Contemporary African Fashion

Contents

Introduction Suzanne Gott and Kristyne Loughran 1 The Ghanaian Kaba: Fashion That Sustains Culture S uz an n e G ot t 11 The Visual City: Tailors, Creativity, and Urban Life in Dakar, Senegal J oan na G r ab sk i 29 Secondhand Clothing and Fashion in Africa K a r en T r an b er g Han s en 39 Fashion, Not Weather: A Rural Primer of Style El i sab e th L . Cam er o n 53 Contemporary Wedding Fashions in Lagos, Nigeria El i s ha P. R en n e 67 contents 1 2 3 4 5 Part One. Fashion within the African Continent Part two. African Fashion Designers 6 7 African Fashion: Design, Identity, and History Vi cto r ia L . R ovi n e 89 Using the Past to Sculpt the Costume of the Future: An Interview with Kandioura Coulibaly Jan e t G o l d n er 105 Foreword by Joanne B. Eicher ix Acknowledgments xiii La Sape Exposed! High Fashion among Lower-Class Congolese Youth: From Colonial Modernity to Global Cosmopolitanism D i d i er G o n d o l a 157 Have Cloth—Will Travel K r i st yn e Lo u gh r an 175 Dressing Somali (Some Assembly Required) H e ath er Ma r i e Ako u 191 Translating African Textiles into U.S. Fashion Design: Brenda Winstead and Damali Afrikan Wear L es l i e W. R ab i n e 205 Further Readings 221 List of Contributing Authors 227 8 9 10 11 12 13 Intersecting Creativities: Oumou Sy’s Costumes in the Dakar Landscape H u d ita N u r a M u stafa 123 From Cemetery to Runway: Dress and Identity in Highland Madagascar R eb ecca L . G r een 139 Part three. African Fashion in the Diaspora Figure 0.1. Women dressed up for a “kitchen party” (bridal shower) in Lusaka, Zambia, 2002. Photograph by Karen Tranberg Hansen. ...