Fashion Style in East Africa
The Anatomy of Kanga
Kanga is not just like any other rectangular piece of cloth, no matter how colourful it may be. It is an artifact of the Swahili culture and as such it should be designed with extreme care to appeal to its users. A poorly designed kanga, or one that fails to match the season doesn't deserve the name and the best it can be used for could be as a kitchen apron or a baby diaper.
Although the kanga design might differ slightly, a typical kanga in East Africa consists of a wider border (Swahili: pindo), the central motif (Swahili: mji), and the writing (Swahili: ujumbe or jina). You can see some of these features by looking at kanga pictures on this website.
Different Styles
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So Last night I was reading my new Elle mag for the month of March and came across this new designer Max Osterweis, a 34-year-old screenwriter and film director from San Francisco whose clothing line is more inspired by his several trips he took to Kenya where his mother owns a house on Lamu island, Kenya.
His collection, Suno features cotton skirts, tops, fitted blazers, shorts, twisty headscarves, bikini, and shift dresses in vibrant prints made from East African kangas (printed cotton fabric) .He named his clothing line after his Mother and his designs cost from $95 for a bikini to about $595 for a tailored jacket or dress.
Many of the prints are printed with Swahili aphorisms that were originally worn to send messages to people such as “Watch your roosters, there’s a new hen in town.” or “The day a monkey is destined to die, all trees get slippery.”Car Offer for Today
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Aya Takagi
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