I had an unexpected trip to London on the 10th December. A friend asked if I’d like to go to the Africa Fashion exhibition at the V&A with her, as the friend who originally was going with her was unwell.
The exhibition was colourful and interesting and spanned the mid-20th century to the present day through textiles, music, photography and video.
Kente cloth comes from Ghana
I found that prints could be political, but also tribal, as well as influenced by colonialism. There were prints here with Dutch influence. I am a member of a Christian organisation known as The Mother’s Union, founded in Winchester back in the 1876, but the organisation now has global outreach and members. The members in Africa soon began designing a ‘uniform’. Just have a look at this blog page and the photos to see what I mean. In the UK we don’t have this. The nearest we get is a scarf or t-shirt from the merchandising shop in London, or if a representative goes on a visit to Africa, they might be presented with a dress to bring home. At talks, a member will bring one along if she has one. Of course, the African congregations living in London really know how to dress up! I love the colourfulness of them. It means so much to them to wear these dresses.
That is a little aside, but the textiles on show, reminded me of this and the pride Africans have in their designs and wearing them.
The images I have chosen to show here are mainly my personal favourites. The one above has a lovely line to it, and I love the colours.
Designed for the LGTBQI+ community
I hope you enjoyed your whistle-stop tour of African textiles with me. As we were leaving the V&A there was this rather lovely exhibit (see below), The Christmas Tree by Korean, Miss Sohee. Read about it here.
Nest Monday will be Boxing Day, so I won’t be posting then. Instead, I shall try and post something festive on Christmas Eve. Whatever you are doing this Christmas, have a lovely time.
My London+ 