Talking about Nigerian fashion styles for ladies, Ankara wears comes to mind. Ankara was not African-born even though it looks the opposite as we have colonized it.
I did grow up seeing Ankara around me, my mother used it to back me when I was young and I also used it as cover cloth (thanks to our mothers that sew iro and buba then).
Ankara was useful for many things don’t get me wrong it is still useful. I even tie it to the bathroom as my towel (don’t wrinkle your nose, i no say no be only me waka come).
Possibly, the familiarization of Ankara and the assurance of its presence made some of us think or gave some of us the impression it originated in Africa. Let me take you back in time.
Once upon the 1800s, the Dutch colonised Indonesia for colonising sake (I don’t know the reason they colonised them). The Indonesians had an advanced method, an upgrade, of dyeing which they used to produce batik.
history of ankara - indonesia tie and die fashion
Batik fashion and style
The Dutch saw this method as a mundane method and so made cheap machine-made imitations of this beautiful batik.
The Indonesians refused for their heritage to be taken and so these imitations called Dutch wax prints did not do well in the Indonesian market.
Thanks to the Dutch stubbornness, they did not give up and started introducing these wax prints in West Africa ports. Oh my! We did love them, their beautiful tribal-like patterns created from the combination of different exciting colors.
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