My trademark is beadwork. - Ere Dappa
When Yoruba artisans painstakingly hand beaded shoes, bags, and vests for royalty and diviners centuries ago, chances are they didn't think their art would transcend time and place to emerge as crafted mini dresses on the runways of New York. Yet, when Ere Dappa showed her S/S 2012 'Sun-sation' collection in New York, it seemed to invoke a strong heritage of history, art, and crafstmanship.
'Sun-sation' isn't print for the sake of print - it's print from a new perspective, with beads adorning the entire surface area of several pieces, elevating ankara and infusing it with a multi-dimensional brilliance. It takes Africa's ubiquitous wax prints and turns them into living, breathing works of art - no mean feat for a textile that has gone from obscure in some circles, to over-exposed.
Silhouettes were kept simple with shift dresses taking centre stage in colours ranging from gold, to pink and white in particular, with one dress combining multiple colourways (brown, pink, blue, gold, white), a maze of beadwork around each pattern and a low cut back. While one can't help but wonder how more intricate shapes would respond to Ere Dappa's trademark beading, there's no doubt that there's elegance in simplicity and Ere Dappa is one of Africa's most sensational.
- SLiq
Photos courtesy of thefashionisette
3 comments:
The beadwork is exceptional but wax print has started to leave me cold, no matter how painstakingly embellished.
Exceptional!!! (3x) But I think what would be even better is to bead *Ankara* on plain fabric, you know be able to bead all that squiggly patterns and uneven dots onto a plain fabric to give it an Ankara look from afar.
@ Anon: Hmmmm, I feel that way sometimes (especially when cuts are not far reaching enough), but I'm eager to touch and feel these pieces. They seem to have that little extra.
@ Amina: OOOOOH, what an idea! Sounds like it would be time consuming to innovate on that level and then embellish, but it's also such a great idea. Hope someone takes a stab at this soon.
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