Last summer proved to be so hot — setting about 50 high-temperature records in Hawaii — that Sara Oka, curator of textiles for the Honolulu Museum of Art, started pondering the question, How do people keep cool in hot climates?

The answer is in the museum’s new summer exhibition, “No Sweat: How Textiles Help Beat the Heat.”

Looking to early civilizations, she said, “people needed clothing that helped them feel cool, and they used not just fibers, but structures built to stay cool. The concepts are relevant here in Hawaii with the humid weather and provide a different focus for admiring textiles.”

The show features garments and textiles from ancient China, Japan, the Philippines, India, Korea and Indonesia, leading up to present-day California-based Patagonia’s sport-driven performance wear, which embraces the principles of the earlier garments in a technologically advanced way.

“No Sweat” shows how fibers, weave structure, apparel construction and design, color selection, motifs and surface coatings were all employed to offer relief from heat.

Many of the garments were constructed for moisture management, such as “shifu asetori,” paper-thread undergarments designed to absorb sweat. An example from mid-19th century Japan was made from threads spun from the inner bark of paper mulberry and plaited into an airy, meshlike vest. The garment absorbed perspiration and body oils, and acted as a cooling, ventilating barrier between the body and outer garments, including samurai armor.

The warriors were known to have written good-luck messages on the paper before it was made into thread as a way of carrying them into battle.

Surface coatings were another method of treating fabrics for cooling effects. In the Guandong province of China, fabric was dyed with the juice of the “shoulang” yam and dried in the sun before being coated with river mud. The process resulted in an elegant, crisp two-toned fabric, a glossy black on one side and rust-brown on the other. The crisp fabric did not cling to the body, keeping wearers cool and comfortable during the summer. Due to the scent of the dye and mud, the fabric was called “xiang-yun-sha,” or fragrant cloud silk.

The fabric is still being produced the same way today, Oka said, and because of its beauty, “it’s become a haute couture fabric.”

Not all cooling materials were made to be worn. During summer months Japanese families brought out their “yuton,” mats made from sheets of paper mulberry coated with “kakishibu,” or persimmon juice, and perilla, or shiso, oil. Sitting on the lightweight mats was said to bring down the body temperature. The kakishibu tannin also served an antibacterial and natural waterproofing function, so much so that early fire hoses were also coated with kakishibu.

It also helped to train one’s eye on a garment’s cool visuals. Japanese summer kimono often featured flowing-water motifs.

Bringing us into the present, Patagonia’s lightweight, polyester Capilene “baselayer” tops and bottoms draw on the same ideas of wicking away moisture and providing ventilation.