Senegal

I went to Senegal with no special mission, but the sartorial style of the Senegalese is well known and I can only confirm that there are some amazing outfits out on the streets. Very educating for the eye.

I had met up in Dakar a friend designer of Kente Gentlemen , from Abidjan and we teamed up to do fabric research and a photoshoot of our collections. Both was a lot of fun.

Dakar as a city is like a fluffy soft hug , the vibe is amazingly gentle unlike any other place I have ever been and every taxi driver is playing great music in their cars.

Next stop was Saint Louis, the old colonial capital in the North of the country, close to the border with Mauritania. There are no pictures that come close to the experience of hanging out there for a few days. Visually this is the most stunning place i have been to. Among many amazing people I met Aziz , the shoemaker and soon we will start our collaboration on making some sandals for the shop.

Then we stumbled upon Trésor Textiles, a shop selling vintage and newly crafted handwoven textiles and garments. A real treasure trove of fabrics and stories. One of the owner invited me the following day for a viewing of her historical indigo garments and textiles. It was more than amazing to see these pieces that were so preciously crafted, and at the same time it was sad to learn that hardly any of the villages were able to keep the knowledge of the techniques alive.

Here are some of my favorite batik pieces. The white fabric is stitched and tied before being dyed by natural indigo and the patterns are revealed after the stitches are taken out.