OPCNAIRALAND:


Ok, let me give you the chronology.

Dutch manufactured it for Indonesia. It was not a success there. They brought it to West Africa, Ghana to be specific...it did not succeed. Yorubas put ankara to world stage via ASO EBI.

Back when owambe was owambe, in the 70s, Im looking at my grandma picture on the wall in her velvet and gold jewelries and grandpa in his damask as i type. . Back when party happened every weekend in Palmgrove, Isale Eko, Epetedo, Lafiaji, Ilubirin, Surulere, Shitta, Eko Club, Shell Club, Lagos Island Club, Lagos Tennis Club, Mushin, Yaba, Ebute Meta, ..... back when Shagamu, Ijebu Ode, Ayetoro, ....

Mr Man, una don spoil Yorubaland for us!

Back when my people go party and block five roads just for one party, and you have three or four live bands there entertaining...which kind food you want, which kind drinks, campari sef na free pick which bottle you want.

Back then...Yoruba's choice of fabric for aso ebi is Sanyan, Etu and Alaari, Damask, Velvet, Lace, Satin, Guinea. Nobody dey wear ankara go party. Who wear lace pass Yoruba? We get am for different color and pattern and each has its own name. Yorubaland don baje nau, e no dey like before. How about damask, we get different pattern and shades. So for velvet. You go see velvet for soyoyo body your blood go hot as you go see say the baby set well well.

We dey wear ankara for Yorubaland before civil war sef...but like I said go look at Yoruba picture in the 60s and see if you spot anybody put ankara for body take snap picture. Ankara na play cloth, na something mommy go wear because she dey kitchen and no wan soil her good clothes. Shey u get?

When textile importation tight and economy don baje it became hard to get damask and lace and other expensive stuffs. I no even mention gele sef. That one is a whole book on its own. But as importation and economy and crime spoilt everything, buying expensive and wearing expensive to party lost its taste. Yoruba will never stop owambe...never never never never, and aso ebi will never ever ever stop either...but we reinvented the scene.

Its true we did not invent it but each ethnic group can be differentiated in the motif and pattern of ankara worn by them. If you look around today what you see are the Yoruba patterns. We reinvented ankara and made it the preferred stock of aso ebi.

Yorubas have also been very stylish. We put styles in ankara that no one ever thought of....we turned it from street hawkers wear and took into the corporate rooms.

We put ankara on the catwalk...you hear me? Ankara is what it is today because of Yoruba cultural influence. Even Hausa that does not wear ankara have bought into it and are wearing it now. Ibo has taken it to another level by turning it into a billboard.

I hope I answered your question.

pazienza:


You need full psychological examination.
We are talking about Ankara, not Adure or whatever. Stay on topic.
Most Igbos don't know about your Adire, what we know and wear are Ankara.

Onijagidijagan:

Can u add it to Biafra land? even ojukcrook ur warlord did not and will never.
All ur properties in SW are our own Hahaha hahaha.

Y'all will be begging us at d end...cuz we've captured y'all completely.

pazienza:


Didn't read that.
Another pile of Yoruba falsehood and propaganda.
I think I would pass.
Ankara remains an Indonesian invention, modified and re introduced into West Africa by the Europeans.
It had nothing to do with Yorubas.

My great grand mother lived all her life in Ogidi, and she had many "Akara" materials. She knew no Yoruba trash.

Kagawa10:


Lmao! How is Akara an Ibo word?

I repeat that it's Yoruba crafts! Do tell me if the one displayed by the Op where some Ibo men were printed on the attire were brought in from Europe?

Yoruba started the art and are known to wear it. They may have incorporated some foreign techniques but it's still theirs!

OPCNAIRALAND:


same technology, wax print! One is batik process, the other is the tie process. Both uses wax to create negatives.

Even adire sef don join ankara on catwalk. After we tire for ankara we go jump back on adire now.

pazienza:


I don't know what is Adire and I honestly don't care to know, since it's Afonja related. I only know of Ankara, and Ankara remains an Indonesian- Dutch clothing invention.

pazienza:


Ankara is called "Akara" in Igbo language. It's still imported from abroad till this day.
" Ofulu ozu atu nkwe" is what we call it in Ogidi.
Anyone can print them these days. I figure there must be factories doing the printing of those pics on the Akara scattered all over Nigeria including Igboland these days.

OPCNAIRALAND:


Dont worry, when we reinvent adire your billboard crazed politicians will teach it to you. You shall wear an adire with picture Ojuku on the @$$, Kanu in front, Okorocha on one sleeve, Kaalu on the other, Nwobodo on the right knee and Ikpeazu on the left knee.

Sanchez01:

Ignorantly? Not in the least of ways! I'm Urhobo and I know we don't come close to the Benins and Edos when it comes to beads.

Google should help you as well.

Kagawa10:


Lmao!

Just accept that you goofed!

Ankara/adire is Yoruba art copying the Dutch. As simple as ABC!

galeiiTNA:




Ankara is Dutch. Go back to wearing leaves that your likes wore before colonization

AjiereTuwo:
Is obiano soliciting for yoruba votes in anambra?

Kagawa10:
Lmao! Akara isn't an Ibo word!
As a matter of fact, we gave it that name because it's Yoruba who wore it, cos it's similar to our adire and now, we've modified/tailored our Adire to the style. Go to Ibadan and you would see several kind of Ankara made in the place!
Adire/Ankara is Yoruba's, not Ibos!

laudate:


Guy, thanks for those pictures. You just hit the nail on the head. You can see that the Igbo bride there is wearing the Edo/Bini head dress called the Okuku. Even the man beside her holding the fan (who I assume is the bridegroom) is wearing a 'danshiki', which is not even an Igbo attire!

Like I keep asking, someone should show me the authentic Igbo bridal attire. What exactly does it look like??



Egbon, I agree that the Yoruba have adopted and popularised the Ankara, to the extent that they can now lay some claim of 'ownership' to it. Even when the textile mills in Lagos, Ibadan etc., were running, many of them were producing & churning out Ankara fabric by the dozen. Till today, Dangote's Textile Mills located in the South West still produces local Ankara fabric.

But in truth, Ankara or Dutch wax originated from Indonesia, even though it never gained ground over there. Do you remember the 'Hollandis Dutch wax that was so popular at one time? It was imported and was never produced here, even though its greatest buyers were here.

OPCNAIRALAND:
Ok, let me give you the chronology.

Dutch manufactured it for Indonesia. It was not a success there. They brought it to West Africa, Ghana to be specific...it did not succeed. Yorubas put ankara to world stage via ASO EBI.

Back when owambe was owambe, in the 70s, Im looking at my grandma picture on the wall in her velvet and gold jewelries and grandpa in his damask as i type. . Back when party happened every weekend in Palmgrove, Isale Eko, Epetedo, Lafiaji, Ilubirin, Surulere, Shitta, Eko Club, Shell Club, Lagos Island Club, Lagos Tennis Club, Mushin, Yaba, Ebute Meta, ..... back when Shagamu, Ijebu Ode, Ayetoro, ....

Mr Man, una don spoil Yorubaland for us!

Back when my people go party and block five roads just for one party, and you have three or four live bands there entertaining...which kind food you want, which kind drinks, campari sef na free pick which bottle you want.

Back then...Yoruba's choice of fabric for aso ebi is Sanyan, Etu and Alaari, Damask, Velvet, Lace, Satin, Guinea. Nobody dey wear ankara go party. Who wear lace pass Yoruba? We get am for different color and pattern and each has its own name. Yorubaland don baje nau, e no dey like before. How about damask, we get different pattern and shades. So for velvet. You go see velvet for soyoyo body your blood go hot as you go see say the baby set well well.

We dey wear ankara for Yorubaland before civil war sef...but like I said go look at Yoruba picture in the 60s and see if you spot anybody put ankara for body take snap picture. Ankara na play cloth, na something mommy go wear because she dey kitchen and no wan soil her good clothes. Shey u get?

When textile importation tight and economy don baje it became hard to get damask and lace and other expensive stuffs. I no even mention gele sef. That one is a whole book on its own. But as importation and economy and crime spoilt everything, buying expensive and wearing expensive to party lost its taste. Yoruba will never stop owambe...never never never never, and aso ebi will never ever ever stop either...but we reinvented the scene.

Its true we did not invent it but each ethnic group can be differentiated in the motif and pattern of ankara worn by them. If you look around today what you see are the Yoruba patterns. We reinvented ankara and made it the preferred stock of aso ebi.

Yorubas have also been very stylish. We put styles in ankara that no one ever thought of ....we turned it from street hawkers wear and took into the corporate rooms.

We put ankara on the catwalk...you hear me? Ankara is what it is today because of Yoruba cultural influence. Even Hausa that does not wear ankara have bought into it and are wearing it now. Ibo has taken it to another level by turning it into a billboard.

I hope I answered your question.

Kagawa10:
The dutch wax has little different to how Adire is made. The fact that we found something similar to our style and incorporated the style to make ours look modern doesn't negate the fact that we've been practising such style since time memorial! We gave the name Ankara to the cloth for crying out loud!

Dangote textile mill churning out Ankara is located in the SW, because we were the first to love it and incorporate the style!

OPCNAIRALAND:
Ok, let me give you the chronology.

Dutch manufactured it for Indonesia. It was not a success there. They brought it to West Africa, Ghana to be specific...it did not succeed. Yorubas put ankara to world stage via ASO EBI.

laudate:


Egbon, well you are right to a large extent, but like OPCNairaland stated, Ankara actually originated abroad.

Adire itself is a different kind of fabric, (i.e. tie-and-dye) which originated in Yoruba land. It was manufactured locally, and is still being made in many communities in the South-West, even as we speak. In fact, in Abeokuta around the Itoku area where I did a project a few years ago, I discovered entire families spanning different generations involved in the art (e.g. mother, daughter, sisters, daughters-in-law, female grandchildren etc.)

Now due to the fashion-conscious attitude of Nigerian women, Adire too has been expanded to reach the world's fashion stage! Do you remember artistes like Nike Okundaye? She, along with a large number of local designers, popularised Adire in the West to the extent that it now has a cult following on the international runways! And that is what can be seen in your pictures.

As for Ankara, yes, the Yorubas popularised it and many textile mills in the South-West produced it to meet local demand, before those textile mills went out of business, due to the harsh operating environment. Now, Ankara is being manufactured in Chinese factories and imported into Nigeria, and it is still cheaper than the ones produced locally, even though their quality is not as good.

At what point did the manufacturing patterns of Ankara and Adire merge? Well, I really do not know. Maybe fashion designers can tell us. But what I do know, is that Ankara is well-loved in the South-West and other parts of the country, and it is unlikely to depart from our fashion lexicon, anytime soon.

olaitoro:


how does that stops lagos and its environ from being a no mans land.

Kagawa10:
Adire uses Wax print in order to give it the desired pattern, just like Ankara uses Wax!

That said, the Dutch wax print may have been been brought from overseas but Yoruba were the first to accept it and gave it a name because it looks similar to the local we're have here! Ankara simply means different patterns/colours!

Now, we've incorporated the style into our local ones and has started to produce it!

OPCNAIRALAND:
To pazienza and ezeagu,
In all of colonial England, Manchester and Liverpool were singularly famous for their wool and cotton industries. There is nobody and nowhere in Europe that grows cotton but all over the globe English cotton and wool was a popular and best brand.

Do you know who was the single major supplier of cotton to Liverpool and Manchester? Let's start from this foundation before I give you instruction on the root of ankara and other fabrics connected with Yoruba culture.

Go and read up on the cotton growers of Yorubaland first and get some sense and sober up.

You need to know the footprint of Yoruba antiquity and its contributions and influence on popular culture and fashion around the globe.

Kagawa10:


Adire uses Wax print in order to give it the desired pattern, just like Ankara uses Wax!

That said, the Dutch wax print may have been been brought from overseas but Yoruba were the first to accept it and gave it a name because it looks similar to the local we're have here! Ankara simply means different patterns/colours!

Now, we've incorporated the style into our local ones and has started to produce it!

laudate:

Like I keep asking, someone should show me the authentic Igbo bridal attire. What exactly does it look like??


Egbon, I agree that the Yoruba have adopted and popularised the Ankara, to the extent that they can now lay some claim of 'ownership' to it. Even when the textile mills in Lagos, Ibadan etc., were running, many of them were producing & churning out Ankara fabric by the dozen. Till today, Dangote's Textile Mills located in the South West still produces local Ankara fabric.

But in truth, Ankara or Dutch wax originated from Indonesia, even though it never gained ground over there. Do you remember the 'Hollandis Dutch wax that was so popular at one time? It was imported and was never produced here, even though its greatest buyers were here.

pazienza:


Their psychosis is deteriorating by the day.

OPCNAIRALAND:


Laudate,
True statement! The Dutch producers have Yoruba to thank for where ankara is today in world market, especially when ankara is competing with silk and wool for recognition and awards in fashion styling and quality.

On Ibo traditional marriage wear for women you will not find anything older than, perharps 1980, online. It is as if photography was a forbidden practice among them. Post 1980, they have migrated and settled into other non-Ibo cultures and assimilated habits and cultures of their hosts.

For marriage their men dropped the george wrapper and that monotone black dress with prints of tiger, ivory and sometimes alligator, they also dropped the red knit hat that droops over the ears. Ibomen began wearing sokoto, buba, danshiki, gbariye, agbada, they now wore lace, aso oke, guinea, satin, they wore red caps on head now. For the women they abandoned their two tiered george wrapper, the simple high sleeve white blouse is gone and with it they also abandoned their simple scarf or head tie. Ibo women jewelries were mostly metal plates and ivory. Traditionally they did not wear beads. Now they dress in iro and flared arm length buba with deliciously scandalous gele, or they will dress in shape hugging maxi and with plenty of red beads. Genevive should be given credit for giving Ibo women a new cultural look. Pictures of her dressed like an Edo woman was recycled over and over for many years on internet to showcase Ibo beauty and style. She bridged the make over of Ibo women assimilating into Edo wedding styles. Thos who settled in Yorubaland bridged the gaps for their assimilation into Yoruba wedding styles and even everyday wear. You go to political rally in SE today and everyone is styled out like its Yorubaland, no sign of george wrapper, no ear drooped knit hat, no monotone black gown.

If you go online you can classify Ibo pictures into three groups
1 - the dark age when they lived in n.aked.ness with metal tubes on feet and ivory around neck. The best impression is their nice hairdo, everything else is primitive.

2. The civil service years when they dressed in borrowed styles from Efik and Ibibio (tthe george wrapper, tunic, knitted hat). For work they dress in suits and tie.

3. The exodus years. Wearing assimilated styles from delta people, edo people, yoruba people.

I found no clothing style in Ibo culture, whether in casual or formal, that is indigenously Igbo-grown. Likewise I cant find any non-Ibo culture that has borrowed and styled itself in Ibo traditional wears.

pazienza:


Ankara is called "Akara" in Igbo language. It's still imported from abroad till this day.
" Ofulu ozu atu nkwe" is what we call it in Ogidi.
Anyone can print them these days. I figure there must be factories doing the printing of those pics on the Akara scattered all over Nigeria including Igboland these days.

ezeagu:


I really hope you're not suggesting "Yorubaland" was supplying the bulk of cotton in Liverpool and Manchester and not the slave-holding Southern United States.

What we're talking about here isn't ankara, because we know that that was a result of a failed European mission to copy and destroy the Indonesian batik industry that took a turn and became popular in (west) Africa.

No, what we're talking about here in general is the styling of 'aso ebi' and so on.

PenSniper:



That is delusional. It has nothing to do with dynamism.
When you have no defined culture germaine to your society, the tendency is for you to copy the cultures of others.

Yorubas and Hausas have no reason to parrot your "culture" since they already know its partly copied from them and they are proud of their rich cultures anyway.

OPCNAIRALAND:
Where is pazienza, feed your eyes on these pictures.

The first one and second picture you see beside the nice yummy brea.sts for good squeeze and suck and their hairdo nothing else on the girls in this Igbo picture is impressive. Look at their feet and the metal plates. You also see some ivory on them but no coral beads.

The third picture is an Igbo woman taken in the 60s, (sixties) you see the george and the blouse. No beads, no gele, no buba.

The fourth picture is a Yoruba woman taken in the 50s (fifties). You see she wore velvet, in different style to the one I posted earlier. For this and the earlier Yoruba woman you see the elaborate adornment with gold jewelries on ears, around neck, on wrist and fingers. It is easy as well to tell class, civilization and beauty. If the lady in second picture had been wearing english gown and not iro and buba it would be impossible to identify as Yoruba because of the setting and style....sophisticated!
Im sure you heard that word before.

pazienza:


Trash. Same pile of crap.
See a pre independent Nigerian picture of an Igbo woman that was taken in Onitsha.
See the those corals?
Different parts of Igboland evolved differently, independent of other parts.