While the nomadic Maasai from East Africa have long been recognised as majestic warriors, this community is increasingly garnering attention as unconventional fashion icons. As attention on African fashion rises, their distinctive traditional attire, known as the shuka, has graced runways across the world and even contributed to designer Ruth Carter winning the Oscar for Best Costume Design for Black Panther in 2019.
Like other African textiles such as the Kente, the origins of the Maasai shuka are contested as African fashion is historically overlooked and under-researched. To illustrate, Erica De Greef, the co-director at The African Fashion Research Institute, shared how when she began teaching fashion 20 years ago “the two words ‘Africa’ and ‘fashion’ were not found in a book, let alone on a page together, and let alone in an exhibition title together.”
Origins and colour significance
To put this knowledge problem into context, popular opinion cites the origins of the shuka to the entry of Scottish missionaries in Kenya in the early 1900s. This narrative posits that Maasai began trading with missionaries to exchange food for commercial cotton. Thereafter it is suggested that they drew inspiration from the colours and materials of the Scottish kilt and subsequently transformed the white cotton into the shuka by dying it using clay, animal blood, plants and insects.
However, scholars point out that the Maasai’s use of red cloths, primarily worn during war, dates back to the 1800s. Thus, while trading with Scottish missionaries may have transformed the textile used to create the shuka from animal skin to cotton, there is evidence to suggest that the signature shuka colours and patterns were independently created long before colonial imposition.
Each of the colours used in the shuka hold special significance. These colours not only represent social status but they also mirror the Maasai’s pastoral lifestyle. Red, the most frequently used colour, is used to represent bravery and strength. It is also used for practical purposes to ward off predatory animals. Blue represents the sky and the water that nourishes the livestock, green is used to capture the land, black represents hardships and white is for protection.
Today, several Kenyan fashion designers are reinventing the shuka to pay homage to Maasai culture and meet the demand for “Made in Kenya” clothing due to the shuka’s distinctive appeal. For example, Jeff Wanjala, the co-founder of Nairobi based streetwear brand, Wan Fam Clothing, incorporates the shuka into his designs to create streetwear staples like bomber jackets and duffle bags.
"It's very ideal because it has like a signature for Africa — you can just see it and notice that this is our brand" Jeff said. More recently, Kenyan model turned fashion designer, Yvonne Adhiambo of Afrostreet Kollections, debuted a collection at the Design Fashion Africa showcase in Nigeria which featured shuka gowns and cocktail dresses. According to the designer, the shuka was her choice of fabric as it allowed her to pay homage to Kenya and represent her country on a regional stage.
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The shuka in the modern era
Beyond its domestic origins, the reference of the shuka in the Black Panther franchise points to how the use of these fabrics across the African diaspora can allow non-continental Africans to reconcile their conceptions of belonging through cultural expression. When researching and designing costumes for the film, Ruth Carter was motivated by pulling shapes, colours and textures from the continent in order to tell a story through clothing.
"I thought this has got to be an important film, and it had to be something that was Afrofuturist ... I would have to represent images of beauty, forms of beauty, from the African tribal traditions so that African-Americans could understand it – so that (non-Black) Americans could understand African-Americans better, so we could start erasing a homogenised version of Africa,” Carter said. Thus Carter’s designs for the Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s all-female army, featured red uniforms and pointed spears to mirror the strength and exuberance of Maasai warriors.
Overall, while the Western fashion world may attribute the rise of the shuka and other African fabrics as the latest “fad”, designers like Yvonne Adhiambo and Ruth Carter prove that is not a mere “trend”, but rather, an emblem of history and culture that has the breadth of modern fashion.