TRUTH ABOUT ANKARA FABRIC; not originally African

Hey dear steemians,

Its been a hectic week, I know you all have missed me, but trust I won't leave my darling readers dry for too long, so I'm dropping this shocking but eye-opening post to wet your thirst. It is about our beautiful Ankara fabrics, I know you are smiling now, but read on as I break your heart and mend

When talking about Nigerian fashion styles, Ankara wears comes to mind. Ankara is more like the most popular Nigerian fabric, we love it so much that some of us use it as a blanket, hehe😁.

But here comes the heartbreaker, brace yourself! Get a bullet proof! Guard your heart! Here we go;
Do you know that ANKARA FABRICS WAS NOT AFRICAN-BORN ? Yes! Even though it looks the opposite because we have successfully claimed its ownership (i see you o, Oya please close your mouth, I know you want to argue).

See, I grew up seeing Ankara fabrics all around me, my mother used it to back me when I was young and I also used it as cover cloth, oh my beautiful blanket (thanks to my sweet mother that sew iro and Buba then).

Ankara was useful for many things don’t get me wrong it is still useful. My sisters do tie it to the bathroom as towel (i can see you rolling your eyes, face it, you do it also).

History of Ankara Fabric

Maybe the familiarity of Ankara and its surplus presence around us made most of us think or gave us the impression that it originated from Africa.
But if you still want to argue, Let me take you back in time.

Once upon the 1800s, so I read that the Dutch colonized Indonesia (I really don’t know the reason they colonized them) but they did colonize them. The Indonesians had an advanced and upgraded method of dyeing clothes which they used to produce batik.

So when the Dutch saw this method, out of their bad belle, they made cheap machine-made imitations of this beautiful batik.

However, the Indonesians with their stubbornness, refused for their heritage to be taken and so these imitations called Dutch wax prints did not do well in the Indonesian market.
So the Dutch with their resilience did not give up, rather, they started introducing these wax prints into West African ports. Oh, my! Just like fishes to worms, We did love them, their beautiful tribal-like patterns created from the combination of different exciting colors, remember we love colors.

Ankara also was known as “African wax prints” or “Dutch wax prints” is super cool, it speaks with volume without physically communicating.
The prints look like an artwork done by an artist on a canvas. It has this cultural artistic vibe, for sure it is a unique sight to behold.

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So, based on how much we love Ankara, over the years, the Ankara styles have evolved from being used as a rapper into more delicate fashion apparels like jewelry, bags, even streetwear.

Let me show you some more on the latest Nigerian Ankara fashion styles.

ankara fashion and style head wrap

Another style?

Ankara bag style

Ankara jewelries

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Now you know that the beloved Ankara that we claimed to own, haha, is very versatile and does not bore.
No wonder we have decided to use from head wears to footwears with accessories, gowns, skirts, blouses.

Go on and be creative! And always wear Ankara

All pix sourced from pinterest