African Textiles

Both men and women dye cloth and stamp or weave designs into textiles used for clothing. Like jewelry, textiles may be used to indicate social status or group membership. Among the Akan of western Africa, only royalty were allowed to wear a fabric known as Kente cloth. The earliest surviving examples of Kente cloth date from the 16th century; they consist of woven strips of blue- and-white silk sewn together. This cloth signified the wearer’s status and through its patterns might also allude to a proverb or a historic event. Today, a more brightly colored version of Kente cloth is popular among all social classes.

About these ads