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The WAX

Name:     Wax (african material)              Place:    West Africa (Benin, Togo,                                                                    Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ghana, ...)

 

Origin:   Around the 19th century    Materials:  Printed cotton 

 

 

Occasion:    Everyday's life  and special events

   Created in Indonesia and traded by the Dutch around the 19th century WAX was a gift to the Ashanti (Ghana) and will quickly become a treasure on that continent.

   Wax is a fabric printed with different patterns on both sides. It is important to notice that each pattern has its own meaning. The model of the fabric allows people to sew it the way they want. This way you can have shirts, trousers, skirts (short or long), dresses, jackets, boubous etc.

   Because of the numerous dialect in Africa, the name and the typical styles of the fabric is different in the countries.

 

   The most traditionnal model of WAX is a shirt with 2 or 3 buttons on the top over trousers for men. That shirt can have 3 pockets (1 on the chest and 2 on the sides). For women we have a shirt without button and pockets over a loincloth (about 1.80m) tied at the waist (or on the chest when she doesn't put the shirt). They also have another loincloth (about 1m) they use to tie their hair.

 
    On very special events (especially for death), the Wax is embroidered. On those days you can see the ingenuity of the tailors. Nowadays WAX is used to create shoes, bags and even undershirts.

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