To classify Ethiopia's national costume into one easily identifiable variety is a daunting task. Ethiopia is a large country with a wide range of climates and landscapes. Each tribe or ethnic group that resides within Ethiopia's borders has its own styles and varieties. This, in itself, is a cause for the differences in attire among the diverse peoples of the country.
Ethiopian dress is a unique and vibrant form of clothing that has been worn in the country for centuries. It reflects Ethiopia's rich cultural heritage, with its bright colors, intricate patterns, and traditional designs.
Even with all this variety, the difference in the clothing design or color is not what sets them apart for identification. The embroidery patterns vary on a massive scale from tribe to tribe, from ethnic group to ethnic group. This would be a great topic of interest for cultural tourists as well as for the many diverse Ethiopians themselves.
Ethiopia is a country in the Horn of Africa named so because its shape resembles the horn of the black rhinoceros. It is a rugged landlocked country split by the Great Rift Valley. It has over 80 different ethnic groups. It is Africa’s second most-populous nation and ranks tenth in cotton production.
Ethiopia has a rich history for textile production due to its cotton production. Textile outputs include handcrafted translucent shemma cloth made of Amhara embroideries.
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Introduction The Ethiopian Habesha dress comprises various garments, with the Kemis being the most iconic. It is a long, flowing white cotton dress known for its loose-fitting style, wide sleeves, and rounded neckline. Worn by both men and women, the Kemis hold a central position in the Habesha dress tradition, showcasing the simplicity, elegance, and grace of Ethiopian attire.
Recently, the Habesha cultural cloth has gained international acclaim and admiration. Its distinct beauty and cultural significance have captivated the attention of fashion designers, historians, and enthusiasts worldwide. The elaborate patterns, vibrant hues, and exceptional craftsmanship have made their way onto global fashion runways and contemporary styles, bridging the gap between traditional and modern aesthetics.
By delving into the complexities of Habesha cultural cloth, we can gain profound insights into the traditions, customs, and narratives of the Habesha people. It allows us to recognize and value the diversity, artistry, and symbolism interwoven in these textiles. This fosters a deep appreciation for their culture and facilitates cross-cultural exchanges and conversations.
One of the most known and most common cultural cloths is made from cotton, which is called “Shemma.” There are small and micro enterprises (SMEs) in Ethiopia that produce cultural clothes such as “Tibeb” or Habesha Kemis, which is called women’s cultural dress, netela, Gabbi, and men’s traditional clothes. This traditional cloth is produced throughout the country in different SMEs based on the cultural identity of the people.
This research focused mainly on recognizing and classifying women’s Habesha kemis cloths in different cultures, especially in the Amhara region, based on the embroidery design. In the Amhara region, people have their own cultural perspectives. People who live in Gojjam, Gondar, Shewa, Agew, and Wollo have different cultures. Women and men in this wear Habesha kemis for different festivals such as New Year, the finding of the True Cross, Crist mass, and Easter.
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The garments consist of two basic parts: the ankle-length white dress (usually made of white cotton that is finely woven) and the soft cotton shawl, known as a shamma nitala. This fabric is made in long strips of cloth that are stitched together which may take 2-3 weeks. A thicker shawl, used for warmth in the chilly highlands, is called a gabbi. A kula is a thinner shawl used in warmer climates.
Women and men both wear shammas, but they drape them differently depending on the social or religious occasion. The weight of the shawl, number of layers and thickness represents the status of the person in society. The way it is worn even indicates the mood, intention and attitude of the wearer.
These traditional garments become distinctive through the use of embroidered borders, between one or two inches wide, of colored silk designs called tibebe. The borders come in two variations: one of a single color (often gold) and the other of multiple colors and patterns.
Dresses may also be decorated with embroidery, usually with crosses that reflect the deep Christian faith of most highland Ethiopians. Crosses are symbols of protection and believed to ward off evil and misfortune.
Key Elements of Ethiopian Traditional Attire
Habesha Kemis
The habesha kemis is the traditional clothing of women in Ethiopia. "Habesha kemis" which is in Amharic, the official Ethiopian language, refers to the national traditional outfit of Ethiopian women.
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In North America and Europe, this dress has been referred to as "Ethiopian coffee dress", a reference to the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Dresses worn by Ethiopian women impressed me with their beauty from the moment I saw them on my arrival as a Peace Corps volunteer in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia in the early 1960s. I decided not long after I became a teacher at the secondary school in the town of Asbe Teferi that I would like to have one of the lovely dresses so I bought some fabric with gold borders. The dress is called a Habesha Kemis and is worn by Ethiopian and Eritrean women. They believe it is the connection of women to their forebearers’ strengths, effortless beauty and femininity.
Habesha kemis is made of woven material worn by women. It is usually designed in white color outfit and widely used by the general population, becoming the most accepted dress in Ethiopian culture. Notwithstanding its wider acceptance, there are also different variations in its pattern.
To illustrate how the "habesha kemis" could vary by ethnicity and tribe, let us look at the Shewa and Gondar versions. For Shewa women, the white linen has embroidery on the cuffs, in the middle, on the bottom, or on all three. This is paired with the white "netela" or scarf wrap around of the same fabric and design color. The Gondar type on the other hand has a thick rim of embroidery on the bottom hem, but only on the back.
To label a dataset, we employ several techniques or guidelines. Some of these are for Shewa the white linen has been embroidered women on the cuffs, in the center, on the bottom, or all three. The white “netela,” or scarf, is wrapped around the same fabric and design color as this, for Gonder features an elaborate embroidery design on the shoulder in addition to a broad ring of embroidery on the lower hem, but only on the back and it has embroidery on the sleeve, it appears to Gojjam and Gonder to be the same, but it isn’t. Its shoulder features embroidery design is different, and the color combination of the front embroidery design, for Wollo front embroidery design is large and it has a sleeve design on the hand, Agew perceives Shewa and Gojjam as being similar, although their needlework styles and color schemes differ. They all paired with the white netela. In general, the color combination of their embroidery designs allows us to distinguish one from the other.
Table: Regional Variations in Habesha Kemis Embroidery
| Region | Embroidery Characteristics |
|---|---|
| Shewa | Embroidery on cuffs, middle, bottom, or all three. White linen with matching Netela. |
| Gondar | Thick rim of embroidery on the bottom hem, only on the back. Elaborate shoulder embroidery. |
| Wollo | Large front embroidery design with sleeve design on the hand. |
| Agew | Similar to Shewa and Gojjam, but with different needlework styles and color schemes. |
Netela
Another integral part of the Habesha dress is the Netela, a lightweight shawl crafted from versatile fabric. The Netela is often draped over the shoulders or around the waist, adding a touch of sophistication and practicality to the ensemble.
It is a very thin and delicate scarf made from cotton and is rather large: about 160 x 260 cm or 63 x 102 inches. The "netela" is also used as a way to communicate what the wearer is feeling or doing. Normally, the "netela" covers the back and shoulders, with the embroidered end folded over the right shoulder.
For mourning occasions, the "netela's" embroidered end is wrapped around the face. When it comes to religious occasions or activities, the "netela" is wrapped over the back and shoulders and the embroidered end is folded over the right shoulder.
Ethiopian women often wear netela with borders of coloured embroidered designs.
Other Wraps
Although, it is most often used, one should remember the "netela" is not the only form of wrap around for the Ethiopian female. There are the "fota", the "docho" and the "gabi". The "fota" a sort of towel looking piece is brighter and usually checkered. The "docho" is only worn by married women and is very long. The size of the "docho" is usually about 8 meters or 26 feet long. The "gabi" is not really a scarf in the normal sense, but more like a light blanket. It is thicker and warmer than the "netela" and usually worn by men but women can use it at home to keep warm.
Men's Attire
When donning their national costume Ethiopian men wear white knee length shirts, white trousers, a sweater, knee high socks and the wrap around "gabi", which we elaborated on earlier. This outfit is traditionally all white yet in some cases there is some nice embroidery work done on the front of the shirts and on the collars. The gabi can also have some embroidery on the ends but this is rare for the men folk.
The Role of Technology in Preserving Cultural Heritage
To identify and categorize this traditional garment, a deep learning algorithm was employed. Deep learning (DL) is utilized as a technique for learning representations by extracting a hierarchy of concepts from the available data. DL achieves this by utilizing neural network architectures, enabling the extraction of hierarchical features that are well-suited for modeling high-dimensional data.
Deep learning makes it feasible to automate the process of differentiating designs from various locations, including Gondar, Gojjam, Shewa, and Wollo. By incorporating contemporary AI technologies, can improve cultural preservation, expedite production, and even promote these ancient designs internationally.
Furthermore, deep learning provides consistency and scalability, making it possible to classify a huge number of designs effectively without the need for human labeling. This has major benefits for researchers, artists, and companies who want to use technology to innovate and expand globally without sacrificing authenticity.
Recently, computer vision and machine learning algorithms have played an important role in garment texture design and processing of the colors and patterns of the clothes in many fashion productions. Therefore, to classify Habesha kemis embroidery designs, we used CNN for deep feature extraction and the Gabor filter algorithm.
CNN is capable of automatically detecting significant features in an image without requiring human supervision. These networks often consist of multiple convolutional and pooling layers, followed by a fully connected network. By employing this architecture, CNNs are capable of constructing a hierarchy of concepts, where more complex and abstract concepts are built upon simpler ones.
The convolution and pooling layers are responsible for generating features, while the subsequent standard neural network learns the final classification function. Deep learning (DL) employs multiple layers and sections within layers to represent more intricate functions. These hierarchical layers employ specialized processing elements to generate both low-level and high-level features. This hierarchy enables control over the learning process, allowing DL to adapt to new problems and deliver superior performance compared to traditional methods.
Lower-level layers specialize in recognizing basic features, while higher-level layers combine these low-level features to form more complex ones. Ultimately, the output layer classifies the image and produces the corresponding class label. DL offers the advantage of reducing the reliance on manual feature extraction algorithms, as the focus shifts towards training the network to learn these filters on its own.
The primary objective of this study was to utilize computer vision techniques and various machine learning algorithms to categorize the Habesha kemis into different regional styles, such as Gondar, Gojjam, Shewa, Agew, and Wollo, based on their distinct embroidery designs.
Modern Influences on Ethiopian Fashion
Ethiopian fashion is often influenced by global trends. Ethiopian clothing is typically made of bright and colorful fabrics, and many Ethiopian dresses are adorned with intricate beadwork.
Many Ethiopian designers have begun to experiment with more modern styles, incorporating elements of global fashion into their designs. This has led to a growing number of Ethiopian fashionistas who are eager to experiment with new looks. While some traditionalists may be resistant to change, there is no doubt that Ethiopian fashion is evolving.
One trend that has been particularly popular in Ethiopia in recent years is the “boho” look. This style is characterized by loose, flowing fabrics and earthy colors. It is often accessorized with handmade jewelry and belts. The boho look can be both casual and dressy, making it perfect for a variety of occasions.
Another trend that has been gaining popularity in Ethiopia is athleisure wear. This style combines elements of athletic wear with everyday clothing, resulting in comfortable and stylish outfits that are perfect for running errands or working out.
