By Charles Mgbolu
A male model, a six-footer, walk with a strong gaze, his arms wide open and his eyes unblinking despite the bright flashes from cameras and photographers.
The model's strides were long and powerful, but it was the image emblazoned on the front of his attire that was particularly striking.
The 'yar-ciki attire, a native shirt from northern Nigeria, displayed a piece of hand-painted art with such fine detailing that it could easily have been on a canvas in an art museum elsewhere.
Other attires in the collection on the runway that evening had similar features: a fabric design with a distinctive art signature.
Art imprints
‘’I have always been fascinated by arts. It is so strong, and that is why I have created a convergence in my pieces where fashion and art meet,'' Austin Aimankhu, the brain behind the collection, tells TRT Afrika.
For nine years, Aimankhu has been creating what he called 'wearable arts,' which seek to redefine fashion pieces from simple fabrics stitched together into a powerful representation of African arts and culture.
‘’In my head, I want people to be human canvasses wearing great African art imprints. It is a powerful way to promote and project the African voice into an international fashion space,’’ he says.
‘’I have a bachelor's degree in law but did not practice it. I studied law perhaps because I wanted to prove that I was capable of becoming anything, but I have always had a powerful pull towards fashion and culture.
‘’I went into fashion professionally in the year 2000, but after more than 10 years of simply doing corporate couture, I felt there was a need to do more.’’
Mirroring art
In 2014, Aimankhu launched fashion-art fusion, which he kicked off with a ‘wear Nigeria’ campaign. Each of his outfits has a carefully hand-made art inscription.
‘’I work with fabric paints, corals, weaves, anything that my mind can conjure to create a mirror of art that is bold and imposing. It is what has come to be my fashion statement.’’
Aimankhu works with a creative team that includes dressmakers, artists, and illustrators.
‘’Creating the art impressions takes from a few hours to several days. Painting an entire collection could take up to three months. I am the creative director, and I work up the initial concept and sketches; this is what is developed and hand-created on the pieces.’’
African heritage
Africa has a long history of traditional attire that is steeped heavily in the arts.
The tie-and-dye fabrics of West Africa are a sound example. These are pieces of clothes usually folded, twisted, or pleated before being bound with strings or rubber bands and then strongly captivating dye is applied to them.
The result of this process is a powerful array of colourful imprints that the creators say are the ''signature of Africa'', a continent of colours. But like many African cultural artifacts, there has been an erosion from the West.
‘’Have you seen most pieces on fashion runways? It is almost a replica of what you see in Milan. It almost feels like we are gradually losing the themes that make us Africans,'' Aimankhu worries.
‘’My pieces are a reminder to all of us of the immense potential of African fabrics,'' he stresses.
Rural woman
‘’Our clothes are a very potent means of telling our stories. Look at how Indonesia popularised batik. This is what we should be doing with our fabrics,’’ he adds.
Aimankhu has expanded his fashion-art convergence with technological training that would help accentuate his designs.
‘’I have developed my craft technologically, which ensures that my fabric paintings do not run (leak dye or paint), but this is not the case of, for example, the rural woman who makes her tie and dye at home.''
Next generation
Aimankhu beleives there is so much to benefit with more African attires getting global attention. ''If we are able to create dyed African fabrics that do not run, it would instantly put our materials in such high demand in the international fashion market.’’
Aimankhu now works on different cultural art panels in the fashion art space across the continent.
He has run multiple workshops and has been vocal on the need to merge fashion and art together to preserve African cultures.
‘’It’s about passing on the knowledge to the next generation. To help them see the richness of preserving African arts in the fabrics of the African people,’’ he says.
