African clothing and fashion offer a fascinating look into the continent's diverse cultures. From brightly colored textiles to abstractly embroidered robes and colorful beaded accessories, clothing varies significantly across each country. Since Africa is such a large and diverse continent, traditional clothing differs throughout each country.
Different tribes throughout the continent pride themselves on their national dress, which they use for ceremonies and special occasions. There are many varied styles of dress, and the type of cloth plays an integral role in fashioning the garment. Colors and patterns, created in printed and dyed cloth, woven fabric strips, or beaded attire, distinguish one ethnic group from another. Today, African garments take their roots in traditional dress and are worn by millions of people for both ceremonial occasions and for everyday wear.
African clothing has a vibrant and interesting history to match its bright and bold textiles. This history is thought to stretch back 75,000 years! Although tracking the evolution of African styles can be difficult, ancient art gives us hints about the textiles used and actual historical evidence.
Clothing was not generally needed for warmth or protection in most areas of the African continent due to the warm and hospitable climate, and many tribes did not wear much at all. The men wore just a loin cloth or apron, and the women wore wraps around their waist or breasts, often adorning the rest of their bodies with scarification and paint ochres.
Very early African clothing was perhaps not well matched to the usually hot conditions, made out of animal skin, fur, feathers, and bark cloth. It is believed that these materials were mainly used in the form of aprons that would have been tied around the waist and robes that were draped across the body.
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In West Africa, woven fibres from the 800s have been discovered in Nigeria. In Mali, cotton fragments were found that have been traced back to the 1000s. Reports of Kankan Moussa’s pilgrimage to Mecca in the 1300s mention that he and his group were dressed in cotton woven with gold threads.
When the intricate weaving techniques were developed they were handed down generation by generation, resulting in beautiful fabrics and styles that are associated with varying African areas. Regional differences are partly due to the contrasting agricultural landscapes and natural resources. Flax and jute are distinctive textiles of West Africa along with raffia palm, which can also be found in more central African countries.
Fibres used were cotton, raffia, silk and wool.
Here's a look at some specific garments and textiles:
Traditional Garments and Textiles
Kaftans and Boubous
Kaftans are popular with both sexes in Central and Western Africa where they are called boubou’s for men and m’boubous for women.
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Agbada
An Agbada is the Nigerian Yoruban version of a boubou. This is a long, loose-fitting, often embroidered gown having wide sleeves and a hole in the centre for the head to slide through and is worn especially by Yoruba males. It was worn over a long sleeved tunic (buba) and long tie-up trousers (sokoto) and accompanied by a hat (chechia) that matches the attire. All 3 items of clothing are usually the same colour.
These days, modern African men have embraced the look but swopped the fabric for something lighter and it is worn over a short sleeved buba. The actual agbada comes in shorter lengths and widths, and the pants are tighter fitting, producing a very neat and stylish effect.
Dashiki
A Dashiki is a loose fitting pull-over shirt, long or short sleeved with an ornate embroidered V-shaped collar that is uni-sex and comes in many lengths, colours and forms.
Both of these shirts can be both formal or informal depending upon the application of cloth, the style of the garment and the embellishment of it.
Ankara
Ankara is a vibrant material with rich, colorful patterns. These designs are a form of expression pronouncing everything from marital status to popular culture, political and religious beliefs. In recent years this hardy, lightweight fabric has become very trendy and even made its way to luxury designer brands.
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Today, bright and bold African textiles are often worn fashionably with modern pieces. Pair our traditional items like the aso-oke head tie, the vibrant wax prints, the geles and the bags and shoes with blue jeans or a blazer.
When the intricate weaving techniques were developed they were handed down generation by generation, resulting in beautiful fabrics and styles that are associated with varying African areas.
Here is a table summarizing some popular West African garments:
| Garment | Description | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Kaftan/Boubou | Long, loose-fitting robe | Central and West Africa |
| Agbada | Embroidered gown with wide sleeves | Nigeria (Yoruba) |
| Dashiki | Loose-fitting pull-over shirt with embroidered V-shaped collar | West Africa |
| Ankara | Vibrant, colorful patterned fabric | West Africa |
Regional differences are partly due to the contrasting agricultural landscapes and natural resources.
Since the mid-20th century, relations between Africa and China have grown stronger leading to a significant change in the mutual adaptation of fashion between both nations.
Clothing can be chosen for convenience, or be used to express style, political beliefs, religious beliefs and perspective in life.
Colonization starting from the mid seventeenth century undoubtedly changed South Africa in all aspects, and fashion together all those changes was influenced heavily by the arrival of new materials from Europe as well as the Eurocentric view about the body and clothing, perceiving that South Africans dressed like necked imposed changes on traditional fashion of these indigenous groups of people. Traditional clothing made with local materials were incorporated with new style and items from Europe.
With the influence of colonizers, Western fashion came to rule over South Africa with educated class people preferring Edwardian top coats and hats. Working men also went with Western style that boost the demand for these products.
While traditional dresses were worn as part of expressing one's identity, South African fashion in the apartheid period witnessed the continuing growth of influence from European fashion. Pre-apartheid fashion in South Africa depended heavily on European fashion import whereas post-apartheid fashion celebrated one's ethnicity through many South African designers bringing a touch of Africa to European style clothing. One noticeable example is Marianne Fassler who incorporated leopard-print with clothing in European style.
After the apartheid period ended in 1994, South African traditional dresses continue to be the way to express pride in one's nation and identity as well as an enormous source of inspiration for famous fashion brands such as Sun Goddess, Stoned Cherrie and Strangelove. Pieces such as head wraps and A-line skirt inspired by Xhosa people from the nineteenth century were brought back on the runway.
South African fashion is a coming together of different style, culture and response to social circumstances. It's a hybrid between African people themselves and foreigners they interacted with. As of 2016, there has been a boom in the development shops, clothing boutiques, hotels, as well as major restaurants in Accra, Ghana.
Here's a look at European Influence:
European Influence on African Fashion
European influence is commonly found in African fashion as well. For example, Ugandan men have started to wear "full length trousers and long-sleeved shirts". On the other hand, women have started to adapt influences from "19th-century Victorian dress". These styles include: "long sleeves and puffed shoulders, a full skirt, and commonly a colorful bow tied around the waist". This style of dress is called a busuti.
Another popular trend is to pair a piece of modern western clothing, such as T-shirts with traditional wraps. Rural communities have also started to incorporate secondhand western clothing into their everyday style.
There exist non-profit organizations in all western societies that sell used clothes to for-profit companies in Africa. These European clothes are quite common in some parts of the continent. These used clothing are called Mitumba in some areas and are surrounded by controversy.
Before charitable organizations started importing used clothes, cheap cotton clothing from Asia was the biggest import of cotton clothing to Africa.
Although used clothing was commonly sent for the lower class communities, it is now commonly found within other social classes in Africa. Secondhand clothing is found in everyday apparel for many people, regardless of their class difference. This is because there was always a variety of clothing and it was a good price.
The second hand clothing industry has left both positive and negative impacts within African society. An impact that one would commonly not think of is the resale of imported western clothing. South Africa, among other nations, has created legislation of imported or donated goods in order to curb the resale of the donated items. Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Kenya and Malawi had to completely ban the importation/donation of second hand clothes in order to try to control the resale.
Another negative impact commonly argued is that the importation of western clothing leaves a negative impact on local clothing producers. However, the opposite side of the argument believes that the high importation creates new jobs for the people living in the port cities. These jobs include the sorting, washing, re-tailoring and transporting of the clothes to the markets.
Another impact that could be argued either negatively or positively, is that secondhand clothing has become more common to wear than classic African textiles. In Zambia, where it is known as salaula, secondhand clothing has basically become a new type of traditional clothing. Zambian cities are full of used clothing markets, which are extremely successful.
Here's an interesting fact about Ankara fabric:
Indonesian Roots of Ankara Fabric
During my research, I was surprised to find that the Batik method of creating wax prints is of Indonesian origin.
As I researched, I learned that there are certain aspects of Indonesian fashion that is closely mirrored in African fashion. For instance, they have their version of Akwete which is called Ulos and Adire which is called Sasirangan.
Also, the earliest history of Batik dates back to 4th century BC Egypt where it was used in the mummification process (if you look back far enough, everything started in Africa lol.) Till date though, it is most highly developed in Java, Indonesia.
Before Dutch colonisation of Indonesia, Batik was primarily made and sold in Indonesia and other parts of Asia. Seeing its worth, they began working on a machine that could duplicate the effect of Batik. They hoped their version would outsell the Indonesian Batik in the Indonesian market and after producing some resin-coated Batik fabrics, they tried to sell them in the Indonesian market. It failed to garner the desired sales because it did not match up to the real Batik in quality or have the distinguishing wax smell that the Indonesian Batik fabrics had.
By 1880, Dutch and Scottish traders began introducing the fabrics to the ports in West Africa and here, they found success. Research suggests that this success might have in part, been due to the fashion taste of the “Black Dutchmen” - a group of West African Dutch soldiers called Belanda Hitam in Indonesia who served between 1831 and 1872 in the Dutch colonising army of Indonesia and later retired to Elmina, modern-day Ghana.
Some of the fabrics were given different names based on their patterns and those names still hold till today. Two popular ones are Kri-Kri star (tiny stars) and Mkpuru Oka (corn seeds). These fabrics are worn by different cultural and religious sects in West Africa and seeing a group of people in a certain fabric connotes that an event or gathering might be taking place. For the Catholic Women Organisation in some parts of Igbo land, the Mkpuru Oka Abada fabric or the CWO uniform (also made of customized Ankara fabric) is worn to attend wakes and a member may be fined if she fails to wear hers to such a gathering.
This uniformity in dressing has also become a cultural staple amongst many tribes in Nigeria and West Africa. In many Yoruba weddings, burial ceremonies, birthday celebrations and so on, Asoebi - which is usually an Ankara print fabric, is worn to commemorate and show unity at these events.
Till date, the highest grade of wax prints (Vlisco) being sold in Africa is of Dutch origin. The popular and affordable Hi-target is of Chinese origin. There are a few African brands such as DaViva in Nigeria and Sotiba Simpafric in Dakar, Senegal that sell quality fabrics.
History of Ankara Fabrics and it Origin | African print fabric history
In all my research, I could not find the exact reason why it is called Ankara. I did see though, that Ankara is the name of the method used in the making of the materials in some parts of Africa.
The only other Ankara I found is the capital of Turkey and researching this place showed no connection to the fabric.
