Based on research conducted in Dakar (1998-1999, 2001, and 2002), this paper will explore two lines of inquiry. First and most broadly, my paper will examine the interplay between fashion in Dakar and other forms of visual traffic animating the city. As has been elaborated elsewhere, expressive culture in Dakar may well be characterized by its hybridity, fusion, and its ability to both appropriate and invent (See Grabski, Mustapha, McLaughlin, and Roberts). To be sure, tailors and designers are key figures in the processes of information flow and shaping of expressive, visual culture. Their output is affected by and participates in the flow of images and events that make up Dakar's urban landscape. The range of shirts, boubous, dresses, and scarves fashioned in conjunction with the recent Senegalese world cup celebrations provides a striking example. Secondly, my paper will address the relationship between tailors/designers and beaux arts artists and practice. For instance, it will consider how tailors and designers, as image makers shaping the city's visual culture, position their work in similar discursive terms as Dakar's beaux art practitioners by discussing their output in terms of style, originality, creativity, sensibility, and self-expression.
Two case studies will provide the focus for this examination: the fashion designer Claire Kane and that of a group of tailors in the neighborhood of Niaykoker (Maguette Sy, Cheikh Faye, Balla N'Diaye, and Ndiasse Thiam). Having launched her label in Dakar in 1988, Kane creates two seasonal lines per year. Her seriographed motifs imprinted on woven cloth made using Mandjak techniques are well appreciated as a fusion of local resources and European styles. Furthermore, the motifs for each seasonal line are inspired by the urban environment, especially the aesthetic of the street as well as contemporary political and social events.
In recent years, motifs have included the CFA, Che Guevara, visa stamps, reggae music, and a homage to Miles Davis. The second case study focuses on a group of tailors in the neighborhood of Niaykoker. Located just next to Marche Sandaga, Dakar largest and most central market, the neighborhood itself epitomizes a kind of crossroads. The flow of objects, images, and ideas moving in and out of this space is extraordinary. The latest Sean Jean shirts and vibrant wax prints combine with fuug jaay or second hand clothing to offer an astonishing traffic of fashion possibilities. Like Kane's engagement with the urban environment, the tailors process visual informatio associated with this space and its information flows. In addition to conversations with clients, tailors read visual references from the streets, television and especially music videos, and magazines in the most astute way.