“Is it amnesia or do we just not know how it started”- my favorite quote, amazingly, it came from my grandma not Einstein and she was talking about fashion < not your Vivienne Westwood evening gown – my fellow unpatriotic child!!!>rather your Ankara {yes, same old Ankara, the one you locked up in that dusty cupboard all those years}.How did we all end up loving and embracing this truly versatile fabric? More importantly how did my big sister, Ronke, move from those oversized Cinderella-dresses she wore when she was 5 to these beautiful blends of African fashion {I mean the really expensive Tiffany Amber dress she bought last week!!!} that makes us all feel truly African ? How did we move from those routine and boring looking “iro-and-bubas” and those hideous and scary “gele’s” to today’s Ankara skirt suits and hand bags?Well, we’ll all be answering that and since I never walk alone, my best friend Deen and I will take you on a tour of “what we think happened” with a couple of answers from fashionistas. But that’s later on…..guess who we questioned?? No? Yes…Just keep reading!!!               Humorous beginnings:

The Ankara fabric, formerly referred to as Dutch Wax from Holland, only became known as “Ankara” when the Turks started making a cheaper version. Interestingly enough, Nigeria, being such a vast and insatiable market, encouraged the birth of entrepreneurial fabric magnates. Back in the very early 60s, Mrs. H.I.D. Awolowo was among the very first to import and sell lace fabrics; the Okunowo Brothers were the primary importers of damask in the late 50s and early 60s; and PZ, UAC and Zabadne and Co. were also the primary importers of Dutch Wax and later Ankara in the 70s.

Because of the popularity of the light-weight and colorful nature of the Dutch Wax/Ankara fabric, local Nigerian manufacturers decided to have a go at it. Due to the competition of the various companies that brought it in, the sheer volume of consumption particularly along the West African coast forced the local production to accelerate.        But alas, unfair trading and smuggling by individuals as well as companies forced the suffocation of local production.

Ankara was the western rival to the ‘adire’ cloth but because the dye was faster and did not stain as much, the locals abandoned their own fabric in favor of the more colorful version from Europe.

It appears Nigeria, and many parts of fashion-savvy Africa, have taken over other people’s inventions (fabrics), improved on them and re-presented them to the world.     The world gives us these things and we then put a glamorous spin on it and voila! Think Jewel By Lisa, and what she’s done with Ankara.

My view on all this is that Nigerian fashion is not so much about being authentically Nigerian as about improving on other people’s ideas and infusing an element of something unique, colorful and sometimes seemingly outrageous, and thereby transforming it into something PROUDLY AFRICAN. So who’s the inventor of our fashion – colonial curtain owner or floppy gele woman? You decide.

Those that made it happen – the designers!!!The fortunes of Ankara have changed; the fabric is now worn by the high and mighty. It now comes in several natty designs and the good thing is that, you don’t have to empty your account before you are able to get one.Though the good ones are expensive, either expensive or not, when a good designer does justice to an Ankara fabric as an entity or stylishly mixed with other fabrics, people will certainly appreciate the result. In other words, the finished product depends on the designer; in fact it is the designer that would determine whether your Ankara would look cheap or out of this world.Designers that helped reinvented the Ankara include Cranberry, Aimas, I-delicious, Xuly Bet, Tiffany Amber, MoMo, Lunar, Gloss and so many more…What we think – professional opinions!!!

Wow!!! Now that was enlightening. But since we still can’t point at what exactly makes us love the Ankara so much, I and my best friend/pet Deen have interviewed a couple of “fashion icons” and they had this to say:

“I’m petrified!!! I’ve never really thought of it!!! But I believe its cause of its versatile character…you can make it into anything you want –from suits to hand bags –’’ Jennifer Jude, JJ Make Up & Beads“Well, Nigerians came to love it when they became forced to put up with it. The last government maximized the importation of fabrics, so we had to make something out of it??” - T.A.‘Dolapo”, Fashion Designer“Yeah!!! The fabric is fantastic, it’s probably because of its soft texture, versatility and the unending possibility for color combination, we get to wear it a lot during summer” - Kunmie Ogunsola, Manchester, UK“I guess because it is different from other materials in texture and design.

There are different styles you can do with the Ankara, so anytime a lady sees a design that she feels only a silk material can survive that design, it shows elegant creativity” -  Menax Chidozie, Dallas, TX

“Maybe because it’s easy to maintain and is rather affordable?” -  Darcel Lemone, Hair Stylist, NY

‘Ankara’ – renaissance of the rejected stone!!!

It was the fabric that the poor embraced while the rich bought clothes off the hanger in   shops. It was also the dresses made with Ankara and its related sister like ‘adire’ that people wore to lowly parties. It was also the fabric reserved for cultural festivities that did not come near a red carpet event. It was the fabric that people felt were too flowery, too busy and sometimes too colorful. It was the fabric that ran when washed and didn’t look anything glamorous. If anything, it was the fabric that was not only indigenous but considered local to be taken serious.That was a couple of years ago. All that has changed as our designers through a dint of hard work and persistence in spite of rejection put Ankara on Nigeria catwalk. Today, like the biblical rejected stone, the Ankara has become the cornerstone of fashion. The bright colors which was once a reason for rejection is now our strong point. Today, Africans are identified with brightness, vivacity, fun and life and these bright colors attest to that.With Ankara, there is no end to its possibilities. Ankara today, not only graces catwalks across the continent but also many red carpets.  Some designers love it to the point of creating under wears from Ankara, and why not?With all this information, we can only realize that there are way too many reasons why we love the ‘Ankara Fabric’. But seriously, why do you?

The year 2009 has seen the Ankara reach some of it’s greatest, showcasing at Vlisco Urban Beat, The African Collective in New York Fashion Week & even British Vogue Magazine getting in on the trend.Check back soon, for images of these events. 

- Adegoke ‘Zoe’ Olubusi.