At African Fashion Week Sandton, Botswana designer Keabetswe Mogatusi's Technicolour Dreamcoat glows beneath the bright lights of the runway. An eye-catching piece with bright geometric patterns, its design draws on traditional African craftsmanship, with a modern flair.
The statement coat is part of Mogatusi's Afro-Futurist collection and combines Malian fabrics, hemp-cotton blends and hand-painted textiles, the majority of which are sourced from within Africa. It is a bold, new vision of what African fashion can be when local materials and craftsmanship meet contemporary design. It represents a growing movement among designers to place African materials and craftsmanship at the centre of global fashion.
Across the continent, this movement is drawing renewed attention to Africa's rich textile heritage. From Nigeria's handwoven aso-oke and indigo-dyed adire to Burkina Faso's faso dan fani, traditional fabrics are being reimagined for modern consumers and runways around the world.
Nowhere is this more visible than in Burkina Faso, where faso dan fani (a handwoven cotton cloth once at risk of being crowded out by cheaper imports) has become both a fashion statement and an act of economic defiance. Woven in narrow strips on traditional looms, using cotton grown, spun and dyed within the country, the fabric carries a symbolism that predates its current popularity on the runway. In the 1980s, it was championed by revolutionary leaders as a mark of national self-sufficiency. Designers like François Yaméogo have since used it to create the contemporary silhouettes their models wear, tailoring it into jackets, blouses and skirts.
Originally published by African Business.