How then is this currently changing in light of global fashion trends meeting local cloth traditions in rural African communities? And what is the role of emerging technologies in populating these trends locally?
In rural farming communities of southern Mozambique it is custom that for special social events a group of women chooses a particular cloth design that is worn during the event and then gifted to the person that is being celebrated. It is a way of retaining memory and expressing a sense of social identity: an ‘imprint’ of a special day in the form of a printed cloth. I once asked a young woman who showed me one of these cloths that was gifted to her during a celebration if she would keep it to remember the event. She said that she already took a picture of it with her mobile phone and that was how she would remember the occasion (Field Research, 2016, I-AJ-25.1.16). Although this story still suggests a seemingly symbolic worth of the cloth that is photographed, it also serves to demonstrate how emerging technologies have replaced an element of human-material interaction that previously represented part of a cultural practice.
Interviews and conversations with women of different age groups revealed a noticeable difference in their perceived value of the cloths as objects worth preserving. Young women showed a clear tendency to dispose of their fabrics when they began to show signs of wear and tear or were no longer desirable. The older women on the other hand still preserve their cloths as a way to pass on memories to the next generation. Their recollections of events, dates and people in connection with each of the fabrics were of remarkable detail (Field Research, 2016, I-JM-13.1.16/ I-LM-21.1.16/ I-SC-9.1.16). This may point to a shifting perception of print fabrics from a ‘cultural object’ towards a ‘commercial’ one, a tendency that has been described by Anne Thorpe as an increasing ‘materialism’ in the age of mass consumption. ‘In our century we are largely lacking the commonly accepted social rituals and other social markers that historically supported personal identity, cultural meaning, and community coherence’.(Thorpe, 2007:129) These changes, Thorpe suggests, lead to an increasing expression of identity through materialism that is defined in a sense by the quality and material value of the artefact over its functionality and purpose in the context of local social structures.
When the Fashion Designer Nivaldo Thierry featured a new collection of dresses made from a ‘traditional’ Mozambican print fabric a few years ago, tailors literally sprung up over night on almost every street corner in Maputo (Carrilho, Sol, 2015). When I asked some of the young women from the village which print design was most special to them, many mentioned the ‘Impala’ design featured in Nivaldo’s collection (Field Research, 2016, I-G-28.1.16). Today the tailoring of print fabrics into dresses and accessories is increasingly replacing the use of textiles in their own right and is turning them into raw materials for the fashion industry. Although the tailoring undoubtedly holds potential for new opportunities to express identity and create cultural values, it also shifts the focus from the textile as an autonomous cultural object. Younger generations are much less concerned with the kind of message a textile design can potentially hold so long as it is aesthetically pleasing and fits the current fashion trend (Field Research, 2016, I-AJ-25.1.16 / I-G-28.1.16 / FB-CK-2 / 5).
Some sources may lead to argue that factory printed cloth in Africa has always been a ‘fashion’ rather than a ‘traditional’ object. ‘In late eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century Mozambique the fashion for Indian cottons changed seasonally and merchants conveyed these shifts in taste back to weavers and cloth finishers in Gujarat who produced the new varieties at a rapid rate.’ (Riello and Parthasarathi, 2009:7)Tailoring cloth has been an important part of cultural expression in some regions of Africa historically.However, these forms of expression I would argue sprung from specific regional practices and changing trends were based on a direct cross cultural interchange, whereas today they are defined by a more global image. Companies such as Vlisco have dramatically increased their turn over of producing new patterns to stay ahead of mounting Chinese competition (Sylvanus in Tranberg Hansen, 2013:30). Designs are now flooding the market and are rapidly circulated across and beyond the continent. Where younger people do not already drift towards urban centres, new technologies such as mobile phones are beginning to bring global fashion identities directly into rural communities where they affect local cloth traditions.
In light of these changes this study argues that consumer demand no longer has the same power of agency to make African print fabrics relevant to their local context. Instead they are circulated across digital global networks with ever increasing speed and their popular use in fashion contributes to an emerging African stereotype. With this exposure to a new consumer culture, consumer demand is no longer value driven and able to serve locally relevant needs, but increasingly material driven, aiming to satisfy material desires defined by global fashion identities. This shift could be clearly observed through changing perceptions on the value of cloth in rural communities in Mozambique. And yet, an evident interest amongst the women who participated in field interviews to discuss, promote and rediscover the cultural value of their print fabrics confirmed the importance of preserving and re-creating a sense of local identity.
How then could African print fabrics be designed to encourage different kinds of material interactions and behaviours of meaning? And could a mainstream commercial market become a useful vehicle to circulate such designs and make them widely accessible?
Global mass consumption
How then is this currently changing in light of global fashion trends meeting local cloth traditions in rural African communities? And what is the role of emerging technologies in populating these trends locally?
In rural farming communities of southern Mozambique it is custom that for special social events a group of women chooses a particular cloth design that is worn during the event and then gifted to the person that is being celebrated. It is a way of retaining memory and expressing a sense of social identity: an ‘imprint’ of a special day in the form of a printed cloth. I once asked a young woman who showed me one of these cloths that was gifted to her during a celebration if she would keep it to remember the event. She said that she already took a picture of it with her mobile phone and that was how she would remember the occasion (Field Research, 2016, I-AJ-25.1.16). Although this story still suggests a seemingly symbolic worth of the cloth that is photographed, it also serves to demonstrate how emerging technologies have replaced an element of human-material interaction that previously represented part of a cultural practice.
Interviews and conversations with women of different age groups revealed a noticeable difference in their perceived value of the cloths as objects worth preserving. Young women showed a clear tendency to dispose of their fabrics when they began to show signs of wear and tear or were no longer desirable. The older women on the other hand still preserve their cloths as a way to pass on memories to the next generation. Their recollections of events, dates and people in connection with each of the fabrics were of remarkable detail (Field Research, 2016, I-JM-13.1.16/ I-LM-21.1.16/ I-SC-9.1.16). This may point to a shifting perception of print fabrics from a ‘cultural object’ towards a ‘commercial’ one, a tendency that has been described by Anne Thorpe as an increasing ‘materialism’ in the age of mass consumption. ‘In our century we are largely lacking the commonly accepted social rituals and other social markers that historically supported personal identity, cultural meaning, and community coherence’. (Thorpe, 2007:129) These changes, Thorpe suggests, lead to an increasing expression of identity through materialism that is defined in a sense by the quality and material value of the artefact over its functionality and purpose in the context of local social structures.
When the Fashion Designer Nivaldo Thierry featured a new collection of dresses made from a ‘traditional’ Mozambican print fabric a few years ago, tailors literally sprung up over night on almost every street corner in Maputo (Carrilho, Sol, 2015). When I asked some of the young women from the village which print design was most special to them, many mentioned the ‘Impala’ design featured in Nivaldo’s collection (Field Research, 2016, I-G-28.1.16). Today the tailoring of print fabrics into dresses and accessories is increasingly replacing the use of textiles in their own right and is turning them into raw materials for the fashion industry. Although the tailoring undoubtedly holds potential for new opportunities to express identity and create cultural values, it also shifts the focus from the textile as an autonomous cultural object. Younger generations are much less concerned with the kind of message a textile design can potentially hold so long as it is aesthetically pleasing and fits the current fashion trend (Field Research, 2016, I-AJ-25.1.16 / I-G-28.1.16 / FB-CK-2 / 5).
Some sources may lead to argue that factory printed cloth in Africa has always been a ‘fashion’ rather than a ‘traditional’ object. ‘In late eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century Mozambique the fashion for Indian cottons changed seasonally and merchants conveyed these shifts in taste back to weavers and cloth finishers in Gujarat who produced the new varieties at a rapid rate.’ (Riello and Parthasarathi, 2009:7) Tailoring cloth has been an important part of cultural expression in some regions of Africa historically. However, these forms of expression I would argue sprung from specific regional practices and changing trends were based on a direct cross cultural interchange, whereas today they are defined by a more global image. Companies such as Vlisco have dramatically increased their turn over of producing new patterns to stay ahead of mounting Chinese competition (Sylvanus in Tranberg Hansen, 2013:30). Designs are now flooding the market and are rapidly circulated across and beyond the continent. Where younger people do not already drift towards urban centres, new technologies such as mobile phones are beginning to bring global fashion identities directly into rural communities where they affect local cloth traditions.
In light of these changes this study argues that consumer demand no longer has the same power of agency to make African print fabrics relevant to their local context. Instead they are circulated across digital global networks with ever increasing speed and their popular use in fashion contributes to an emerging African stereotype. With this exposure to a new consumer culture, consumer demand is no longer value driven and able to serve locally relevant needs, but increasingly material driven, aiming to satisfy material desires defined by global fashion identities. This shift could be clearly observed through changing perceptions on the value of cloth in rural communities in Mozambique. And yet, an evident interest amongst the women who participated in field interviews to discuss, promote and rediscover the cultural value of their print fabrics confirmed the importance of preserving and re-creating a sense of local identity.
How then could African print fabrics be designed to encourage different kinds of material interactions and behaviours of meaning? And could a mainstream commercial market become a useful vehicle to circulate such designs and make them widely accessible?
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