The Kalabari people of Nigeria have never made cloth. For centuries they imported various textiles made in areas inside and outside Africa, but especially in India. Community members culturally authenticate the textiles into protocols for dress, household, and ritual use. Cultural authentication is ongoing, since the textile designs continually change. In 1976 Nigeria banned textile imports, and trade went underground.
In this paper I analyze the design of Indian gold-embroidered velvets imported by the Kalabari. They call them “velvet india.” Indians call the gold and silver embroidered on the velvets zari. Therefore I call the textiles of Indian tradition “zari-embroidered velvets” (ZEV). I find the 1976 ban ended European control of design information flows between Nigeria and India and ended European design inputs into Indian production for Nigeria. Kalabari market women began coming to India to buy at the source. They, together with the Indian manufacturers, now design the textiles. Velvet india design is diverging from that of ZEV. Use of velvet india in construction of the Kalabari adult female ideal informs design development of the textile in the period 1976-1997. Simultaneously, Indian manufacturers draw upon Indian ZEV tradition, regional Indian traditions, Indian women’s fashions, and textile traditions and fashions from around the world for design innovations in velvet india for their Kalabari wholesale buyers.
I conclude Indian manufacturers participate in the construction of the Kalabari female gender ideal by introducing elements of Indian design. They also serve as a conduit of material culture influences on that ideal from other world regions. The Kalabari adult female is both a local and global cultural construction.