African Print is a cotton-based textile designed with vivacious colors, geometric patterns, indigenous symbols or seemingly random motifs. the term 'African print' encompasses a variety of similarly looking but differently produced fabrics which include Dutch wax print or hollandaise, Miltex wax, Java, and fancy prints such as Daviva.
As African prints emerges and now the new trend in fashion, one wonders where actually did it originate from?
Wax-print emerged when the Dutch colonized Java now known as Indonesia. Dutch merchants industrialized the techniques of making wax-resist batik, but found no demand in java or Europe for industrialized batik. While West Africans were receptive to wax-print, designs had to be modified to fit regional dress styles and tastes. European designers drew inspiration from indigenous African symbols and color schemes and, through serious market research, cultivated African patterns for wax-print textiles. By the late 1800s, Dutch, English, and French trading companies were rushing for west African textiles markets, and the prospect of profits from African print has attracted global trade ever since.
As said by Yinka Shonibare: " A picture of a pipe isn't necessarily a pipe, an image of "African Fabric" isn't necessarily authentically African".
In short, African print was a foreign- produced textile that integrated into African dress practices through marketing and cultural appropriation, and as its uses and local meanings have grown, so has international competition for its market. As a cultural commodity with production centers in Africa as well as Holland and China, African print is fraught with contradictions, characterized by cross-cultural exchange, and built on borrowed ideas.
Now, the African wax-print is making headlines as designer brands, like Burberry, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent explore the textile in their collections, and celebrities add bold print pieces to their wardrobes. This surge of interest in the West is also coupled with a textile revolution in African countries as businesses and designers are extending the use of wax-print to create beautiful pieces from clothing to shoes, accessories and many more.
I am proud to be an African.
