Telling the Indigenous Ghanaian Fashion Cosmovision: The Case of Royal Ahenema Sandals

Abstract

Fashion is practiced by all cultures. The people of Ghana practiced bespoke fashion culture that has evolved overtime but still remains relevant in their lives in contemporary times. In the precolonial times, the bespoke fashion was practiced on ethnic fashion basis which begot the ethnic fashion art tradition. Ethnic groups created and exhibited unique and interesting repertoire of fashion art for everyday and special occasion usage. This gave rise to unique Ghanaian fashion classics. In effect, Ghana has a robust indigenous fashion system influenced by her fashion cosmovision different from what pertains in Western fashion. But, does not sharing the same fashion cosmovision with other nations make Ghana’s fashion inferior or peripheral in global fashion? Through careful observation of available data on Ghanaian fashion practice in precolonial, colonial, postcolonial and contemporary times, this chapter presents Indigenous Fashion System Model (IFSM) and Bespoke Fashion Diffusion and Consumption (BeFDaC) model that describe how different fashions are co-created, diffused, consumed, rejected and changed in a bespoke fashion milieu using the indigenous and contemporary knowledge systems. How the Indigenous Fashion System Model (IFSM) operates is discussed using the case of royal ahenema sandals, an indigenous Ghanaian fashion accessory and yet international. The chapter also established the evolutions that have characterized the indigenous fashion system in terms of gender issues in the production and commodification of royal ahenema sandals and challenges the labeling of otherness in reference to non-Western fashion with particular reference to Ghana. It recommended that these models are tested by academics in the African contexts to check its trustworthiness and workability.