Power Dressing: Men's Fashion and Prestige in Africa.

Power Dressing Men's Fashion and Prestige in Africa

The Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ October 19, 2005-January 22, 2006 The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY April 2-May 28, 2006 Other venues to come

"Power Dressing: Men's Fashion and Prestige in Africa," curated by Christa Clarke at the Newark Museum of Art, was a dynamic contribution to understanding how men's dress relates to concepts of power within Africa's changing sociocultural and political landscape. Many of the pieces in the show were from the Newark Museum's own important collection, some of them dating back to the museum's first African acquisitions in the 1920s. Private and public lenders supplemented the collection. Ann Spencer, former curator of Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific at the Newark Museum for more than twenty-five years, was instrumental in developing the museum's textile and dress collection.

Africans are known for their exceptional emphasis on dress and the presentation of self, particularly during ceremonial events. For the past three decades, Western scholarship and exhibitions have recognized African dress as "high art," beginning with the 1972 African textiles and decorative arts show at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Traditionally, more attention has been placed on female fashions, with male dress often overlooked. This exhibition marked the first significant museum show of African men's dress in the United States. While the show examined men's adornment as a marker of status and power in the public arena, more importantly, it created an awareness of and appreciation for the important role that cloth, transformed into dress, serves in defining, sustaining, and reinforcing symbolic power and enhancing presentation of the visible self in the lives of men in Africa. Indeed, as the show attested, in Africa, clothes certainly do make the man, in a stunning and spectacular way.

Instead of grouping clothing historically or regionally, Clark showed fifty examples of male attire from a broad cross-section of the continent of Africa, all of them remarkable on their own merit. The impressive visual display brought together the four comprehensive and interconnecting domains that constitute the cultural language of dressing: "Style and Status," "Fit For a King," "Divine Dress," and "Innovation and Identity." Dress and ceremonial ensembles not only included garments worn on the body, but also jewelry, headgear, footwear, and other accouterments, which carry symbolic meanings that change with time and circumstance. The selections illustrated that African forms often incorporated adaptations of other forms of royal regalia and motifs from Europe and other sovereignties, such as European-styled crowns.

The presentation of the objects in the major space of the exhibition effectively brought out their aesthetic appeal. Linen partitions promoted an organic sense of flow, reflecting the fluidity of the show's four main themes. The garments were shown in their full length on specially designed displays. Excellent signage detail included the local names for each object and informed the viewer with clear captions, juxtaposed with documentary photographs of the objects in-situ on moving bodies. The accompanying photographs added an important element to the exhibition, giving life to the garments while providing a context for their usage. While the objects themselves made a striking visual impression in their customized displays, the photographic documentation better defined their cultural significance.

The signature piece of the show was a splendid ceremonial robe of the Deji of Akure, part of the museum's permanent collection. The accompanying photograph featured the 34-year-old regional leader, or Deji, of the Yoruba on his throne in his palace courtyard adorned in his regalia, complete with sword-bearing attendants. At the time of his installment, Oba Ademuwangan Adesida II had studied law in Dublin and passed the London bar. The portrait, taken in 1959 for Life magazine by photographer Eliot Elisofon, represented the old and the new changing cultural landscape: a cosmopolitan ruler leading Nigeria to independence from British colonial rule, posed in ceremonial regalia representing and reinforcing the power and authority inherited from his ancestors. No doubt, the Deji's choice of dress reflected his status as head of the kingdom; his body is transformed from the individual to that of the collective and his robe and crown depersonalize him, transforming him into the king, with the mask on the beaded crown signifying the presence of the ancestor. The faces on his robe project the king as all-seeing, all-intelligent; on his beaded shoes are also faces with eyes, inferring that the king will not misstep.

The exhibition offered an array of color, texture, and ornamentation that was a feast to the senses. Entering the first section of the gallery, the viewer was transported to the inner circle of the atelier of the "big men" of Africa with an array of garments specifically designed for such prominent people. Five magnificent garments explored the relationship of style and status. The large, roomy dress known as boubous in French-speaking West Africa and agbada in Nigeria reflects a general tendency of clothing to be not designed to fit the body, with minimal cuts and seams, allowing adornment with patterns based on Arabic calligraphy on an extremely large canvas. Such design references the notion of "corpulence," an important element in the public presentation of status in areas of Africa, which resonates with the idea of the "big man" who possesses extensive material and life substance. Ampleness of body indicates a sense of well-being; accordingly, the sheer size and visual grandeur of the robes allow rulers to reflect wealth, power, and a distinctive personality. The Moroccan hooded akhnif cloak, dramatically displayed from the back, with its elaborate woven conical form and eye-shaped protective design, is believed to ward off negative forces.

The selections in the "Style and Status" section also reflected the impact of a Hausa-Fulani design sense on the regional dress of non-Muslims to the south with whom they are involved in trade and politics. Examples presented included the hand-woven Yoruba agbada of raw silk known as sanyan, a garment that communicates the wearer's high status through the high value and quality of the silk material coupled with the rich, intricate embroidery designs. In the case of the dandogo, a Yoruba adaptation of the northern robe, text is literally woven into the fabric itself, conveying a proverbial message when read by cultural insiders, clearly indicating the high economic and social status of the garment's owner.

A dramatic contrast to the "aesthetic of bigness" common in West African men's robes is the minimal clothing in other African communities. The Dinka of Sudan man's corset was a fine example of design form reflecting function: The strands of beads form a tightly fitted, buttoned corset, which is easily transported by its owner as he moves his herd across the southern part of Sudan. The colors and patterning of the beads relate to the age and economic status of the wearer. When worn by Dinka cattlemen, the hues of the beautifully beaded corset present a stark contrast to the dusty tracts of southern Sudan.

Leadership dress was underscored in the section "Fit for a King," which examined several powerfully arranged garments incorporating dynamic color, unusual materials, and findings especially designed for formal public presentations of wealth, power, and status. One of the most impressive displays was the ceremonial ensemble from the Grassfields region of Cameroon, with a powerful array of porcupine quills delicately draped from the fiber cap and tunic.

The relationship of men's dress to spiritual power was examined in the section "Divine Dress." Two of the oldest objects of the exhibition were tunics with religious significance. The jibbeh tunic from Sudan, dating back to 1881-1898, incorporated patches that originally symbolized ritual poverty, but have become a visual metaphor of religious inspiration. The textile pattern of a late nineteenth century tunic from Togo consisted of hand-painted Arabic script and drawings with spiritual connotations, cloaking the wearer with spiritual protection.

The final section of the exhibition underscored the dynamic and evolving nature of African dress under the theme of "Innovation and Identity." One of the most unexpected treasures was a contemporary South African rickshaw driver's costume. While the ensemble did not represent the higher end of the social strata, the artistry employed in the design--from the dramatic horned headdress to the tunic with its brightly colored, beaded, shield-like panels--was a play on traditional Zulu warrior dress reinvented in a clever, eye-catching outfit. The soaring mirrored superstructure adorned with colorful woven odds and ends and geometric shapes added the finishing touch to an outrageous and clever modern-day advertising tool. The accompanying postcard photograph, Rickshaw Boys (photographer unknown, c. 1920) depicted similar outfits and illustrates the historical reference of such ensembles in Zulu life.

The exhibition succeeded in conveying an intriguing view of the artistry and beauty of male prestige dress in a range of African societies in a stylish and interesting way. A clear overview of each object is provided in Power Dressing: Men's Fashion and Prestige in Africa, the 40-page catalogue with 25 full color images and an essay by Dr. Clark ($19.95 softcover, published by the Newark Museum and available at www.newarkmuseumshops.org or by calling 973-596-6362).