FASHION - Designs in African Patterns by Ann Doerr

Textile design and the production of textiles today are generally related to high technological processing. Textiles used for all sorts of applications including fashion design are produced en mass by the textile industry. Most of the indigenous local methods of creating textile design and producing textiles are no more in use, forgotten or only practiced by a very few group of people. This is also the case in most African countries. Africans have been using manual methods to create textile designs with beautiful patterns and colors since centuries. These methods include weaving, tying, folding and stitching. The textiles, mostly pure cotton or silk, are then dyed with natural colors using various techniques. Each type of textile produced is given a name that usually reflects the type of fabric, pattern or the traditional usage. Some of these typical African textiles that are also popular among collectors all over the world include kente, adinkra, aso oke and adire. Kente and adinkra are from the Ashanti kingdom in Ghana. Aso oke and Adire are originally from the Yoruba people in Nigeria. While these textiles seem to belong to the past, some new breeds of fashion designers are now discovering their uniqueness and quality. One of these designers is Ann Doerr, a Germany lady resident in Munich.