Stella McCartney released a number of looks in collaboration with Vlisco, the Netherlands-based company considered the creator of genuine “Dutch wax prints,” but received a lot of criticism for the exclusion of African models on the catwalk. Although designed with Vlisco, which has many offices in West Africa and is highly valued among local communities, there was backlash due to McCartney only using White models, despite the prints having overt connections to the African continent.

This dress by Papillon was sold at Nordstrom Rack, a discount retailer for designer goods. Whether the brand’s designers felt inspired by prints coming from communities in West Africa, the common and reductive notion of naming patterns “African” or “ethnic” draws attention away from their original meanings and contexts. The pattern here is called Angelina, and was created by Vlisco around the time a popular Ghanaian highlife band, The Sweet Talks, released a song of the same name in the 1970s.

Los Angeles based brand Della works to produce socially responsible clothing by employing and training Ghanaian and West African women to make printed fashion and accessories. This pattern is labeled “Batik Circle Print” on the website, but more specifically references the Target or Nsu Bura (deep wells) pattern that represents stillness and marital stability. Some other recent design collaborations include Vans and Apple. 

Grass-Fields is a fashion line started by twin Cameroonian sisters, Christelle and Michelle Nganhou, whose goal is to “put the love back into African print clothing again”. Grass-Fields sources and produces their line in Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, and Cote D’Ivoire, and employs about two thousand people within these communities. The style of this pattern is called Speed Bird or Money Flies—in reference to the ephemeral and volatile nature of money. 

Collaboratively developed between a Malian community clinic, an American public health foundation, and a textile designer, this red, orange, yellow, and blue boubou raises awareness for women’s cervical health and preventive care in Mali. Following the practice of employing messages onto cloth, it portrays HPV molecules, interlocking uterine shapes, and ribbons of text. Lining the edges is a phrase based on the Bamana proverb, “BanakunbƐn ka fisa ni banafurakƐ ye,” which translates to “Meeting the illness is better than treating the illness,” and rounding the virus molecules in French the text reads, “I protect myself, I take care of myself, I vaccinate myself.”