Ṣàwárí

Farming, iron, cloth and glass; the market system and the women who ran it; cowrie money; and the routes that tied Yorubaland to the Sahara and the Atlantic.

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.

The towns of the old Ọ̀yọ́ heartland and its northwestern frontier, Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ under the Sòun, and the Òǹkò country of Ìsẹ́yìn, Ṣakí, Ìgbòho, Kíṣí and Òkèhò.

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.

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.

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.

Handwoven textiles in pre-colonial Yorubaland operated as high-denomination currency, capital reserves, bridewealth payments, political tribute, and ancestral shrouds.

An analysis of how traditional Yoruba dress signals social rank, political office, moral character, and ceremonial occasion through textile hierarchies and sumptuary restrictions.

An examination of contemporary Yoruba textile production, tracing artisanal weaving in Iseyin and Oyo, resist-dyeing in Abeokuta and Osogbo, import competition, and modern design revivals.

A comprehensive historical account of Ìsẹ́yìn, examining its hunter-led founding traditions, the Àsèyìn dynastic lineage, imperial Ọ̀yọ́ integration, the 1916 anti-colonial rising, and its enduring role as a textile capital.

A comprehensive scholarly analysis of Yoruba narrow-strip aṣọ òkè weaving, examining loom technology, raw materials, classic typologies, historical production centers, museum provenance, and academic debates on origin, innovation, and restitution.

Construction methods, material stratigraphy, lineage ownership, and museum provenance debates surrounding Yoruba ancestral masquerade regalia.

An examination of Yoruba textile production, encompassing cotton fibre preparation, horizontal narrow-strip loom engineering, and the biochemistry of anaerobic indigo vat fermentation.

A guide to distinguishing four commonly conflated West African textiles by production technique, raw material, historical emergence, and social function.