What does "Hala is never worn by a pregnant woman" mean?

Question

If you are planning to get a lei for someone who is hapai or pregnant, remember to ask the florist or lei maker to open up the lei. It is bad luck to give a closed lei (as it represents the umbilical cord wrapping around the neck of the unborn baby). Hala (Hawaiian screwpine) is never worn by a pregnant woman, as it can be considered a bad omen.

This is from the the Hawaiian official website, and I don't understand the meaning of "worn" here. I googled "Hala" and it's Hawaiian plants(or fruits).

Then how can someone "wear" a Hala, which is something they eat? If it's gonna worn by a person, shouldn't it be at least some kind of clothes? Or does "wear" have another meaning I don't know?

Answer 1

"wear" can indeed be used like that. You can wear clothes, rings, necklaces, accessories, and even non-physical and abstract things (character, face, mood).

Answer 2

For another example of this construction, consider this article Can I Wear Linen After Labor Day?

You'd be mistaken if you objected that "linen" is a kind of cloth, not an article of clothing; "wear linen" here is a perfectly allowable and natural way to say "wear clothing made out of linen". Similarly, you might say "I hate wearing wool! It's always so scratchy."

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For a final example where this pattern is taken almost too far, in the context of fashion or red-carpet interviews you encounter sentences like:

tonight the question of the evening would be “why are you wearing black,” not “who are you wearing?”

Although "who are you wearing?" would be meaningless in most contexts, here the expected answer is "I'm wearing Ralph Lauren" or "I'm wearing Dolce and Gabbana". In other words, because the actresses are expected to be wearing designer clothes from a named fashion house, the question means "who is the designer whose clothes you are wearing?" But I emphasize again that this phrasing only makes sense in this context.