African Costume - African Tribal Dress

Habits Traditionnels Africains - Vêtements Traditionnels Africains

Afrikanische Traditionelle Bekleidung - Africa Adorned

Ntwane Back Apron - Skirt

Called Ntepa

This is a rarely seen - heavily beaded - fine quality example of an Ntwane woman's leather beaded back skirt.

Married Ntwane women wearing beaded back skirts called Ntepa at a local celebration.

The chevron pattern running along the upper edge confirms the Ba Ntwane kinship to the Bechwana.

Fine beaded detail is found on the swallowtail ends.

Bhaca - Baca - Front Apron
 

Bhaca Skirt - Circa 1950

Barbara Tyrrell - Tribal Peoples of Southern Africa

The Bhaca or AmaBhaca fled from Natal during the Mfecane - Lifaqane or Difaqane. The name amaBhaca stems from 'ukubhaca', which means fleeing. Before fleeing, the Bhaca won a battle against Shaka's army at iNtaba yeZintsizwa. They live in Natal and parts of the Eastern Cape, but their culture is uniquely different to other tribal groups. Their dress remains a mixture of original Bhaca - Pondo and Zulu.

Click Thumbnails for Larger Images

Bhaca married woman were easily recognized by their unusual and striking dress. Our Bhaca beaded skirt has a base of highly worn goat hide, upon which is attached a beaded half centered black cotton fabric. The skirt was worn with the beadwork forward as shown in the Barbara Tyrrell drawing and painting above, as well as the photographs below.

              Bhaca - Natal - Barbara Tyrrell                                                Bhaca - Transkei

Bhaca skirts are no longer to be found in the villages of the Eastern Cape or Natal and as such, this may be the first and last we can offer. It is a rare and high quality example from a lost tradition.

Bhaca Diviners - Circa 1930

Mfengu Costumes

Ama-Fengu

Fingo Beaded Dress

Ezakwantu - Things from the House of the People - Pg. 4

The Mfengu are Nguni people, mostly of Bhele, Hlubi and Zizi origin, who fled during the early 19th century upheavals in Natal - known as the Mfecane - Lifaqane or Difaqane. They arrived in what is today the Eastern Cape - where they were suppressed by local Xhosa and Thembu chiefs - working as domestic slaves. Their tribal name Ama-Fengu, Fingo or Mfengu,  means 'The Wanderers'  or 'Foreigners'. Mfengu speak Xhosa, but do not consider themselves Xhosa. Their beaded tribal dress was adapted from the Xhosa, but it remained with distinguishing factors. Their carved staffs are straight - this totally unlike their Gcaleka / Xhosa masters. Throughout the region, a person's home area, ethnic sub group, age, marital status and sometimes the amount of children one had, could all be communicated through items of dress.

Mlanjeni's War - Eighth Frontier War - Circa 1851

In 1835 the Mfengu made representations to the Cape Colony government for land. Sir Benjamin d'Urban permitted them to settle on the banks of the Great Fish River - 'at Xhosa expense'. This location created a buffer zone for the British to ward off further Xhosa invasions of the Cape Colony. Mfengu fought for the British in the Frontier Wars or  'Kaffer Wars' of 1835, 1846 and again between 1851 and  1853.

Mfengu Woman's Skirt - Fingo Skirt

Umbhaco - Imibhaco

Mfengu women adopted Xhosa styled dress, who themselves had adopted attire from Victorian fashion. Their dresses or skirts were called Umbhaco or Imibhaco. The cotton sheeting fabric itself is called ibayi.

Barbara Tyrrell - Mfengu (Fingo) Woman - Man - Circa 1948

These then blankets were colored with red ochre, yielding a rich reddish brown fabric that was then cut and sewn into three sections to form the skirt. They were then embroidered, braded and beaded. When worn with other garments and accessories, a vivid display of adornment was shown.

Our example uses 1000's and 1000's and 1000's of beads as decoration.

 Click any image to enlarge.

Beaded skirts were worn together with shoulder wraps or beaded blankets.

Mfengu Woman's Blanket - Fingo Blanket

Amabhayi - Ibhayi

Mfengu blankets were called Amabhayi or Ibhayi. The blanket depicted above is to our knowledge, the most outstanding example on offer today. It is ornately decorated mother-of-pearl buttons - glass beads and embroidery. Ibhayi were worn around the shoulders as body wraps and often used to cover children. When a person wore such a decorated example, they sent out a clear message notifying others of wealth and status.

 Click either image to enlarge.

The shell buttons are Mother of Pearl (MOP) and often date back to 1900 - in that they are reused again and again. Most of these were made from the great green turban snail Turbo Marmoratus - of the  Turbinidae family. Upwards to 1000 buttons were used to decorate this blanket, together with  many 1000's of glass beads.
 

Mfengu Woman's Turban - Fingo Turban

Iqhiya - Ibhayi

This turban is called an Iqhiya or Ibhayi. It forms the body of Mfengu headdresses. These were worn to complement a woman's outfit. Sometimes a colourful Santulo is attached, to add volume to the headdress. Barbara Tyrrell's watercolour (below right) shows an Mfengu nursing mother with such a Turban.

                                    Mfengu Headdress                                              Barbara Tyrrell - Mfengu (Fingo) Woman

 Click either image to enlarge.

Countless hours are spent embroidering three sides of the dark Melton cloth.

Mfengu - Xhosa Beaded Headband

'amadiliza entloko'

Large headbands were worn by young men of the Fingo and Xhosa groups living around East London.

The Magic World of the Xhosa - Aubrey Elliott - Pg 39

Young men's headbands were called amadiliza entloko.

Click either thumb to enlarge image.

Mfengu Beaded Front Apron - Fingo Apron

Inkciyo

Click this thumb to enlarge the apron.

This apron called an inkciyo, was collected amongst the Mfengu people. It is decorated with glass beads in traditional Fingo color, brass rings - washers and leather straps. Inkciyo translates as underpants.

Field Images of Thembu and Xhosa related Aprons - First half 20th Century

Mfengu Boys Cap - Fingo Hat

Young Mfengu boys sometimes wore beaded 'flat caps'. Few examples were as heavily beaded as this.

 Click thumbs to enlarge pictures.

The young men who wore them were not yet 'men', as they had yet to undergo or experience Abakwetha. Abakwetha is a long and detailed circumcision ritual that passed a boy into manhood.

Aubrey Elliot published the picture (above right), in his long out of print book entitled; The Magic World of the Xhosa.

Mfengu Mans Tobacco Bag

The Magic World of the Xhosa - Page 34 - Aubrey Elliot

Large tobacco bags worn by males are called Ingxowa Bokwe. Aubrey Elliot wrote in his book The Magic World of the Xhosa; The man’s bag is quite different and more masculine. It is made from a wild domestic animal’s skin. The particular skin used, to some extent, owes its popularity to the fashion in a clan in the same way as does the pattern by which it is made up. In the Ncera area, near Kidd’s beach where I lived as a child, the popular bag was a tubular one made of monkey skin. In other areas goat skins are used for this purpose.

Our male tobacco bag was made from a reversed goat hide .

                        Annals of the South African Museum Volume 58  March 1988 Part 4                       Ezakwantu - Beadwork from the Eastern Cape

The tail of the backpack is heavily beaded on both sides.

Ashanti Kente Cloth

Ghana - Gold Coast - Akan

Our massive Ashanti Kente cloth was collected over 20 years ago.

The origins of Kente cloth can be traced to the Akan people of the 12th century Ghana, which includes the Asante, Bono, Fante and Nzema people. Locally is it known as nwentoma. In early times, this royal fabric was the cloth of kings and worn during important ceremonies or events.

The cloth is woven into narrow strips called ntomaban or bankuo that can be 8 to 14 cms wide (3 to 6 inches). The various completed strips are then sewn together to make a large cloth worn by both men and women.

Early accounts confirmed that silk was imported into the Ashanti royal court from southern Europe via the trans Saharan caravan trade. In the 1730's a Dane unraveled fabric at the court of King Opokuware and discovered that many colors of both silk and cotton had been woven to create the highly prized garments.

Our example is one of the finest examples to surface in recent years.

Paramount Chief Nana Kwakye

The silk thread had been hand picked from imported silk which was treated as raw material. The king had his own weavers grouped together in a village called Bonwire. It is said that the Akan people learnt their skill by studying the way spiders spin webs.

Sukuma Beaded Skirt – Tanzania

Circa 1950

These rare leather skirts were worn by young girls. They contain 100's of thin leather strips.

A fine example with scattered bead decoration overall.

Shoowa Cloth - Kuba Fabrics

Velours du Kasai

Shoowa Raffia Fabrics

Example A

Kuba cloth or Kuba Shoowa fabric is made by the Shoowa clan of the Kuba and related peoples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - formerly Zaire.

 The weaving was traditionally done by men on a loom.    Photo Zagourski

The fabric was made from a very fine fibre found inside young palm trees leafs. Leafs were dried in the sun, then torn into pieces approximately 2 mm wide which we call raffia. The fine leaf fibers were then woven on a loom.

Example B

 In earlier times, cloths were used as currency or offered as gifts. Value was determined by the complexity of the work undertaken. Long cloths as this one on offer, are heavy and were highly prized.  Individual items such as these would take several months, or even a year to produce.

Woman were responsible for decorating the fabrics with Shoowa design.

The embroidery of the woven fabrics was reserved for women - women who ideally were pregnant.

Kuba Scarification

Shoowa design was created spontaneously - but followed the body scarification patterns of the people.

In addition to small cloths used as currencies, long wraps up to eight meters were worn around the waist by both men and women.  The men called their Mapel and the women Ntshak.

Example C

Our examples A - B and C were worn in a like fashion as above and below. The two red examples worn by men called Mapel - were collected over 20 years ago.

                                         Kuba Scarification                                              By Norman Hardy

Kuba and related peoples adorned their body with scarification. Shoowa fabric patterns were often replicated.

The BEST Shoowa EVER!

This magnificent example was assembled from old Shoowa currency fabrics of different makers and vintage.

Click the image above to view a far larger image that you will be able to Zoom into and around.

                                              Father Michael Perry 2009                      Friar Michael Perry 1983

This fabric came to the attention of  Father Michael Perry OFM in the 1980's, who is currently the Vicar General of the worldwide Order of Friars Minor. At the time Friar Michael Perry was a priest stationed in Kolwezi - Zaire (DRC) and had great interest in the tribal people. We have never encountered a more complicated - extraordinary example then this. 

Ba Tonka Skirts

The Batonka, or Batonga, live on both sides of  the Zambezi River and Lake Kariba. In 1960, the Kariba dam was completed, making it at the time, the largest man made dam ever built. The Ba Tonka were relocated away from the flooding valleys where they had lived and fished for centuries.

Related traditional garments worn by young girls - which are no longer to be found in the field.

Photographs of Ba Tonka men and woman taken by Peter Jurgens and Barbara Tyrrell in 1950

Ba Tonka girls wearing beaded skirts at a festive occasion.

Beaded Blanket -  Irari - Nguba - Ngurara

The blankets themselves grew from traditional hide capes of the 19th century called Irari - Nguba or Ngurara. Such blankets are worn by married women only. The traditional striped red, yellow, green and blue trade blankets are called “Middleburg blankets” because the style was popular in Middleburg, the town where Ester Mahlangu was born (November 11th 1935). The actual beading of a blanket is undertaken over many years and revels events about the owners' life. It represents her social status and testifies to the woman's artistic abilities, considerable financial resources and high social standing when considering her ability to dedicate numerous hours to creating the artwork.
 

Our Ndebele married woman’s ceremonial blanket has four long panels of beadwork decoration. It was sold at auction from the collection of Ester Mahlangu, who is an international South African artist. A brief biography follows.

 

 

Click thumbs to view Ester Mahlangu murals available from ۷gallery. 

Ester Mahlangu is a self-taught artist specializing in traditional murals. She is a remarkable woman who in 1989 and against all odds, travelled to France where she exhibited at Les Magiciens de la Terre. This was a time when political turmoil at home and sanctions abroad made international participation all but impossible for South African artists. Beside South Africa, Esther Mahlangu has exhibited all over Europe, the US, Australia and Japan. Some of her most famous murals have been exhibited at the New Identities Exhibition in the Bocum Museum in Germany, at the Virgin Atlantic's music store in Times Square, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC and at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg.

 

The Ndebele bride wore a long train with her bridal costume called an Nyoga, which meant snake. It was attached to her shoulders and trailed down the back to the ground, making a snake-like motion as the she danced.

 

Click either image to enlarge.

 

 

 

At 187 centimeters, this is an exceptionally long Nyoga. The reason for the lies with the fact that it was handed down from mother to daughter as a heirloom. Before each weeding, changes were made. Judging by color, the 'TH' beaded section was added during the 1950's. The use of the letters indicates the owner lived near Heidelberg, South Africa. Most certainly, the darker green-purple-blue and black beaded section near the bottom dates to the 1970's, as those are colors that were popular at the time. (Below right) Portions of the vale may date to the 1920's. The open rectangular sections near the bottom and the predominantly white beadwork overall helps to confirm this.

Click either image to enlarge.

 

 

 

The white flared triangular finial was a popular motive during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is found in early collected Khoi / San and Tswana / Bechwana beadwork.

 

 

 

 

 

Ndebele Apron

 

Called - Pepetu