I already had my inspiration board but I still am so uninspired (meaning, no ideas are coming in) so I researched further and deeper what Africa and their culture is all about.
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| I can't seem to find where I got the picture, Sorry. |
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Here are some of the photos that I found as my inspiration. As you can totally see and as we all know for a fact, Africans are all about splash of colors. A whole splash of colors. Which they are not afraid of. The colors of their garments make them totally stand out from the crowd. Even their art pieces are just bursting with colors and ingenuity. And I love colors that's why I appreciate their art and culture. And come on, World Cup! Win or lose, they were among the few who were lucky to be a part of that worldwide sports crazy shindig! :D
There is more to the African art and culture. As I did my research, I saw the evolution. Especially with their fashion. They used these colorful cloths called 'kanga' which they tie, twist or knot and wrap around their body as a dress or skirt; or onto their heads as turban or head wrap. It is their traditional dress. Everyone uses them. But now, they had already modified their kangas. They don't just wrap it onto their bodies but they use it now to recreate another form of dress that didn't require knotting or twisting but sewn together. African designers are now being recognized and 'seen' in the fashion industry because of this, as evidenced by the very new Swahili Fashion Week. Some foreign designers have even used African art and culture and these African kangas or textiles as their inspiration for their collection, like Suno.
Well, having their kangas sewn together or buying kangas that are already sewn together is more 'impractical' (and probably even a little expensive) than how they used to do it but they've actually embraced it because it gave them diversity and variety. Something new and fresh. But I know they still look and go back from time to time to their traditional way of wearing it. And I think that's something great about Africans, they may not be as economically great as United States or Russia or Japan but they have something to be proud of -- their rich culture. They have already set their own unique thumbprint in the world that any person in the world can recognize as solely theirs.
I hope the same thing goes for my own country or race as well. I hope that, despite of whatever way other people or country views or stereotypes Asians or Filipinos in general, we may be able to set our culture as our own unique and good thumbprint in the world. There is more to what you or they 'think' or 'judge' of us, you know. There is more to our hospitable trait. That one can say and easily recognize, "Oh, that's Filipino." And I will be proud to respond back, "Oh yeah, that's so ours! :D"
You can check out (and I recommend) blogs of people from Africa or of African descent which I stumbled upon during my research. I enjoyed reading their posts, I hope you do as well. Click on: