Africa is a vast continent that is home to thousands of different nations and ethnicities. Each of these nations, each ethnic group has its own language, culture, faith, tradition and way of life. Likewise, the way the people of these many nations dress varies greatly. That's why when we talk about traditional African fabrics, it could be a variety of fabrics designed by Africans with their own technique and cultural history behind them.
DYE ON CANVAS BLOCK
The SACRED FOREST (Guinea Conakry)
“Sacred Forest” is a dyeing technique made from decoctions of kola bark and nuts . It is practiced in Forest Guinea and in 2 stages, first the background dyeing of the fabric then its decoration with always black impressions made using a stamp. Today, the job of “Sacred Forest” dyer is one of the small jobs typical of this region, accessible to everyone, without ethnic, social or gender distinction. Tradition dictates that dignitaries and personalities passing through Forest Guinea are honored with a boubou or “Sacred Forest” loincloth. Find out more in the blog specially dedicated to this fabric.
It is made in an artisanal way, but in recent years, when this pattern has become very modern, industrially produced fabrics are also on the market.
BOGOLAN (Mali)
Bogolan comes from Mali but is also made in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Senegal. It is perpetuated by the traditions of the Sénoufo, Dogon, Malinké and Bambara ethnic groups. The term “bogolan” refers to both the fabric and the dyeing technique, and means “ made with earth ” “ made with mud ” in Bambara. He is Made in an artisanal manner, the woven cotton is soaked in a decoction of tree leaves containing a high concentration of tannin, in order to be dyed. Some fabrics do not dye at all. The patterns are then made with mud freehand .
This type of dye has also been widely distributed around the world, thanks to the creations of stylist Chris Seydou Doumbia in the 1980s. In the 2000s, bogolan fabrics were exported around the world.
Several African designers highlight this fabric in their collections: Malians Chrys Seydou and Mariah Bocoum, Ivorian Gilles Touré, Ghanaian Aisha Obuobi and South African Awa Meité van Til.
The Senegalese El Hadji Malick Badji has created several models of sneakers in leather and bogolan.
The Ghanaian designer has created chairs with seats covered in bogolan.
Western designers have also been inspired by this fabric for their creations, such as the American Oscar de la Renta in 2008 and the Italian brand Marina Rinaldi in 2013.
Today, Bogolan is still made in an artisanal manner, but the majority of the production of this model is manufactured industrially as a wax fabric.
ADINKRA fabric (Ghana)
Adinkra are symbols originating from Ghana which represent concepts or aphorisms. They were originally created by the Akan people .
Adinkra are widely used on fabrics, in pottery, in wood carving and in logos. They are often incorporated into walls or other architectural pieces. Adinkra are usually produced via woodcut or screen printing. They can be used to communicate messages related to the private life of a person or those around them. Adinkra symbols appear on some traditional Akan gold weights, as well as engraved on stools for domestic or ritual use. Tourism has led to new uses of Adinkra, on objects such as t-shirts or jewelry. They are also a frequent inspiration for tattoos.
Adinkra symbols are sometimes considered a form of writing, refuting the idea that African people did not possess a writing system before their contact with Europeans.
Adinkra clothing was traditionally worn by members of royal families and spiritual guides on funerals and other rare occasions. Even today, it is mainly used for special occasions.
The oldest known adinkra cloth featured fifteen different symbols, including nsroma (stars), dono ntoasuo (double Dono drums), and diamonds. It is now kept in the British Museum.
Traditionally, the designs are created using stamps carved from gourds and a vegetable dye. Calabash stamps are 5-8 cm2, have a handle on the back, and the stamp itself is slightly curved so that the dye can be applied in a rocking motion. The print is done by hand on hand-woven natural raw cotton fabric. The designs are applied in red, brown or black depending on the occasion and the status of the person wearing the garment.
Aduro dark pigment, used for pad printing and manufactured in Ntonso, is obtained from the inner bark and roots of the bridelia tree which are soaked in water, ground and boiled over a wood fire. Once the dark color is released, the mixture is filtered, then boiled again for several hours until thickened.
Nowadays, Adinkra fabrics and clothing are frequently mass produced and on brighter colored fabrics. However the village of Ntonso, Ghana, 20km north of the city of Kumasi , remains a center of traditional production of Adinkra fabric. Ivory Coast is also an important producer.
SAMAKAKA (Angola)
The Samakaka or Samacaca is based on symbols of a tribe called Mumuila, located in southern Angola. The Mumuilas generally do not wear clothes, they use fabrics with bright colors and lots of symbols to cover the private parts. The fabric used to design Samakaka today is Wax (dyed with wax). However, it was the Angolans who gave birth to the Samakaka, the Samakaka pattern remains an invention of this tribe. To find out more about its origin, you should take an interest in its manufacturing process.
In terms of color, the Samakaka print features all the colors of the Angolan flag, which are: black which represents the African continent, red due to the blood shed by the lost and living lives of those who fought for the anti movement. -colonization and yellow symbolizes the wealth of the country. Even if Samakaka is available today in other colors such as blue, pink, green, orange... The patterns of the fabric are made from geometric shapes (round, triangle, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid ) arranged symmetrically.
DASHIKI (Nigeria)
“Dashiki” is a phrase borrowed from the West African Yoruba term “danshiki” which refers to a short sleeveless tunic worn by men. The Yorubas borrowed the word from the Hausas "dan ciki" (literally "underneath"), which refers to a short tunic worn by men under larger boubous.
The dashiki fabric is printed using the traditional batik technique . This technique exerts strong pressure on engraved and perforated plates and rolls, the ink and dye are applied precisely to the fabric in order to print the smallest details 3 . The principle of batik consists of drawing on the fabric the final pattern to be reproduced (this operation is not essential); to protect areas of the fabric against coloring by applying hot wax; applying colors by dipping in dye baths or by applying dyes directly to fabric; to repeat operations two and three successively for each of the colors going from light to darker colors; to remove the wax, either with an iron or by soaking in boiling water.
Like Samakaka fabric, the fabric used to design Dashiki today is Wax (dyed with wax).
In the year 1963, Vlisco designer Toon Van De Manakker was inspired by a pattern of tunic worn by noble women in Ethiopia in the 19th century, to create a new batik pattern that remains popular to this day for its incredibly elaborate details and vibrant floral designs. In the 1970s, when print became very popular, the song called "Angelina" by the Ghanaian band Sweet Talks & AB Crentsil was often played on the radio. Also at this time, “Angelina” refers to dashiki in some West African countries, such as Nigeria, Togo, Benin and Ghana. This fabric has other nicknames, like “Addis Ababa”, “Mashallah”, “Ya Mado”, “Miriam Makeba”, etc. There are different reasons for the origin of each nickname. When the Vlisco company distributes its fabrics throughout Central and West Africa, the consumer of the product can name the fabric they are purchasing, for example, Masallah is among the first people to like this particular design and buy it. In December 2014 , the famous Congolese singer Fabregas released the song “Mascara”. The Congolese singer and his band sport traditional “dashiki” patterned shirts. The fabric is renamed “Ya Mado” by the Congolese street, named after the dance that accompanies the song. Since the death of South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba in Congo, this fabric also bears her name, because she was among the first personalities to wear this fabric. Although the fabrics used to make dashiki have different names, if you want everyone to know what you're talking about, you should probably adopt the name dashiki. Although dashiki is African-inspired, the symbolism attached to them is actually rooted in the United States. The dashiki emerged on the American fashion scene in the 1960s when it was adopted by the black pride and white counterculture movements. The symbolism of dashiki is a way of saying, “I am beautiful, black is beautiful, my heritage is beautiful.” In the United States, the dashiki is most worn during the month of February, Black History Month. In Yoruba culture, certain dashiki colors represent different emotions and events, for example, traditional white dashikis were worn by the bride and groom on their wedding day.
Although often worn by men, dashiki styles are being adopted by women and appearing in ankle or mid-calf dresses, creating a cute outfit for hostess as well as for the beach. Graceful and modest, a dashiki style dress offers both comfort and seduction. Loose and cool in warm weather, a dashiki or dashiki dress can be paired with pants or worn over a turtle neck shirt in cold weather.
Today, dashiki serves not only as clothing, but also as cultural communication around the world. People can wear it for dance, wedding or graduation ceremony; dashiki can also be used as a symbol to show their pride and African roots at Black History Month, Kwanzaa celebrations.
Guinean Batik aka LEPI (Guinea Conakry)
Indigo loincloth is one of the traditional loincloths of Guinea belonging to the Middle Guinea region (Fouta) one of the natural regions of the country. It is made in two ways - batik or already dyed train weaving. In Guinea both methods are called LEPI.
When making this fabric by batik , the fabric is first knotted or pulled with threads. Sometimes they use wax . Or the result of batik is a combination of several methods the combination of the three It is then dyed in an e extracted from the leaves and stems of a shrub called “indigo tree”. It is this dark blue color that gives it this nickname. The term indigo comes from the Latin “indicum”, meaning “from India”. Sometimes indigo is mixed with other dyes. . The designs on the plates are varied and depend on the skills and experience of the dyer.
On the continent, two indigo plants are widely used: Indigofera Arrecta and Lonchocarpus Cyanescens. The first grows in dry areas and gives a blue called “savannah blue”, while the other, very widespread in West Africa, gives a different blue nicknamed “forest blue”. The leaves collected from these plants are first prepared for decoction before dyeing. They are used fresh or dried, then compacted into balls and loaves of dough. These are then diluted in large vats. It is also in these vats that the fabric will be dyed.
In the case of a color based on fresh leaves, the latter are immersed in a vat of hot water to which lime or ashes are added. The mixture will settle. Over the days, the dyers add sweet ingredients such as honey, dates or molasses. These ingredients will, through chemical reaction, improve the quality of the dye.
The cotton fabric is then dipped into the mixture. Soaking time varies depending on the shade of blue desired. The process can take several weeks. Once thoroughly soaked, the fabric obtains its blue color on contact with air, through an oxidation reaction.
The process of making indigo dye is generally similar for each region. However, there are differences between regions and even between families in the same village. Each ethnic group has its own manufacturing secret, making their dyes more subtle and, above all, unique.
Unfortunately, today the largest producer of so-called African fabric is China. The importation of Chinese fabrics into Africa has had a very negative impact on the local textile industry. African unions in the textile sector held an online conference dedicated to the revival of the local sector where discussions notably highlighted the persistent problem of competition caused locally by illegal imports of clothing from China . Illegal imports of low-cost clothing from China have threatened the African textile industry, particularly in Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana . Illegal imports of Chinese textiles also affected small-scale African artisans, particularly local spinners who supplied sub-Saharan African weavers . Customers who dominated the textile industry began to source their supplies through imports of low-quality and cheap Chinese textiles, which broke the back of the textile industry .
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