African Fabric Lady

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Subtitled “Power and the Politics of Dress”  this collection of 11 articles by eminent Afro-centered anthropologists, was published by Indiana University Press in 4004.  Editor Jean Allman, who contributed the forward and an essay, has brought together keenly considered information regarding topics as diverse as “Nationalism Without a Nation:  Understanding the Dress of Somali Women in Minnesota” and “Dressing Dangerously:  Miniskirts, Gender Relations, and Sexuality in Zambia”.   Each fascinating article is illustrated with photographs and/or diagrams, and concludes with a complete bibliography should your interest in these topics be piqued.  This will help to open your eyes to how fashion works everywhere by focusing closely on how it come into play in particular locations in Africa at particular times.

Isa2

Greetings,

Winter holds on too long here in Maine.  Cabin fever causes one to do things one otherwise might not do.  Such as looking at page stats.  I was amazed to see that the number one go to place at www.africanfabricsales.com is for African Batik Fabric.  Month after Month after Month, about the same number of searches.  Wow.  African Batik Fabric amounts to such a tiny percentage of what I am selling.  Why is this? What am I missing?  I know that my prices are as good as or better than the same thing sold by others.  To my eye, the fabric I have for sale is very high quality and the pictures are good.

So what is it that people are looking for when they click onto African Batik Fabric?  Are they looking for yardage or are they looking for African Batik Pictures?

Any thoughts?

Isa2

This letter arrived in today’s mailbox……

Hi,

modern industrial african prints are using printing paints instead of dyes, (as it was the case in the olden days). I do not really think that your prints have any element of resist dyeing at this stage of industrial development and the wax resist effects are only mimicked these days.

The difference is that dyes are going deep into the fibres of textiles whereas paints sit on the surface of the textiles.Your current printing media is probably paint too and the support cloth must be cotton. The degree of which the print is waterproof, depends on the quality of the paint used, that is the fixative chemical and also the process of its application.

Textile paints are fixed after application by a thermic process, similar to ironing. If that process is not properly done, the pigments will wash out in contact with water and detergent. Poor thermic treatment can happen because of improper equippment, cost savings, ignorance, production conditions.

What you can do at this stage is to iron the pieces of textiles before you want to use them. This way you improve the chances of keeping the colours as initial. A good news would be that textiles paints, when washed out, do not usually stain the other cloth that they come in contact with when wet. (as opposed to how dye pigments would behave)

If you are that fortunate that you have real wax resist, that means that there is a combination of techniques that have been used to decorate your fabrics, then the task of improving waterproof degree is very difficult as there are many types of dyes used nowadays and their fixation depends an too many factors that are unknown. Unless you can contact the producer and get information on the type of pigment used for the dye.

But it would make no business logic for any producer to use old printing methods as they are inefficient financially for an industrial production and I am affraid that local crafters have also compromised, so I think it is not the case to worry about dyes.

I hope this would help, although its a bit of time since you requested advice. Well, better later than never, maybe it still can help in your future projects. Do not hesitate to contact me if you need more info. I used to work a lot in textiles when I was younger.

Imola Popescu Feldberg

Her comments might explain why some fabrics such as some of the Dutch wax prints–Vlisco, for example– are so very costly–they’re still using real wax!!

For all my readers, thanks for reading, and for contacting me.

May you enjoy peace and prosperity and creativity in 2011

Isa2

The previous post about African Fashion was prompted by 2 related occurrences: the frequency with which I hear from readers deploring the paucity of use of African Fabrics in the Fashion World as seen here in the US and the re-reading of a book called SALAULA by Karen Tranberg Hansen, published by the Anthropology/African Studies Division of the University of Chicago Press in 2000, which I reread as a result of the comments.

This book is not as much about African Fashion as it is about the economy, as salaula is not what you may think. Salaula is the word used to previously worn “foreign” clothing found in the Zambian marketplace. [A different way of describing this phenomena is the export for sale of donated used garments from Europe, Japan and North American businesses to the poor countries we so delicately call “emerging” nations.] Hansen discusses the history of secondhand clothing in that region of Africa, a study that reflects the rest of the continent with dates and specifics slightly altered. Despite the rather dry academic approach to this materials, Hansen has done her work in the course of many visits to Zambia over many years and numerous interviews with people of all ages.

Concurrently Hansen explores the importance of fashion to the people of Zambia, an issue somewhat separate from but also integral to the trade in clothing. To me, the most interesting aspect of her study is how often people who find a suitable garment in the used clothing market take it to their tailor to have it altered. The alteration may consist of making it fit properly, having the garment restyled or adding other fabrics to the basic garment to make an eye-catching fashion statement. All for way less money than they would spend on first-worn clothes.

In our economy, we might have something to learn from this……….

Isa2

In an idle moment, I looked for sites that would appear when I put AFRICAN FASHION in the search box.  There was quite a variety featuring everything totally fancy clothing to simple lappas with head wraps.  Prices are all over the place too, so I’m sure you’ll be able to find something to please your aesthetic and your budget.  The third link is to an African travel magazine with fashion articles from around the continent.

Have Fun!!

http://www.africastyles.com/index.html

http://dupsies.com/

http://www.africa-ata.org/affas.htm

http://www.sojones.com/news/1456-africas-fashion-influence-and-urban-trends/

Isa2

Sumptuous lightly “gilded” prints from Bangkok are showing up in African Fabric Markets, and who am I to buck the trend!  After all, the African aesthetic favors complex layered images and startling color combinations.  See our new selection at www.africanfabricsales.com and let me know what you think.

Isa2

see wax prints at www.africanfabricsales.com

Beth Wonders..”…One thing I would add based on my own observation is that colors and color combinations used in African fabric seem to lose vibrancy in our North American environment and light. Even in the “tropical” sunny areas of our continent the African colors do not translate. The combination of sunlight (sun’s position in the sky), North American architecture, natural environment, etc. all combine to make a difference in the gorgeous colors and color combinations, it seems – they look quite different in Africa. This is not based on anything but my own observation and very limited experience and could even be my imagination for that matter……. “

Hi Beth, Thanks for your observations. There’s a lot there to think about and I really have nothing conclusive to report. I too have wondered about what seems to happens regarding color both there in West Africa and here in the Northeast US where I live and which is what I know best. Examining the question of geography and environment, the trip destinations for all my 9 trips to West Africa have been around 13 degrees above the equator and during our winter/their dry season. Unlike Maine’s variable seasonal allotment of light & dark, the sun is always high overhead and each 24 hour period is pretty evenly divided between day and night with short dawn and sunset intervals. I can only speak to dry season when the sky often appears flat and “metallic” and the glare eats up color. Seasonal Harmattan winds fill the skies with dust.

In the heat of the day, the land dissolves into a haze towards an indeterminate horizon but the blur seems somehow local, too. Dry Season West Africa is burnt yellow or green going brown, with a coating of red laterite dust. Dust absorbs light; water reflects it. I live in the verdant water-filled Northeast. Water in the environment affects the amount of vegetation; in the air it seems to enhance the color. That plus the strong angle of the sun, especially in the green green green summer, makes the color here magical.

I’m not sure what if anything diminishes the effect of the vibrancy of design & colors in African fabrics here. I know I don’t see it used very often in garments or home décor where I live. Like me, I expect you are excited by the use of bold color and design in African fabric and whether you see it here or there doesn’t especially affect your experience( though for me being in Africa at all produces a heightened response). But I sure notice when someone comes into the room wearing anything bright, whether I am on this side of the puddle or the other. But I rarely see people in bright clothes here—so it’s also the frequency thing as well as the local social or geographical environment.

In Africa, so many more people wear what seems to us to be clothing made from distinctive fabrics, true, but even lots of bright color and dynamic design becomes a blur at a distance. It may be a brighter blur, but I tell you, you have to do something like wear mirror cloth if you really want to stand out in a group in Africa, so “loud” is ambient hue in garments. One always appreciates the design and color of fabrics up close in more intimate situations where we are face to face with people and their clothing. Distance just doesn’t cut it.

That said, there is a separate issue regarding urban architecture and congestion and how the light works in the presence of tall buildings compared to rural areas and this goes for large cities everywhere. In Dakar, Senegal for example, people wear wear all manner of clothing & colors. In the old downtown government center of the city with its tall European buildings, the individual may be wearing brightly patterned African garb or a suit and heels. The surroundings there diminish the impact of either kind of clothing, just as they do here in cities in the US. Up close, detail and boldness stand out, at a distance, any group is just a group of people. Bur I can’t say I notice much brilliance of color on the streets of New York City either, though Harlem has its share of African dress. There’s just so much stone around, and stone absorbs light too, right?

I wonder if the amount of green in the surroundings play a role in how we see color. However I’m not sure I’d say the colors lose vibrancy here as a result of that, though I might say that skin color plays a role. Have you ever seen a color that didn’t look stunning against a darker complexion?

Ciao,

Isa2

A reader recently sent me the following letter:

….”I am just curious about this whole issue of colours running when we wash most African fabric. Is there anything in their manufacturing/dyeing process that they can change so that the colour does not run? Or is there some treatment that could be given to this cloth to make it easily machine washable?
I am really inspired by the amazing patterns and am surprised that leading fashion manufacturers don’t source this fabric. My one guess is that the colours running make it a little bit inconvenient to wash and may act as a barrier from these fabrics becoming popular to the whole public beyond the socially-conscious/ funky-art-lover group. What do you think?….”

My response follows:

Thanks for your good questions. I salute your appreciation of the African Aesthetic which, in the realm of fashion, is customarily found in roots-conscious African Americans and other free spirits in tune with that cultural expression.

Let’s look at the question of dyes that run first, and then go on why we see so little of the African Aesthetic in US fashion.  In the  arena of Hand Dyed Fabrics, unlike what sounds like your experience, curiously, I have found that very few of the hand-dyed fabrics run, and only the Indigo runs seriously, but we’re prepared for that.

Most of the artisan workshops I patronize in Africa use aniline dyes and, if properly rinsed in the dyeing process, the dye in the textiles does not run at all. There are some vegetable dyes that are occasionally used in some fabric decoration–such as painting or printing on locally woven cotton cloth, and some of them run furiously in the first washing, taking away most of the color, and then there’s nothing much left to run.  Korhogo designs in particular behave this way, and I do not recommend that you wash them at all.  I wash Mudcloth in the washing machine on cold and gentle, and usually hand it to dry.  It fades agreeably over time, but since it is my thought that currently the “mud” is fortified with actual dye, the comments about aniline dyes above cover this category.

As far as most of the printed fabrics are concerned, in my experience, they are all colorfast.  I have seen no factory-produced fabric that I sell ever bleed in the laundering process.  Maybe I’ve been fortunate, or maybe I’ve bought pretty good quality materials.  Historically, however, poor quality fabrics employ cheaper dye and cheaper dye is often fugitive and unreliable.  India used to be notorious for blacks, purples and reds that tinted everything else in the wash, not to overlook the very popular Bleeding Madras that was so popular in the 60′s. I expect that “running dyes” are enough of a problem that most companies now are using better quality dyes that don’t run in an effort to hold onto their own market share. It’s hard to imagine that the international market wouldn’t pressure folks in that direction. To avoid factory-made fabrics that might run, I’d avoid really inexpensive ones.

As to why we don’t see African fabrics in US fashion I have 2 distinct speculations–

First, the hand decorated and dyed fabrics are made in very short lengths–4-6 yards at the most. Each length is thus unique, and the design may not be one hundred percent the same as to depth and distribution of design & color from one end of the length to the other. Manufacturers who create garments for the mass markets buy in the hundreds if not thousands of yards for which I’ve had requests that of course I could not fill, being too small a business and not working directly with factories plus being far away from the factories.

Some fabric manufacturers have designed fabrics that initially appear to be hand-dyed–tie and dye designs come to mind–and the intention of the production of these fabrics is to scoop up the sales that would otherwise go to the actual hand-decorated products. Interestingly, when these fabrics first appeared in the Gambia in the late 1990′s, they were sold for nearly the same price as the actual hand-made fabrics. Only subsequently was the price dropped to reflect the cost of factory made fabrics. But the effect of the appearance of these fabrics—primarily from China– was to take a huge toll on the actual hand-dyed fabrics, which instantly became far less complex to be competitive.

In design the traditionally complex in tie & dye (and other hand-done processes) was replaced by the large & simple. In fact, there was a huge rage for discharge-dyed fabrics that followed on the introduction of factory made tie & dye fabrics. You know Discharge? That’s when the artisan, using bleach, spatters, squirts or dips already factory dyed fabrics in order to remove the color in those specific areas and which produces the resultant design. Although some of the results are beautiful, often there is little finesse and control and the product looks blotchy. Further, the bleach never stops “working” so the fabric is weakened where the bleach was applied.

I suppose that the fabrics imitating the tie & dye and other hand-decorated fabrics have been successful enough, as the companies continue to make them. But tie & dye—true or factory-made–has only ever had limited appeal in the public eye anyway. The same goes for other kinds of hand decorated fabrics. Which brings us around to your other question regarding why we see so little effect of African textiles and aesthetic sensibility in fashion and fabrics in the US.

The best of African contemporary fabrics demonstrate great sophistication regarding color & design, a push/pull in layers of layer & pattern that resembles the complexity of African poly-rhythms in its music. Further, many of the design patterns are large, and most Americans prefer to wear small close-fitting garments rather than the loose and full robes or wrap skirts one sees around the African continent.  The African fabric is designed with drapery in mind rather than couture.

Usually Euro-American designers prefer to make designs line up at the seams, which may be a little more difficult with large figured designs and which doesn’t concern the African couture where even whether the design is right side up or sideways doesn’t matter at all. Some people here don’t ever wear bright colors, much less the bold angular African patterns with subtle, complex arrangements of colors and designs . And while many people do wear all-over prints, one can only assume that either most people would just rather have an all over pattern of corporate logos, Donald Duck or tiny pink flowers, or that they only choose from what’s available.

People who do prefer bolder African type garments are challenged to find them, but there are designers and artisans who use those materials in creative and traditional ways. Good luck in your own fashion pursuits, and if you get a nice line of African fabric garments together for sale, pass along a link and we’ll share it around.

All Best,

Isa2