Black Hair/Style Politics
new formations NUMBER 3 WINTER 1987 Kobena Mercer BLACK HAIR/STYLE POLITICS Some time ago Michael Jackson’s hair caught fire when he was filming a television commercial. Perhaps the incident became newsworthy because it brought together two seemingly opposed news-values: fame and misfortune. But judging by the way it was reported in one black community newspaper, […]
Textiles from Trees and Trash
Teleica Kirkland for Surface Design Journal, Winter 2021: The Solidarity Issue The production of textiles and clothing from sustainable materials has been happening amongst indigenous and marginalised people across the world for centuries. The archipelago of The Bahamas has a particularly unique history within the context of sustainable textiles that speak to this age-old practice […]
Cedella Marley at Caribbean Fashion Week
The 2012 Caribbean Fashion Week, held at the Jamaican National Stadium was a riot of colour and music. Despite still having teething problems surrounding event organisation and management, the show goes from strength to strength boasting big name performances from the likes of Estelle, Brian Mcknight and Konshens. So if we’re talking international fashion in […]
Crocus Bag
A Crocus bag (also known as a croker/ crocus sack, burlap sack, towsack, gunnysack, grass sack or barley sack depending on the region of North America) is a sack which was used for carrying goods and produce to and from plantations and market places. The sacks were often made of roughly woven and coarse horse […]
Review of Golden Spider Silk Exhibition
Having known a little bit about this exhibition I was intrigued to see exactly what on earth the deal was with this silk from spiders thing! Finding the tiny room that they’d put the exhibition in was a little bit of a challenge in the spiraling corridors of the V&A but eventually, I found it […]
Bogolanfini
Bogolanfini (also known as Bogolan or mud cloth) is a fabric indigenous to Mali in West Africa. Although made and used by many ethnic groups in this country the designs made by the Bambana people are the ones which have the most international recognition. The finished fabric is found in two forms mass produced and […]
Shema/ Ethiopian Cotton
Shema is Ethiopian cotton and the production of it is Ethiopia’s oldest industry. Traditionally the cotton was hand spun and woven on handlooms. Even though there is a significant part of the Ethiopian cotton industry that is now industrialised there are still a large number of rational hand spinners and weavers. Handpicked cotton is separated […]
Madras
Madras is the name given to a particular style of cotton fabric used in many places across the world and extensively by designers such as Ralph Lauren. Madras cotton is used to great effect in many of the Caribbean islands as the basis for their national costumes. The fabric originated in the Southeast region of India […]
The National Dress of Dominica
Well I started with our national wear, because as I teach the students we are of strong African heritage and Africans love colour. Colour played an important part in the choosing of the materials of our national wear. Now we have what we call the Madras which is Indian cloth but what we have today […]
Turks and Caicos
Name and description of item or character This is the National Costume of Turks and Caicos. The Turks and Caicos national costume is a fairly new one in the panoply of national costumes with its debut being made on the 1st June 2002. For the female the costume consists of a full shirted white dress […]