Common Threads – Contemporary African Fashion

Meet the new generation of African creatives taking the continent’s textile culture into the future.

BY HELEN JENNINGS

Fashion Designer Emmanuel Okoro of Emmy Kasbit

“Cloth is to Africans what monuments are to Westerners… Their capacity and application to commemorate events, issues, persons and objectives outside of themselves are so immense.” El Anatsui, 2005

These wise words from Ghana’s most celebrated fine artist sums up Africa’s gloriously storied textile heritage, which not only speaks to generations of artisanal mastery but also to the significant cultural communication performed with cloth across the continent. And over recent decades, African fashion designers have elevated these treasures still further through their designs. Early pioneers include Shade Thomas-Fahm who revolutionised Nigerian fashion in the 1960s by using handwoven aso-oke. In the 1980s, Malian Chris Seydou was the first designer to consider bògòlanfini mud cloth. And in 1990s Ghana, Kofi Ansah modernised ceremonial kente cloth.

Today many heritage fabrics face being lost as older generations of makers pass on. This does not mean however, as commonly believed, that African fabric and weaving traditions belong to the past, unchanging relics of a by-gone era. In fact, they remain ever-evolving tools for creating employment, empowerment and innovation. For example, the Ethical Fashion Initiative, a programme of the International Trade Centre, works with co-ops in several countries to finance their valuable skills, whether silk screening, sewing, dying or weaving, and develop ethical supply chains.

But it is the current generation of sought-after African designers and entrepreneurs who are the ones using new thinking to take ancient textiles into the future. In Nigeria, Emmanuel Okoro of Emmy Kasbit focusses on re-imagining akwete, a loom-woven cloth made by Igbo women in eastern Nigeria. “There are over 100 traditional motifs and it’s said that each one came to its maker from the spirits in their dreams,” says Okoro. “For me, it comes down to preserving the culture our forefathers in a modern way. Storytelling is at the forefront of putting African fashion on the global stage, so we cannot tell our stories with western fabrics.”

Each season, the Lagos-based designer develops his own patterns based on Nsibidi hieroglyphics and then delivers his yarns and designs to his cherished weavers. His boldly tailored men’s and women’s looks for SS21 speak to ideas of unity and strength and were debuted at Vogue Italia Talents during Milan Fashion Week. “I’m interested in community upliftment and boosting a craft that had become forgotten,” he adds. “I want to see these women win, and I’m letting the world know that this is what African luxury looks like.”

Fellow Nigerian Nkwo Onwuka’s approach is informed by her interest in ethical fashion. The Abuja-based designer has developed dakala, a handmade cloth made from denim off cuts. “Nigeria has a lot of markets trading in second hand garments and a strong culture of clothing being made by small scale manufacturers and dressmakers, which results in a huge amount of textile waste,” Onwuka explains. “I started to see how I could prevent dead stock and old clothes from ending up in landfill or being incinerated by using them as a raw material. Through experimentation, I developed a technique of stripping, braiding and sewing together textile waste to form a new fabric that has the look and feel of our traditional woven fabrics.”

Dakala was shortlisted for the Design Museum’s Beazley Designs of the Year 2020 award and her studio continues to develop the technique with the next step being a loom-spun version. Her current collection, entitled No Planet B, features ponchos and apron corsets made from multiple strings of dakala. “For me success is making sure that I can take care of everyone in my small circle with the hope that this care ripples out to form a larger circle,” she says. “I want to make sure that each person feels valued. Community has to be the fuel that fires what we do.”

Johannesburg-based designer Thebe Magugu is embracing the latest technology to create experiential fabrications from ancient inspirations. The 2019 LVMH Award winner is passionate about investing his directional yet elegant womenswear with cultural value. For example, his clothing labels are fitted with microchips. “If any smart phone taps them, it opens a webpage that showcases the story of the collection as well as photographs of everyone involved in the making of the garment, from the fabric weavers in Cape Town to the tailors in Joburg. I love the full transparency and the idea of bringing culture and technology together,” he says.

For his AW21 collection, entitled Alchemy, Magugu immersed himself in African spirituality, which led to a collaboration with traditional healer Noentla Khumalo for his headline print featuring the tools of her trade – goat knuckles, a police whistle, pencil sharpener, red dice and shells. “Noentla, who uses various objects as her medium to communicate with the ancestors, threw these objects onto a straw mat, which were then photographed, abstracted and printed onto wool suiting. Before she threw the bones, Noentla asked ‘What now?’ and what lays on this garment is the answer.”

The rising star, who’s currently shortlisted for The Woolmark 2021 Prize, also worked with South African eco-printmaker Larissa Don who used cannabis and imphepho (the plant healers burn during their ceremonies) to transfer botanical prints onto merino wool. “It is about the idea of modernity through the indigenous,” he adds. “Wool is one of the most sophisticated fabrics available – from its odour-absorbing properties and natural heat-management to its inherent sense of luxury, which all speak to the unparalleled power of the natural world.”

While bright ideas in the high fashion space abound, there remain steep challenges facing more widely available fashion fabrics due to the lack of textile manufacturing facilities on the continent. The industry dwindled in the 1990s in the face of international competition including hugely popular wax print fabrics from Europe. While infrastructure is surely improving today, there is still far to go. This is an area Kenyan fashion curator Sunny Dolat is addressing.

“As Africans, we have been lucky to be born into a wealth of textile culture. I believe we have a duty to grow and add to this heritage,” says Dolat, who is co-founder of The Nest Collective and creative business incubator, the HEVA Fund. “Many parts of Africa still have communities, albeit reduced, of spinners, weavers and dyers who carry this cultural memory in their hands. The work I’m exploring now seeks to marry these sustainable practices with contemporary insights, ideas and materials, which I believe could support many artisans across the continent.”

Due to Kenya’s colonial history, the country’s homegrown textile heritage is severely diminished compared to other parts of Africa. This fact is what originally stirred Dolat to take action. “All the textiles that we have are versions of textiles from other cultures. Maasai shuka blankets came from Scottish missionaries, kikoi is an update on an Omani wrapper and kanga is based on the Portuguese lenço scarf. They all started off being made locally but, as with most things, much of it is now brought in from Asia. This got me thinking, what could a truly Kenyan textile look like?”

Dolat visited artisanal communities around the country to research organic dyes and fibres and then moved onto developing a new visual language with graphic designers Lulu Kitolo and Monica Obaga. The result is Nanga (Swahili for anchor), a range of prints inspired by Kenya’s natural and urban landscapes, which have been produced on silk, chiffon and cotton and are entering Nairobi’s downtown fabric stores this year. “We’re not going to announce them, or give them to designers. Instead, we’re putting them in the mass market to see if they sell. That would be the true measure of success.”

He cites Green Nettle as a bench mark for the kind of new approach that could take African fashion innovation to the next level. This Kenyan start-up won the H&M Foundation Global Change Award for its environmentally-friendly fabric made from nettles – a plant that thrives in even the most barren areas of the country. “My hope is that more designers and companies begin to develop their own interventions into the textiles. Last year, the pandemic disrupted everyone’s access to textiles overnight. This taught us not to rely on imports and many found local alternatives instead. It would be amazing if that way of working can continue to be fostered and grow.”

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FASHION: Spring-Summer 2022: Emmy Kasbit

 

Fashion designer Emmanuel Okoro's "Emmy Kasbit" men's wear new collection for Spring/Summer 2022 collection shot at the National War Museum in Umuahia, Abia State, a heritage site and memorial of The pogrom and Biafran War. 

Millennial Virgin Islanders Are Reviving Cultural Pride With Modern Madras Styles

Cloth Weaving, An Igbo Textile Art. Image: Ohuzo/Vanguard

BY JEAIZA M. QUINONES

Madras, a cultural fabric often used in the U.S. Virgin Islands and many of its sister islands in the Caribbean is a dyed plaid fabric that dates back to the early 14th century. Originating in the Indian city formerly known as Madras, it was handwoven and often worn by the working class as a light-wear clothing option for hotter tropical environments.

The fabric made its way from India to the Middle East and eventually Northern Africa after becoming a commodity for European trade. The fabric’s popularity led to its introduction to West Africa by the Portuguese.

English author Paul Crask cites members of the Igbo tribe from Nigeria as those responsible for bringing madras to the Caribbean through the transatlantic slave trade. They bore the tradition of wearing madras on Sundays — their days off — or during festivities. Madras also grew in popularity in Louisiana as well as in French-Caribbean islands, where strict Tignon Laws barred African women from displaying their hair as a way to curb European men from pursuing them.

Required to wear headdresses at all times, African women’s creativity allowed them to create ornate wraps made of silks and other fine fabrics and decorated with feathers and beads. When the Spanish governor of New Orleans attempted to further suppress them by prohibiting the use of feathers, silk fabric, and jewels, they began sporting colorful headwraps made of madras with manipulated folds and points as a form of self-expression.

The style trickled down to the islands of Martinique, Dominica, and Guadeloupe — eventually spreading throughout the rest of the Caribbean.

In the centuries following madras’ introduction to the Caribbean, the fabric has become a staple of West Indian culture. Madras served as both a fashion statement and a message of availability, with headdresses traditionally bearing a specific number of folded points to signify whether a woman is married, engaged or available to be courted.

While the U.S. Virgin Islands code does not specify madras as the official fabric of the territory, it has been the most commonly used fabric in traditional festivities and celebrations. Over time the traditions of old have faded with the rise of modern customs.

For much of the last decade, younger Virgin Islanders have been accused of being less involved or disinterested in traditional activities and even less likely to wear madras or incorporate it into their clothing outside of annual festival activities. In my own upbringing, I remember madras as something worn by elders or quadrille dancers. The only glimpses of madras being incorporated into modern fashion by younger locals were during our annual agricultural fair or in pageants where certain segments required cultural wear.

Despite the apparent decline of cultural traditions, homage must be paid to tradition bearers like Bradley Christian, Valrica Bryson, the late Janice Tutein, former Senator Shawn Michael Malone — and many more — who have been continuously promoted Virgin Islands cooking, music, and traditional wear.

Joining the ranks of our tradition and culture bearers is a growing group of millennial U.S. Virgin Islanders who have found ways to merge modern art, the evolving digital landscape, and fashion of the 2010s with the territory’s most recognized traditional fabric.

Shamari Haynes, the founder of the #SimplySAVAGE brand on the island of St. Croix which is comprised of two separate carnival troupes, Simply Sophisticated and SAVAGE Festival. Haynes became one of the frontrunners of the modern madras movement in 2008 when he premiered “Crucian Cocktail Party,” a madras costume section of his Simply Sophisticated troupe designed to reflect local waitresses “with the showgirl flair.” He later went on to premiere a madras-themed section of his troupe in 2017.

“I’ve always had a love for madras and how beautiful it looked when worn casually in the day or elegantly at night. Our [original ] traditional fabric is 100% cotton and Gingham,” Haynes said. “It’s a part of our story not only as Virgin Islanders but as West Indians in general.”

This year Haynes passed down the reigns of #SimplySAVAGE to Wendy Aurelien to begin work with the newly established Division of Festivals of the Department of Tourism. Before the transition, the group held its annual Festival of the Bands costume premiere which gave the public a first look at the 2019/2020 edition of both troupes.

The festival included a fashion show by another millennial Virgin Islander and #SimplySAVAGE collaborator known for her use of madras, Giana Christopher — also known as “designs by Regal.” In the world of social media, Christopher’s designs have drastically grown in popularity. In a recent interview, Christopher cited a lack of local pride in madras fabric as the reason she incorporated it into her designs.

“I saw the growth of African print fabric used in fashions and realized we [the Caribbean] have not been promoting our identifying cultural fabric as well as we should,” Christopher said.

Christopher, who typically creates freehand sketches her designs, sourced from local fabrics combines online fashion trends with traditional looks from a number of Caribbean islands. Local models have begun sporting her off-the-shoulder madras tops, maxi skirts, and necklaces. She hopes not only to bring more attention to the fabric as a unique aspect of Caribbean culture but also hopes to “inspire interest, research and conversations [about] the Caribbean diaspora.”

Christopher’s designs have been shared across dozens of social media pages and have even been sported across the globe by local bloggers during their travels in an effort to share U.S. Virgin Islands culture with the world.

The connections among millennial Virgin Islanders seeking to increase madras’ popularity continue in collaborations among designers and local photographers. Markida Scotland, owner of creative brand “Local Lady Media” based in St. Croix recently began utilizing Christopher’s designs in her shoots. “Years ago [someone] said madras wasn’t fashionable and we needed to retire it,” Scotland said in reference to her desire to shoot the fabric.

Scotland partnered with Christopher to make her designs available to clients wanting portraits around the island. She is also an advocate for celebrating neglected locations on island, often ignored in photoshoots.

“I think what really irked me is that we want to take from all these outside sources when we can actually brand and market our culture, Scotland said. “Kente fabric is a hot item in the states but we treat madras like some kind of stepchild.”

Photographer Chalana Brown is another tradition bearer on St. Croix who has been a strong advocate of madras and other Virgin Islands traditions. She is known for a recent photography project entitled “The Madras That Binds All Ahwe” — after local poet Richard Schrader’s piece of the same name — which utilized madras and recognized it as a cloth that binds all of the Caribbean islands.

“Photography and fashion [have] enabled me to expose young Virgin Islanders to cultural traditions […] to illustrate that traditional wear can be fresh and appealing,” Brown said. “Frida Kahlo, the famous painter, always walked around in her native Mexican traditional wear […] She was featured on the cover of Vogue in 1937. We should take pride in our identity; it sets us apart.”

Through the efforts of tradition bearers like those mentioned in this piece, madras has made a refreshing comeback in Virgin Islands culture and a “debut” of its own on social media. The most widely used social media network in the world — Facebook, who now boasts 2.7 billion monthly users as of 2019 — is just 11 years old. Meaning much of the world’s population of over 7 billion people likely have never experienced traditional madras stylings in a Virgin Islands context.

Designers and photographers have found ways not only to incorporate the fabric with modern fashion but have also advocated for cultural pride and the celebration of local traditions. The growth of digital media may be seen to some as the death of local culture and traditions.

These Virgin Islanders, however, see it as an increased opportunity to market those traditions to the younger generation and the rest of the world — effectively making them digital culture bearers.

It is time for the U.S. Virgin Islands to brand itself in ways other digital brands and social media influencers have found impactful: utilizing images, video, fashion, and technology in order to send a message and create an identity in the online world. Madras, a fabric that has made its way from rural India over the course of seven centuries into the very fiber of Caribbean culture, continues to be a valuable aspect of that identity.


SOURCE: STATE OF THE TERRITORY NEWS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS