not want to go it alone – this is standard practice for any Cook Islander if they don’t have family or home-tailoring connections.

“In the traditional mu'umu'u designs this year, we could really feel the mamas showcasing their artistic and cultural skills. We are seeing more detailed use of tuitui (embroidery) and tivaivai (quilt-making) techniques coming through in the gowns, and we loved how each design reflected deep love for their families,” shares Valerie. “They weren’t just wearing something that showed their beauty as women. These dresses had been cleverly thought out. They tested a range of materials, textures and colour combinations to really come through and express their cultural appreciation, their stories.”

“It’s just such a significant elevation, given the fact it’s been a long wait since the first couple of events. I can’t wait for the next one!”

Celebrating 82

The oldest Rauti Para Mama in 2025, is 82-year-old Annie Santos, with Mama Peia Tumu taking most humourous. Runner up awards are provided across the personality section, covering both categories with three top placings across the Purotu and Pomare categories before the top three overall scores decide on the winner.

For Carmena, the former Miss Cook Islands, it’s about ensuring everyone is recognised, everyone leaves a winner. But the most powerful takeaway of Mama Rauti Para remains the transformation she also experienced as a shy beauty queen, taking her nation to the Miss Universe 1983 stage for the first time.

“I remember one mama was so shy during the practice sessions. She was always giggly and nervous throughout the journey. Come the night of the competition, she was so confident, we couldn’t get her off the stage,” says Carmena. “And the families are often part of the transformation too. We know our mums. They are always in the house, looking after the kids, the family visitors, and then the grandkids. She never goes out just because she feels like it. And you never see her dress up for herself.”

“But when the Mama Rauti Para happens, every mama there is the star. It’s her night. And it’s her time to shine. This event gives us a moment to remember that.”

• Lisa Williams/Pacific Island Times