A Charming Note of Care.

I recently bought a shirt from a locally based fashion designer made out of kanga material.

These were the care instructions that accompanied this purchase:

1.  Wash in hands in 30C.
2.  Don't mix with other clothes.
3.  Don't leave on sun for too long.
4.  Iron in medium temperature.

Mamma Mia.

In a whirlwind celebration of 50 years of Tanzanian freedom and 100 years of International Women Day, Mustafa Hassanali is hosting a fashion show at the Movenpick hotel in Dar es Salaam to benefit the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, a cause near and dear to my heart.

Those of you that will not be able to attend will have the opportunity to watch this event live: Via www.mustafahassanali.net at 1600hrs East African Time. Karibu wote!

Colors of the Oasis.

Let me just put this out there – I LOVE ikat! My next dream vacation would be a shopping spree to Uzbekistan to purchase ikat textiles galore – oh the joy!

So you can imagine my disappointment when I learned that I missed the opportunity check out this exhibit at the Textile Museum during our recent trip home to DC. Alas.

Here is a little bit about the history of Ikats. Ikats display Central Asian artists’ and weavers’ attention to the harmony between design, color and execution in order to create their master works. 19^th century Central Asian ikats are distinguished by bold, original designs using vibrant colors. The name Ikat is derived from the technique used to create them, whereby bundled textiles are bound and dyed several times before weaving, resulting a tie dye like pattern.

In Central Asia, a man’s clothing defined his status in society and proclaimed his wealth (hmm…not to dissimilar from NYC streets today, huh?!). But the home is where honor and wealth were on full display – homes were filled with the richest ikat textiles and many family ceremonies were celebrated in surroundings made beautiful with textiles. What a minute, was I born in the wrong era and on the wrong continent?!

But today, Ikat inspirations are everywhere in home design world. Here are a few inspiring images of ways to insert a little bit of ikat into your abode.

Speaking of Fashion...

...what's your safari style?

Early European settlers in African were apparently terrified of of the effects of sun on both physical and mental health, as a result, a good hat ordered from the Army & Navy Stores catalogue was deemed essential.

Beyond the essential hat to protect from the sun, early safari adventurers were often accompanied by an entourage of cooks, a surgeon, and a train of wagons loaded with more "essentials" including items such as a piano, cases of gin, and crates of vintage champagne. In this way the term "safari" was adopted to describe the expatriate elite's adventures in the Kenyan and East African wilds, while in Swahili, the term simply means journey or trip. Go figure.

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References and Photo Credit:
Beddow, Tim and Natasha Burns. Safari Style. Thames and Hudson: London. 1998.

Swahili Fashion week.

The annual Swahili Fashion Week in Dar es Salaam was last week's highlight.

Now in its 3rd year, Swahili Fashion Week has been deemed East Africa's most sought after fashion and lifestyle platform. Swahili Fashion Week was founded by Mustafa Hassanali in 2008 as a much needed platform for designers across the Swahili speaking world to showcase their creativity and talent.

The chief aim of Swahili Fashion Week is to promote and assist in the growth of East African fashion and textile industries, demonstrating that fashion is indeed a business - as well as a creative expression - and that it can bring economic opportunities to individuals and nations as a whole. Towards that end, USAID East Africa Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program (COMPETE) is a proud sponsor of Swahili Fashion Week. Under the global campaign banner of Origin Africa, COMPETE seeks to raise awareness about Africa as a preferred sourcing destination for textiles and apparel. In addition, COMPETE provides technical assistance to African firms and governments to enhance their competitiveness in global markets and help African businesses take advantage of trade opportunities available under the African Growth and Opportunity Act with the aim of expanding export opportunities and promoting increased interregional trade.

As proof of USAID's pioneering leadership in the fashion industry, the USAID/Tanzania Mission Director assumed front row seats at this not to be missed event.

Inspired Fashion.

I have spoken in the past about the importance of the kanga and the kitenge cloths as a centerpiece of Tanzanian dress. One of my favorite pasttimes here continues to be digging through piles and piles of kangas or kitenges in local markets and finding new and inspiring designs, patterns, and sayings. it provides a nice afternoon distraction.

While strong on cultural interest in these traditional cloths, I find that I am short on inspiration to actually do anything useful with them, and as a result, I have piles and piles of kangas and kitenges sitting in my closet not being put to any productive use. As a marked contrast to my own creative design limitations, I am highly impressed with those that can create fashions suitable for Western audiences out of something so basic and traditional. One recent example proved blog-worthy.

Under the brand name, Ole Africa!, a friend of mine has worked in collaboration with a local tailor to create a custom clothing line from kangas and kitenges. The result is wildly impressive.

For more information head here. To place your custom order ahead of the holidays contact her: oleafricadress@gmail.com.

Do You Rue?

The hugely anticipated Rue Magazine opens on line this week and it promises to be good. For those lacking patience, here is a sneak peak. 

So, do you rue?

He said, She said.

As most of you are well aware by this point, my interest in home design and fashion borders on the verge of obsession. I have found a great outlet to explore these interests in the form of blogs, especially as conversations with the less than interested husband often leave me wanting. When Andrei and I fail to see eye to eye on matters of fashion and home design, I find that his perspective and opinions are often truly hilarious, even when he fails to see that my opinion is of course, the "right" one. Alas, I did not marry a gay man...

It seems I am not alone in this aspect of "marital bliss," Alison of My Little Happy Place has a hilarious feature, called "He said, She said." As you may guess from the title, basically she shares home design images with her husband and records their respective reactions to each image. I encourage you to check it out, well worth a few laughs. But I digress...

Recently Andrei picked up an issue of Elle he found lying around our bedroom. Casually flipping through the pages he stumbled across this Chanel ad, and so began our version of "He said, She said."

Andrei: Beautiful.
Matty: er, um...
Andrei: These images are going straight onto the man repeller.
Matty: Yea, seriously, I just dont get it.

And so it seems, Andrei and I have agreed on one thing, the Chanel Fall 2010 collection is simply atrocious, or maybe to be fair, we simply just do not get the appeal of fur covered everything living in the tropics. In the ultimate ironic twist of fate, images from this collection have made their way into the header of the man repeller blog.

For the record, this does not mean that I no longer covet the fabulous $3000 white quilt Chanel purse. Its a classic. Yes, I am living as an unpaid student intern in one of the poorest countries of the world and longing for a $3000 purse. And so it goes...

The "Typical" Safari Experience?

A few weeks ago we went on a "do-it-yourself" safari to Mikumi National Park. We took self-guided drives through the park in our Rav4, we set up our own tents and camped inside the park, and we packed all of our campfire food and drinks ahead of time. Our total costs for the whole weekend came to a whopping total of $100 per person, based on shared expenses among our group of 5. But the trip itself was priceless, seriously nothing beats seeing the silhouette of a giraffe in your headlights once dark falls.

That same weekend, some acquaintances of ours in Dar also went on a safari. Instead of the "do-it-yourself" approach, they opted to take advantage of an offer to stay in a luxury tent camp, priced at $1200 per person per night (although they were lucky enough to secure a "deal" which needless to say was still well out of striking distance from our $100 per person range for the weekend).

We all returned to Dar eager to trade stories of our respective safari experiences. Their opening question was, "Did you tents have a chandelier?" Hilarity ensued. While we all got to see animals and take snap shots til our hearts' content, it quickly became clear that our respective experiences were beyond compare. We all readily agreed that neither experience was for the better nor the worse, although perhaps that was just a convenient accord to strike between the "haves" and the "have-nots." Incidentally, most of our more luxury seeking counterparts are MBA students visiting Dar for the summer from a prestigious Ivy League program. Whatever happened to the life of a so called starving student?

Following our recent tour of Tanzania's northern park circuit, including 3 day game drives through Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Manyara, I almost laughed out loud when I came across the latest Louis Vuitton "safari" ad campaign shot in Africa. The ads star Dree Hemingway, as in Earnest's great-granddaughter. Described as "quite simply superb," the ads within this 2010 Travel Collection catalog contain all of the regular features of a safari experience from tents to lions to sunsets to jeeps, but somehow the final effect is so jarring from my own safari experiences to date that these photos somehow seem to mock the "typical" safari experience. Perhaps I should ask my more luxury seeking friends for comment? Until I get a chance to edit recent photos from our more humble safari experience, feast your eyes on these glamorous shots.

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References:

http://habituallychic.blogspot.com/2010/08/chic-on-safari.html

Explosion of Color.

And the Best Dressed Award Goes to.

Shopping with a Conscious: Billboards Recycled.

On our recent trip to Thailand, Andrei and I were waiting on the SkyTrain platform to make a connection between the Sukhumvit Line and the Silom Line. We happened to be at one of the busiest stations in the entire system situated across the street from yet another huge shopping complex filled with luxury retailers. As we waited to make our connection my attention bounced between the array of whizzying colors, flashing lights, and eye candy all trying to sell you something you barely even knew you needed (armpit whitening cream, anyone?). At every turn within the SkyTrain system one feels as though you are literally being bombarded with advertisements, which comes off with a dizzying effect. But eventually my attention was truly captivated by the sight of approzimately 25 people dangling from an enormous billboard attempting to secure it into place. The billboard was literally 20 stories tall, making these people look tiny beyond imagination. I felt like I was on the set of a Little People - A tiny street art project.

(For more images, check out the book, in fact you are highly encouraged to send your hard-earned cash in exchange for this silly frivolity: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0752226649?ie=UTF8&tag=littpeop-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0752226649)

We were both shocked to see firsthand the sheer size of this billboard, which got me thinking. Just how big are these billboards anyway, in terms of their larger impact? Here is what I was able to come up with.

Every year, worldwide, there are millions of tonnes of PVC billboard vinyl created for marketing campaigns. Some of these campaigns only last a few short months, in some cases even just weeks. Billboard vinyl remains one of the largest industrial waste pollutants with the shortest use. After the billboard becomes "outdated" they remain a liability for the company producing them. In landfills, billboards slowly deteriorate and produce toxic waste in the process that is hazardous to ground water.

PVC coated fabrics remain the material of choice for billboards, where a flexible PVC coating is applied to both sides of a 3-layer composite material including polyester. Both PVC and Polyester reinforcement in their virgin form are 100% recyclable via melting and converting into pellets. However, the integration of PVC coating onto the polyester scrim fabric makes separation of either component uneconomical, and therefore, renders the material unrecyclable.

Or at least that was the case until some brillant visionaries changed that scenario. Eco-conscious designers around the world, including in Tanzania, have seized the opportunity to get their hands on these raw materials (aka discarded vinyl billboards) to transform them into hip, creative, and durable products. Under the mantra of reduce (impact, not so much consumption, yes I do note the irony of this encouraging statement following yesterday's post), recycle, and reuse - happy shopping!

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References:

http://www.enkad.net/59401.html

http://www.vyandelle.com/aboutus.html#

Shopping with a Conscious: Bantu.

I have long grown tired of increasingly grandiose attempts to get consumers to consume more under the thinly veiled guise of saving the world. But this Vanity Fair headline really seemed to take the cake, "Buy a Swimsuit, Save Africa". Its a simple claim really, but yet, so loaded. A swimsuit that can save a whole continent, please let us not oversimplify rather complex development challenges that professionals have been trying to tackle for decades. But as I read on, my skepticism gave way to tentative support. Perhaps a swimsuit purchase will not save an entire continent, but here is what shopping with a consciousness may do.

Despite the often reported horrors of the continent, the founders of this swimsuit line, Bantu, seek to promote an often overlooked side of the African continent - Africa's amazing beaches and vibrant beach culture from Dakar to Cape Town to Zanzibar to Casablanca. Amidst stories that reach the American shores of the despondent and helpless peoples of African nations, this family business with African roots attempts to promote the sunnier side of this so called "dark" continent.

Yodit Eklund is the mastermind and visionary behind this new swimsuit line. Together with her brother, Yohannes Mekbebe, she is launching this swimwear line inspired by their childhood roots in Kenya, Egypt, and Bangladesh with strong influences from the low-key surfing vibe of the African coast.

So how exactly does this swimsuit purchase "save Africa"? Well, beyond, the bold efforts to rebrand Africa from "forever backward" to "full of vitality and life," their prints are sourced from sub-Saharan artists, and then cut and sewn in factories from Ethiopia to Cameroon, bringing industrial and economic development to some of the world’s most needy communities.

Bantu recognizes that we as consumers have the ability to make a difference, one purchase at a time, even in the seemingly far flung reaches of Africa. What Bantu does not provide is charity nor does it produce one off goods that consumers neither need nor want with a mere fraction of the proceeds supporting one cause or another. Rather their model is one of empowerment. Bantu does not create communities dependent upon aid, but gives them the opportunity to work and provide highly desired consumer goods (at least that is the goal of course).

Perhaps, not so ironically, you can find her collection at high end retailers across the U.S. including Barneys, Fred Segal, and Steven Alan boutiques (allegedly at Anthropologie as well, although I could not find online proof of that).

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References:

Vanity Fair, June 2010.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2008/09/buy-a-swimsuit-save-africa.html

http://www.africansurfer.com/?p=852

http://www.bantuwax.com/mission.html

I heart Dar es Salaam.

Andrei returned this week after a month on the road fulfilling his dutiful and newfound role as an international development consultant. I naively thought that his move to Tanzania would effectively put to an end such extended lengths of time apart on account of work, but alas it seems we have signed up for a lifetime of this, barring a radical career move on both our parts, which seems unlikely at best, at least in the near term future.

I have always found myself experiencing bouts of loneliness when Andrei is away for such great lengths, but also, I find that I appreciate the time to focus on myself and enjoy these stretches as periods of self-imposed “hibernation.” In his month’s long absence, I managed to discover a new gym and develop a new routine around step aerobics, I “toured” Mikumi National Park and caught a welcome glimpse of life outside of Dar, I read three books, I learned to drive in Dar es Salaam and learned how to change the engine oil in our “new-to-us” RAV4, I learned how to bet on racing goats, and I indulged regular invites to work as crew on sailing boats and snorkel and swim in the Indian Ocean.

Despite the excitement and whirlwind activity described above, I experienced a great deal of idle time and (rather embarrassingly) filled this void by indulging a long held guilty pleasure – back to back episodes of Sex and the City. This three season binge culminated with the last episode in Season 4 entitled “I heart NY,” which struck me as oddly coincidental following my recent blog post entitled the very same.

Feeling particularly restless following this episode, I stepped outside onto our terrace overlooking the Indian Ocean to catch a breath of fresh air and finish my glass of less than impressive South African Sauvignon Blanc. Our terrace was flooded with light from the almost full moon. Despite the moon’s fullness, the stars were bright and vivid, almost 3-D in appearance, pulsing in the sky. I then noticed several unidentifiable shapes in the water below. It seems too many episodes of Sex and the City got the better of me, at first I confused the shadowy figures in the water for a young, breathless couple making out, only to realize instead, that these were two local fishermen casting their fishing nets. As I watched them lay their nets in perfectly formed co-centric circles, the fact that this was surely back-breaking and tireless work momentarily escaped me, rather it all appeared romantic and dreamy from the distance off our balcony. The sound of the tide coming in and the breaking waves on the shoreline was only eclipsed by the sound of the low-flying KLM flight from Amsterdam landing in DAR like clockwork at 11:30pm.

While I “heart” NY, it can wait. I have no doubt I will live there at some point in my life. Right now, I “heart” Dar es Salaam. I still have much to learn here, and am only now beginning to overcome some of the initial shock and steep learning curves that inevitably come with the process of learning to call a new place home, especially one that is so free of any influences from the place you otherwise know as home.

Prior to our move here, a good friend who received his terminal degree in Anthropology warned, you will be surprised to find yourself in a place that is so free of American influences. He and I had formed a friendship and developed a bond by sharing stories of our travels in Honduras, he as a PhD candidate conducting his field research in the Bay Islands of Honduras in the late 1970s, me nearly 25 years later as a Peace Corps volunteer. Honduras is a country that seems wholly unable to escape the influence of the United States, thanks in part to the Monroe Doctrine, a foreign policy introduced in 1823 that essentially remains “in tact” nearly two centuries later.

Tanzania, by comparison, seems far removed from the grips of American influence. Surely there are signs of it here and there, but beyond the world of foreign assistance and international aid, you really must dig deep to find compelling signs of America’s influence here. While news of Africa barely reaches the United States, the news we receive is decidedly Africa-centric (thank you BBC World Service). The United States, long complacent in its role as the world’s sole hegemony, is quickly being usurped by the Indians, who are undeniably the heart and soul of the Tanzanian business community, and the Chinese, who are pouring money into this country in the form of infrastructure investments and in turn paving the way for formidable economic advancements in their interest. The music on the streets is of a self-described “bongo-flavor” with American music only sprinkled in on the rare occasion for other “flavor.” An American manufactured car is a rare sight on the streets here, while Toyota seems to have an almost exclusive agreement with the car dealers of Dar. Similarly, while in Central America public transit often takes the form of American yellow school bus cast-offs, here the fleets of dala-dalas crawling through the slogs of traffic are almost exclusively the hand-me-downs of larger Asia cities.

Despite this, it was only yesterday that my friend’s insights really hit home, when I learned not only that there was sequel of a Sex and the City in the works, but that it is scheduled to open in theatres today! The media coverage casually asserted, “No matter who you are, where you're from, or if you've got two X chromosomes or just one, chances are you've probably heard about the imminent release of Sex and the City 2,” further yet, “With all the hype surrounding Sex And The City 2, you'd have to be living in Antarctica if you didn't know it's opening.” Or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

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References and Photo Credits:



http://wonderwomanvee.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/excited-com-sex-and-the-city-2/

http://www.filmofilia.com/2009/12/10/sex-and-the-city-2-poster/

http://www.refinery29.com/spolier-alert-satcii-is-low-on-plot-high-on-fashion.php

http://www.refinery29.com/the-tackiest-sex-and-the-city-products.php

http://www.filmofilia.com/2009/12/24/first-sex-and-the-city-2-trailer/

http://www.filmofilia.com/2010/03/11/8-new-sex-and-the-city-2-photos/