Contemporary Yorùbá Fashion
How contemporary Nigerian designers rework aṣọ òkè, adìrẹ and Ankará into global fashion, the Lagos runway infrastructure that supports them, and the authenticity debates their work sits inside.
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How contemporary Nigerian designers rework aṣọ òkè, adìrẹ and Ankará into global fashion, the Lagos runway infrastructure that supports them, and the authenticity debates their work sits inside.
Machine na im translate dis page and no person don check am. The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, the meanings and the citations dey exactly as the original. Everything else fit wrong.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Modern Yorùbá fashion na the total design work, from the middle of the twentieth century reach today, wey dey take handwoven aṣọ òkè, indigo-dyed adìrẹ and imported Ankará wax print design dem again put for collections wey dem dey show for international stage, while still keeping the main-main technique and material dem make dem still show as Yorùbá. E cut across well-known designers wey dey Lagos and diaspora, one institutional runway system wey dem build up since 2011, and argument wey still dey go on about which textile for that system fit really count as authentic Yorùbá. This file cover the designers, the Lagos Fashion Week infrastructure wey dey show their work, and the argument about authenticity. The loom traditions, named prestige cloth dem and general history of aṣọ òkè and adìrẹ dey inside [[arts-textiles]], and e go deep inside [[aso-oke-in-depth]] and [[adire-in-depth]]; those two file also cover Amaka Osakwe label Maki Oh and Nike Davies-Okundaye revival work well-well, so we no repeat dem here. The aṣọ ẹbí group-dress economy dey inside [[aso-ebi-and-social-dress]], and wetin gèlè dey do inside am dey inside [[gele-and-the-headwrap]].
Aṣọ òkè, the handwoven narrow-strip cloth wey dem describe full-full inside [[aso-oke-in-depth]], historically na stiff, heavy fabric wey fit ceremonial agbádá and ìró. Two designers show two different ways wey contemporary fashion don follow take make am wearable outside that ceremonial style.
Kenneth Ize na Nigerian designer wey dey work directly with weaving cooperatives around Ilọrin for Kwara State, one of the historic aṣọ òkè weaving centre dem. E dey source handwoven strip cloth and dey introduce non-traditional yarn, including wool and metallic thread, join the weave before e cut the cloth into Western-style suits, coats and shirts . For 2019, e dey among the eight finalists for the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, the first year wey designer based for Africa reach that final round, along with South African designer Thebe Magugu; the 2019 prize itself na Israeli designer Hed Mayner win am, Ize no win am . Ize do im first runway show for Paris Fashion Week for February 2020, and Victoria and Albert Museum for London buy one Kenneth Ize ensemble wey dem show for their 2022 exhibition Africa Fashion .
Deola Sagoe, wey dem born as Adeola Ade-Ojo for Ondo State for 1966, don dey design clothes since 1989 and e develop one signature technique wey dem dey call Komole. For this technique, dem dey re-weave aṣọ òkè with finer, soft silk thread to produce lighter fabric wey fit bridal and evening wear instead of the traditional stiff ceremonial weight . News and reports about Komole first collection dey give different years, some talk say na 2012, others talk say na 2013, and no single source dey confirmed as the authentic one on the exact date, so dem only put am here as early 2010s . Dem invite Sagoe make she represent Nigeria for UN World Food Programme Catwalk the World: Fashion for Food campaign, wey be WFP awareness initiative instead of formal design honour, and she stage solo runway presentation dem for New York and Cape Town .
Another contemporary way no dey work with handwoven cloth but with Ankará, the machine-printed wax cloth wey dem describe further below. Lisa Folawiyo start im label for 2005, wey dem first know as Jewel by Lisa before e come carry im own name later. E build the brand identity on top hand-embellishment of factory-printed Ankará with beads, sequins and crystals wey hand sew for Lagos workshops, wey turn cheap imported textile into luxury good wey require plenty hand-work . Dem don show im work for Lagos, Johannesburg, London, Paris, Milan and New York, and some pieces dey inside Victoria and Albert Museum textile and fashion collection .
Adebayo Oke-Lawal start the menswear label Orange Culture for 2011. The brand dey use West African textiles, including aṣọ òkè and adìrẹ, wey dem cut into fluid, loose-draped silhouette dem wey deliberately scatter the tight, rigid tailored menswear standard wey British colonial administration bring enter Nigeria, and e don turn reference point for international discussion about gender-nonconforming African fashion . Orange Culture reach semi-finalist position for the 2014 LVMH Prize, out of over 1,200 applicants wey dem reduce to 29 semi-finalists that year; na semi-finalist position be this, one round before the finalist round wey Kenneth Ize reach for 2019, and make person no mix the two together .
Bubu Ogisi, na Lagos-born designer wey go school for Accra and Paris, e start the label IAMISIGO, wey dey work with local artisan communities across West Africa on ancient textile techniques as part of im design process. But sources no consistently separate which of im collections specifically use Yorùbá aṣọ òkè or adìrẹ instead of other regional West African textiles, so we no claim that difference here .
Duro Olowu, wey dem born for Lagos to Nigerian papa and Jamaican mama, move go Britain when e dey sixteen, train for law, and launch im eponymous London-based label for 2004, wey make am regular name for London Fashion Week . E win British Fashion Council New Designer of the Year for 2005 and Best International Designer for African Fashion Awards for 2009. Michelle Obama, wey be First Lady of the United States that time, wear im designs and hire am to re-design the White House Vermeil Room for 2015, and dem put im name inside the 2019 Powerlist of the hundred most influential Black Britons . Fashion press describe im work for how e dey use bold, mixed pattern wey e take from West African market fabric, although, just like Ogisi, sources describe this one for general terms instead of naming aṣọ òkè or adìrẹ specifically, so this file no claim any textile attribution wey pass wetin the sources support.
Lagos Fashion Week start for 2011 through Omoyemi Akerele, one former Nigerian fashion editor wey don already set up Style House Files for 2008, wey be agency for developing fashion industry . For plenty years dem know di event with di longer name Lagos Fashion and Design Week, and dis name still dey show for media reports reach 2017, before people come dey call am Lagos Fashion Week generally; no single source fit confirm di exact year wey di name shorten, so dem record am here without exact date . Di event dey serve as institutional bridge between local weaving and dyeing centres with international retail and media, and designers like Kenneth Ize, Lisa Folawiyo and Orange Culture don display collections for dere wey use aṣọ òkè and adìrẹ wey dem get from named regional producers.
Ankará, wey dem also dey call Dutch wax print, na cotton cloth wey machine print, wey people strongly connect with West African dressing, but no be West Africa dem originally manufacture am. Di origin trace back to time wey Dutch textile companies try to produce imitation Javanese batik with machine make dem fit sell for Dutch East Indies. Di Helmond, Netherlands company wey later become Vlisco start for 1846; di imitation batik wey dem print with machine no sell well for Indonesian markets because local buyers prefer original hand-made batik and dem fit know di difference . Aside dat one, West African soldiers wey serve for Dutch colonial army for East Indies for nineteenth century bring batik cloth come house as valuable import, and dis one create natural demand for West Africa wey make Dutch manufacturers, especially Vlisco, redirect their unsold Indonesian-market stock come West Africa from di 1880s go front . After dat, people for di region adopt di cloth, give am new names and meaning as dem use am pass one century, even inside Yorùbá contexts, reach level say plenty people wey dey wear am today no even know say na foreign country manufacture am.
Two scholars don write directly about wetin dat one century of adoption mean for di status of di cloth. Nina Sylvanus, inside Patterns in Circulation: Cloth, Gender, and Materiality in West Africa (University of Chicago Press, 2016), use fieldwork wey she do with Togolese cloth traders argue say di colonial manufacturing origin of wax print no stop am from becoming authentic West African material through di naming, trading and social practices wey people don build around am since dat time . Victoria L. Rovine, inside African Fashion, Global Style: Histories, Innovations, and Ideas You Can Wear (Indiana University Press, 2015), look into how African designers dey use both imported and indigenous textiles as raw material for modern fashion wey get distinct African style, as she treat di question of where textile come from as separate matter from di question of which fashion culture dey claim and work am . Against dis one, some designers and craft advocates argue say as people dey continue depend on imported, factory-made Ankará, even when e be Yorùbá-worn, e dey carry money and prestige comot from artisan-produced aṣọ òkè and adìrẹ, wey their weavers and dyers depend on dat demand for their livelihood; dis na active disagreement inside di industry no be matter wey scholars don settle, and dis work no dey judge di matter.
Another different debate dey about how fashion houses outside Africa dey use wax-print-style patterns without involving African designers, producers, or markets. Di case wey dem record pass na Stella McCartney Spring 2018 collection, wey dem show for Paris Fashion Week for October 2017, wey use wax-print-style patterns wey resemble everyday West African market cloth well-well on top runway wey feature only one Black African model; di show draw public criticism, including from culture publication OkayAfrica, wey describe am as extraction of West African textile aesthetics without West African participation, and McCartney team respond say di collection involve collaboration with Vlisco . Because di history of Ankará na about Dutch company wey redirect Indonesian-market stock come West Africa, as explained above, di appropriation question here get many layers and no be simple matter: critics argue say di objection no be about Vlisco historic role, but na Western runway house wey dey make profit from patterns wey people recognize as West African street and market wear, while African designers wey dey do similar or even more technical work with di same textile family dey get far less runway access and media attention.
The two Yoruba loom traditions and who works them, the named prestige cloths, the full range of adire resist-dyeing and the indigo behind it, the industry's collapse in the 1930s and its revival, and why everyone at a Nigerian wedding is dressed alike.
How Yorùbá men's and women's garments combine into a complete ensemble, and how the resulting silhouette communicates character, status, and occasion.
A technical study of aṣọ òkè, the Yoruba narrow-strip prestige cloth, covering the ọfì loom's parts and mechanics, dye and fiber chemistry, structural weaving techniques, and the named regional centers that produce it.
A technical and social study of adìrẹ, Yoruba indigo resist-dyed cloth, covering the resist techniques and their makers, indigo chemistry, named designs, the regional schools of Abẹ́òkúta, Ìbàdàn and Òṣogbo, and the twentieth-century revival led by Nike Davies-Okundaye and the contemporary market.
Aṣọ ẹbí is the Yoruba institution of buying and wearing identical cloth as a family, association, or friendship group at a celebration, and the economic and social system built around that single act of coordinated dress.
The Yoruba women's headwrap, its meaning as the crown of the female ensemble, its textile choices, its named tying styles from the 1960s onward, the modern professional gele-tying trade, and its central role in the aṣọ ẹbí group-dress economy.