I was at a friend's the other night, and she admired the earrings I was wearing...
Tony made a comment regard tartan combined with the African earrings...but isn't there a connection with the checked cloaks the Masai wear?
Africa, the world's second largest continent, jam packed with ethnicities, cultures and languages, plus its history of colonisation, all make for a land mass of immense character.
Africa is considered the oldest inhabited territory on Earth, as it is generally accepted that the human species originated from Africa.
Africa, a continent with deep history.
She worked to this brief.
Africa has always been a stimulating topic for many students I have worked with over the years.
Another one worked to this brief.
And of course, the fab Africa Fashion Parade of 2009
It was a great event. The students established the theme, created programmes in the shape of the mighty continent and put together fun goody bags.
I asked the girls to write down what the inspiration was for the garment they designed and constructed.
Nicole entered her garment in the Newmarket Young Designers Competition, and won.
It was so exciting! I remember it, like it was yesterday. (The prize was a week's trip to New York, among other wonderful things.) Set Nicole in a direction that truly matched her talents and passions.
Okay, so what about CdG RK and Africa?
The Spring/Summer 2008 RTW ''Cacophony' collection connected with Africa as garments were presented, which had cool prints of African hairstyles on them.
At the time it inspired me to purchase this fabric, as it made me think of the one CdG used. I eventually created a top.
The 'hairstyle' fabric used in the CdG collection is known as 'Ankara' fabric.
Ankara fabric can also be referred to as Ankara prints, African prints, African wax prints, Holland wax or Dutch wax.
Although Ankara fabric is associated with Africa, its origins are not actually so. It is Indonesian influenced. The fabric is 100% cotton fabric, made by way of the Indonesian wax-resist dyeing technique, known as batik.
After the Dutch colonised Indonesia, they produced the fabrics to sell to an Indonesian market. However, they were not very popular in Indonesia, so a West African market was tried, which proved very successful.
After the various African countries gained independence, there developed the desire to assert an identity. One way to achieve this was to dress in garments made from the wax print fabricated fabrics imported from Holland!
The fabric company, product and registration number is printed on the selvedge edge of the material.
As you can see in this image, the company which manufactured the fabric is Vlisco
Check out the video in the link below, regard the Vlisco company. It will inform a lot more, particularly the popularity of the fabric in various African countries.
This is another good site for further information regard Vlisco, its designers and the naming of the various fabrics.
Aren't they the most beautiful fabrics, all worn so well in this photo.
Vlisco fabric is also used very effectively in this scene, another of the wonderful 'World of Interiors' furnishing fabric shoots.
Junya Watanabe Comme des Garcons, has also presented African themed collections. His S/S 2009 one consisted of wonderful towering head wraps and colourful 'African prints' mixed with very typical JW faded denim and bright gingham checks. It's a fabulously creative take on African women's headwraps.
Junya Watanabe didn't stop there with an Africa inspiration in his work.
Spring/Summer 2016, he showed another collection themed around 'African print' fabric, but this time the fact that it was presented on a cast of white models, whose faces were decorated with pale flesh-coloured globules, mimicking tribal scarification marks, did not sit easy with all who were in the audience. Many did not know how to react...should they criticise...should they applaud...
And, similar critical comments were articulated concerning his Spring/Summmer 2016 menswear "Faraway" collection. Vlisco collaborated with Watanabe in this collection, but, again, it was only white male models attired in the garments, accessorised with iconic African wear, like beads, bones, necklaces and masks. Many people were not pleased.
This is a connection to an interesting article concerning 'Cultural Appropriation". Point no. 5 is the relevant one to the issue people experienced with JW's 2016 collections 'Appropriation Is no substitiute for Diversity'.
Yinka Shonibare, a Nigerian/British artist born in 1962, uses Vlisco fabrics in his work, as an expression of cultural identity and a challenging comment on Western colonial history.
I first discovered Shonibare's work when walking past a London Art Gallery, and there was this glorious sculptural installation in the foyer. The clothing on the headless mannequin was made from wonderful African print fabric.I loved it! (My photos don't do it justice.)
It is based on Jean-Honore Fragonard's 'The Swing'.
Another work of Shonibare's, in a similar style is 'Mr and Mrs Andrews without Their Heads'
It is inspired by Thomas Gainsborough's 'Mr and Mrs Andrews'
The link below provides an informative paper concerning this particular work of Shonibare's. It is an interesting analysis on both works, Gainsborough's and Shonibare's.
In 2009, Auckland Art Gallery presented, for the first time in NZ, a work by Yinka Shonibare.
I took my Year 12 class to the exhibition, and I think Shonibare's work acted as an inspiration for Nicole's design.
If you would like to see and hear Yinka Shonibare explain his work, click this site.
This is just a wee aside, but still connected...in 2004 Shonibare's choice of favourite work in 'Artists' Favourites:Act 1' was Laura Ford's stuffed patchwork fabric giraffe...isn't he grand!
My own African giraffe....smaller scale, but stll cute!
Here are beautiful African tribal women wearing their fabulous finery. Wonderful colours, patterns and textures.
Designers and stylists are continually inspired by African attire.
Like the image below, a model wearing a Dinka pre-bridal beaded female necklace
And these Xhosa necklaces,
they have inspired this fab knittted piece.
The dress directly above was designed by Yves Saint Laurent, 1967. The one beside it was designed by Dolce & Gabbana in the 2000's. I think their one is a homage to YSL.
South African fashion has been forging its way in the fashion world since the country came out of a restrictive apartheid regime. Designers such as Amanda Laird Cherry, Drake, Stoned Cherrie and Sun Godd'ess helped establish pride in the new society by creating clothes, which referenced Sth African history and culture.
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| Dress:Sun Godd'ess |
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| Necklace:Sun Godd'ess |
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| Jumper & skirt: Pwnoa |
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| Corset:Maya Prass Skirt:Soul Spice |
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| Collar:Collen Eitzen |
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| Shirt & trousers:Amanda Laird Cherry |
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| Marni, TWIGA, Ethnix NYC |
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| Rogan, Stella McCartney, Ethnix NYC |
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| Lanvin, TWIGA, Faraone Mennella |
The patterns on the sleeveless jacket and skirt are inspired by the highly artistic work of the Kuba people, who live in the south-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Kuba people comprise of a number of sub-groups, such as the Ngeende, the Bushoong and the Ngongo.
These dance skirts are made from raffia and decorated with applique shapes and embroidered patterns.
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| 19th C. Kuba raffia skirt |
These particular images didn't make the cut....image the ones that did!
I think this may be one of Nickerson's images that did make the cut
Go on to this site and you will understand why I think this
....having looked through the site, I think the above image relates more to Nickerson's 'Terrain' series, than the 'Farm' one.
These follwing images are from a fashion shoot by Nickerson for 'Another' magazine. They relate strongly to her 'Farm' series, with models Nandipha, Cheryl, Venantia, Beauty and Pinky each delivering an evocative rural fashion look in working the land.
Another inspirational photographer, Brigitte Niedermair, delivered this cool fashion shoot for 'Surface' magazine, with each image set off by a wonderful African mask.
Just trying my own take, with some of the cool masks that were created for the 2009 Africa Fashion Parade. I always loved the props that the girls came up with to decorate the space.
Some of the fashion shoots I have referenced, use the title 'African Queen'. I think it could be a
take on 'The African Queen', the 1951 film directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart & Katherine Hepburn. The 'African Queen' was the small steam launch that Bogart and Hepburn used to escape from the "baddies" in German East Africa.
I do like the Polish poster on the right.
The ancient Greeks referred to the Africans as Ethiopians.
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| An Athenean funeral vase approx 750BC |
Stating that, brings me to the aspect of African history that cannot go unmentioned, slavery. It is a strong aspect of that colonial history I referred to at the beginning of this blog.
In 2007, the V&A held a pertinent exhibition commemorating the bi-centenary of the parliamentary abolition of the British slave trade.
Eleven international artists were asked to display their work throughout the V&A's permanent collection galleries.
Yinka Shonibare, was one invited artist.
and Tanzanian artist, Lubaina Himid, who presented life-size cut out painted figures, which explore issues of forgotten histories, race and identity.
Other examples of her interesting work can be viewed on this site.
I have one other connection, made by someone else, regarding CdG and Africa.
Of course I followed, and it took me down an internet rabbit hole!
So, I go researching 'Hottentot' women, and I am led to the astounding, yet tragic, story of Saartjie Baartman, 'The Hottentot Venus'.
The Khoikhoi or Khoi, native to southwestern Africa, were called Hottentots by the early Dutch settlers. The term Hottentot was in reference to the click sounds, characteristic of their language. Since the late 20th century, the term Hottentot is now considered derogatory and offensive.
Saartjie Baartman was born to a Khoisan family in 1789. Life was very hard, as she lost both parents, her partner and child before she was 20 years of age.
In 1810, Saartjie ended up travelling to England to take part in those hideous 'freak shows' that were highly popular during this era.
Saartjie's physique was a cause of great fascination to many Europeans.
Eventually, Saartjie ended up in Paris, where she was studied and painted by a group of scientists and artists, who were also fascinated with her physique, for dubious reasons in some cases.
Saartjie died at the age of 26 and the scientists had a plaster cast made from her body, before they dissected it for their continued research. Saartjie's brain and genitals were pickled in jars and displayed at Paris' Museum of Man up to 1974.
In 1994 President Nelson Mandela requested the repatriation of Saardjie's remains and the plaster cast made of her. Eventually the French government agreed, and in August 2002, Saartjie Baartman's remains were buried in Hankey, Eastern Cape Province.
Saardjie had come back home.
This website will enable you to view 'Black Venus'(Venus noire), a film made in 2010, about Saardjie Baartman's life in Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-7bKi5MFWI
My African blog inspires me to don my zebra safari shirt, my herero hat and my Kuba patterned cushion to imagine the wondrous life experiences that are to be gained from travelling such a mighty continent.
The headwear is my own ceation of those worn by the Herero women of Namibia in Southern Africa. Their traditional headdress is a reflection of the high value the Herero people place in their cattle.
See my 'Headpieces' blog (31/05/2015) if you want more information
Just winding up with this link, which will take you to The Costume Institute of the African Diaspora, a site dedicated to educating the public about dress cultures, fashion and textiles developed by people of African heritage.
I first came across the Institute when I was working on my Tartan blog. The site provides a wide range of interesting reading concerning African heritage in today's society.
I am giving the final word to a fine African man
SLTSLTBsigning off.
