Fashion : Hip Garb Has a Deep-Rooted Appeal

By ROSE-MARIE TURK

Aug. 25, 1989 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Nursing student Cookie Morris celebrated her birthday last year in a standard cocktail dress. This year, she celebrated both her birthday and her heritage in a custom-made, three-piece African outfit, topped by an elaborately braided, gold-trimmed coif.

Following her lead, most of her guests “were dressed head-to-toe African,” says Morris, who explains she first went looking in mall shops for something with an ethnic feel. Unable to find what she wanted, she headed for “the real thing” at Beauty of Afrika, a little shop crammed with authentic masks, jewelry, fabrics and clothing, on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Los Angeles.

More Than a Fad

European designers and American fashion magazines may have made “ethnic” (as in animal prints, sun-drenched colors, vibrant pattern mixes, heavy bangles and beads, sarong skirts, batik and tie-dyed fabrics) a hot trend this year, but among African-Americans, their ever-growing interest in wearing symbols of their culture is more than a fad.

Blacks say they still can’t wear dreadlocks or elaborate traditional clothing in a corporate setting. But the current fashion trend makes it easier to dress for work in sashes made of kente cloth (Ghanaian hand-woven fabric), armloads of bangles, lappas (wrapped skirts), kufis (hats known as “crowns”), drummer pants and contemporary clothing cut from vividly colored cloth.

Outside the gray-flannel world, anything from anti-apartheid leather medallions to festive long dresses and matching head wraps are making the scene wherever and whenever blacks want to look fashionable, dress comfortably and demonstrate pride in their roots.

More and more, the meaningful clothing and accessories are turning up anywhere from churches and schools to restaurants, clubs, reggae boat parties and festivals, such as the Afrikan Culture Day, which is held monthly, and this weekend’s African Marketplace at James H. Whitworth Park (La Cienega Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue), both in Los Angeles.

Stores that for years have quietly specialized in Afrocentric items are finding business better than ever. And all over the city, new designers and entrepreneurs are suddenly on the scene, promoting African goods and culture.

Warren Daniel, organizer of both Afrikan Culture Day and the Afrikan Reggae Boat Parties that go from Long Beach to Catalina Island, explains that he began the activities after Black History Month this year “to raise the consciousness of the African community as well as the European community we live in.”

To properly promote black history, Daniel says, “something must be done on a daily basis.”

International Lecturer

“Black Americans are starting to reach for the culture. It’s coming through in their dress and their life style,” explains Ahneva Ahneva, owner of Crowns and Gowns, for which she designs $45-$1,500 contemporary clothing with an African influence. As owner of Designers Network International, she has been kept busy lately lecturing all over the world (including this year’s African Liberation Day at New York City University and L.A.’s Marketplace) on Africa’s fashion heritage.

At Cafe Afrique (in the Crenshaw District), owned by Safi and Kashif Shaheed, specialties of the house are Carribbean-African cuisine and an ever-increasing number of garments sold in the cafe’s “little boutique.” Priced from $25 for a pair of tie-dyed drummer pants to $150 for an embroidered gown, the colorful, “very traditional” clothing is designed by Safi and made in Liberia.

At Africana Imports on West Slauson Boulevard, owner Francesca Anuluoha has been making clothing out of West African fabric for more than 15 years. But now, she says, “I can’t seem to make enough.” Teen-agers, often influenced by rap stars, start with patriotic leather medallions, “and move from that to hats, tops, pants and books about their heritage.” Prices range from $40 for a dashiki (top) to $700 for a bubu (long formal dress).

Anuluoha’s 14-year-old daughter, Nyambo, is required to wear a uniform to school. But for parties, she likes to put on African clothing and jewelry and symbols that show solidarity with blacks in South Africa.

Texas-born Afua Chinue Ifama has often stood out in the crowd in the traditional African clothing she has worn for 35 years. Retired now, she was an employee of a major California corporation, and she proudly wore her heritage to work every day for 27 years. But it wasn’t easy.

“People who didn’t understand it couldn’t accept it. They couldn’t tell me not to, but they did little things to make me uncomfortable,” she recalls.

The clothing itself has always been comfortable and durable. Ifama has 15-year-old garments from Africana Imports that “don’t go out of style. I get compliments every time I walk out the door in them.” And because she is “100% traditional,” she always wears a head wrap “partly because it’s a religious preference and partly because I think I look so darn good with it.”

“The crown of the head is very sacred and that’s why it is always covered,” explains South Africa-born Delphine Wills-Martin, a bookkeeper who makes the clothing and “crowns” she was selling at the most recent Afrikan Culture Day.

No matter the occasion, she always puts on something that reflects her heritage, “even if it’s just my jewelry or a hat or pants. To me, it’s important. As a black person, it says something about who I am.”

Using African fabrics, she turns them into “clothing that’s practical for the office.” A typical outfit might be “loose, comfortable pants with some type of wrap top and a tailored jacket.”

In the last month alone, requests for hats (traditionally worn by men but now a fashion favorite with both sexes) and outfits have increased considerably. “People are becoming more familiar and more educated about this type of dress. They realize there is an alternative to what they can find in the department stores.”

And they solve a problem for Wills-Martin, who says: “I don’t think Western clothing is right for my body type. My hips are a lot bigger than my waist. Trying to wear Levi’s is ludicrous. I’m just making things that are meant for me, that I’ve seen since I was a child.”

But for Jo Keita and Vicki Beya, mixing European-inspired fashion with African fabrics has turned into a lucrative business. Less than a year ago, the two invested $1,000 and planned to work only part time on their venture, called Nubian Princess. Now the unexpected demand for their garments, designed and made in the Ivory Coast, has them talking about a future filled with an extensive menswear line, a showroom and their own outlets.

Customers for their “African high fashion” include a number of black celebrities who buy directly from Keita’s home in Los Angeles. And at Sherie, a boutique in Beverly Hills, owner Sherie Wright says the colorful, unusual pieces sell well--at $150 for a tie-dye shorts outfit, for example, or $370 for a three-piece outift--to “middle-class Anglo-Saxons who are looking for something different.”

The current interest in ethnic clothing reminds many, such as African dance teacher Tabula Adigun, of the ‘60s “when we wore the clothing of our ancestors.” She wears both head-to-toe traditional as well as a mix, which might be a wrap skirt worn with a shirt, tie and boots.

As the fashion industry continues its ethnic bent, Adigun predicts: “We’re going to see more and more people with their hair wrapped in geles and wearing lappas. If you have your head wrapped,” she explains, “you have to stand up proud.”

But even something as small as a bracelet “makes a statement of some sort. You either love the beauty of the work or it’s part of your culture.”