BLACK HISTORY SPOTLIGHT
History of Black Female Fashion
The history of black female clothing designers began with the traditions of the indigenous attire of countries and tribes in Africa. Looking back at the early garments of black female designers, there are direct influences from these early African-inspired designs. Even beyond African designs, many of the first black, female clothing designers drew their inspiration from a range of influences, propelling their clothing designs to success, despite the barriers that stood in their way.
In Africa, clothing described station. Kings, queens, and members of the royal entourage dressed in elaborately colored loose cloth robes adorned with feathers, jewelry and animal skin. Traditionally, village women spun cloth, dyed fabrics and produced garments. Weaving cloth was done by both men and women with gender specific looms.
Slaves arrived naked in the holds of ships, and were then sold to southern plantations. Women worked the fields and worked making homespun cloth for clothing. Children were responsible for spinning and carding cotton and wool. Patterns and sewing needles were given to them by their owners and slave women made garments for owners and slaves alike. However, European style clothing became the norm for the newly arrived slaves.
It became an accepted norm for African-American slave women to design and sew beautiful garments for their owners. Moreover, as more and more slaves obtained their freedom, metropolises became hotbeds for cutting edge designs from talented African-American clothing designers. New Orleans was a fashion mecca and many black-owned businesses designed, made and sold garments. The Civil War made it difficult for these southern businesses, so the industry moved north.
Source: eHow.com