n recent years, with the rise of calling attention to cultural appropriation by fashion houses, patterns with origins from the continent have thankfully begun to achieve the praise and recognition they so rightly deserve. And yet, there’s still much work and education which needs to be done.

Perform any basic search for “African prints” online and you’ll find a plethora of images with descriptors such as: “Tribal” .. “Ethnic” .. Or my personal favorite, “African inspired.” All of these loosely worded descriptors do nothing to tell the history of the fabric or even hint at the country of origin. One prime example of this can be seen with Ankara / wax print.”