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They call it wax!
Other | Thursday 14th June 2012 | Osh
Beyonce stole my grandmother’s dress! And the theft/disease spread like butter. From Rihanna to Alicia Keys, American divas colour-splash the tabloids with outfits coming straight from the motherland.
Their designers went down to my granny closet, and took arms full of tissue coming from Gabon, Cameroon or Congo to name a few. They cut it buttocks-short for the runway model and tada: birth of a summer trend called wax.
Wax? They call it wax!
Not African print, or boubou, or pagne but wax. The same name of the armpit-hair removal substance. Wax.
People witness, once again, the “americanization” of a concept which is non-american! Like when they call and write the phrase, “cordon-blue”, instead of the French dish,”cordon-bleu”! Or when they renamed the historical Guillaume le conquerant, William!
The whole idea of modernising the folks’ wardrobe is not new. It is not bad either. Actually this is how most of the great styles were created. Reimagining an existing object is almost as fascinating as creating a new one. And God knows that fashion recycles. In a little while Lady Gaga outfits will prove to be conventional and Marie-Antoinette’s revolutionary!
Also it feels good that the motherland elegance catches the spotlight once again on Beyonce’s body or her sister’s, Solange.
But the “americanization” is bugging me. Modifying with scissors and needles is great as well as modernising with gold powder; as long as it acknowledges the inspirational source. Could designers embody the Frankenstein-of-the-tissue while respecting the roots of their inspiration? Drop the wacky-wax name calling and let’s a boubou be a boubou, for Grandmama’s sake!
@Wendeedit
