African Fashion Is The New Look Of Globalism -- And It's Ravishing

African Fashion Is The New Look Of Globalism -- And It's Ravishing

Jonathon Keats , Contributor

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The story begins in the textile markets of the Dutch East Indies. In the 1850s, manufacturers from Holland developed technology to mass-produce traditional Indonesian batik, which they hoped to export to the colony. Indonesians rejected the fabric as inauthentic, so the Dutch shipped their material to the other end of the empire, where it found a ready market with Ghanaian soldiers who'd served in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army.

Nouvelle Histoire Collection, 2011. Made by Vlisco, Helmond, Netherlands. Photograph by Carmen Kemmink. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Over time, patterns morphed to meet West African tastes. They became brighter, more geometric and more symbolically loaded, and they were associated with Africa to an ever increasing extent. Today the identification is so strong that European designers including Valentino and Prada use them as shorthand for Africanism. A new exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art stands as a welcome correction, revealing their fascinatingly complex origin.
Focused on Vlisco, the leading manufacturer of African-patterned Dutch wax fabrics – and the only surviving company with 19th-century roots – the exhibit connects the storied past with the vibrant present. Vlisco produces dozens of new patterns every year, created by a cosmopolitan group of designers from both Europe and Africa, and sold to an international market.

Dazzling Graphics Collection, 2011. Made by Vlisco, Helmond, Netherlands. Photograph by Fritz Kok. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Although few wearers know the worldly origins of Dutch wax fabrics – and some people persist in calling them "tribal" – their visual sophistication spectacularly embodies the beauty of cultural and economic exchange. As the Western world succumbs to monochromatic isolationism, and international cooperation falls out of fashion, African patterns stand out as banners of globalism. Who could possibly resist?