The Front Lines Of Fashion In Sierra Leone

This was originally posted at GOODMagazine.com.

By Andrew Price
Photos by Henry Jacobson

Adama Kargbo was born and raised in Sierra Leone, but moved to New York when she was 12. After graduating from the famous fashion design program at Parsons, she returned to her home country, ravaged by a desperate and brutal civil war, to launch her high-end line.

Sierra Leone isn't the first place you'd think of finding couture, but the country is changing. According to filmmaker Eric Becker, who helped with her first shoot, "It is a world of rural, mud hut villages where cell phone ring tones mix with the sound of baying goats, where chiefs have business cards and gmail accounts. ...where the bottom--still brutally victimized by the trappings of poverty--has begun to connect to a global world at a rapid pace." In this context, Adama's case of reverse brain-drain makes more sense. And while fashion might not heal the wounds of civil war, it may help Sierra Leone realize a more beautiful future.

Adama's line, called Aschobi, is based in Freetown.

Adama had only one model for her shoot. She found the other two girls at a local ex-pat bar.

Adama's clothes give traditional African style an urban twist.

Comments

[GravitonX]

It's a good start, but someone really needs to help her with the airbrushing or the camera angles. The one woman has a huge unsightly "birth mark" on her left arm.

[starfire426]

Ever put your brain cells to work and perhaps ponder the thought that could be a tribal marking???

[jbeezz]

OMG, A BIRTH MARK! She's not PERFECT, they should KILL her!! GravitonX you are a moron.

This woman "fashionista" Adama Kargbo of selling frontless dresses to tribal women should direct her efforts and her profits to stopping female genital mutilation in her country. That would be REAL news.

[TheBlackCat]

It is a noticable discoloration, but I don't find it unsightly. It's not like she has a third arm!

[GoodNews]

Wow! Something truly new and exciting in fashion. The necklines and detailing are exquisite, fresh, and youthful. Well done Adama! Is there a U.S. retailer selling your clothes?

[janmarbol]

Now THIS was a cool article! beautiful models too!

[mawrm]

Actually this is a brilliant move to help Sierra Leone rebuild. Clothes in West Africa are typically handmade by independent tailors, so if her fashion line takes off, you have lots of tailors and their families reaping the benefits with relatively lower start-up costs.

These models are not "starving" people - this is the normal build for many in that part of the world (I lived there for a decade).

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

What? No blood diamonds to go with the haute couture???

[southafrica4obama]

Not all diamonds are blood diamonds

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

The story is about Sierra Leone. Their diamonds are the basis for the term.

[AlligatorShuz]

It is apperant you don't know anything about world history? For your FYI the transalentic slave trade took nearly all of the people from that country and brought 100% of them to the United States and the Caribbean.­... When you speak about blood diamonds those war lords sold those diamons to EUROPEAN DIAMOND TRADERS LIKE DEBEERS. They then took them money from the diamonds and bought arms from some American, German, Swiss, Russian and Chinese arems dealers. So what ever good comes out of Sierra Leone today should be applauded not put down. She could have stayed here in the United States and presued her clothing line but she wanted to go back to her homeland..­..

[hughbetcha]

So those local thugs who chopped off the arms and hands of their fellow countrymen and women were mere pawns in the hands of nefarious foreigners?

[mamacat]

As they used to say, the world is shrinking, except inside the bodice.

[Smaiyna]

Check out more African and African inspired (Afrocentric) fashion for both male and female here.

http://www.anyiams.com/

[LoRiseAntlers]

*facepalms and sighs*

[Rockerbabe]

Someone call Tyra Banks and Oprah and let them know about this young designer. Where can her designs be found in the US?

[LittleBrother]

Wow!

I haven't been this excited since I let my "National Geographic" subscription expire!

[philinmedford]

just in case you missed the first "falling out of her dress" picture, they posted it twice in the article

[RaraAvis17]

The picture of the first model looks like she has her dress on backasswards.

[Henk]

For Christ's sake, if you are going to make assinine comments please use your "cutsey" expressions properly. The term is bassackwards.

[Bastet]

Good god. Does anyone see the irony in these starving models having their picture taken for haute couture in a country with a history of starvation?

[geobushono]

REALLY! WTF?!!
this is repug porn.

[liya]

I thought Republicans only went for white women...

[freedomisabsolute]

Nope. Progress it's like how our extremely violent country watches shoot em up movies.

Stop judging these people. Because they are in tough times they can't have fashion too. These are things that keep things moving. So shut up and enjoy your latte from the comfort of your big chair.

Don't you find it ironic that someone who has probably never been to Sierra Leone or met this designer finds it ok to tell them that there is something wrong with what they are doing because they live in a place ravaged by war, have you ever lived in a war zone?

They're not hurting anyone, and how do you know these girls are starving and not healthy yet thin. Get over yourself.

[jbeezz]

Female genital mutilation is not violence????

[rini]

They don't look like they are starving. They do have a delicate build.

Come on, did you see that chest falling out of the dress? That's not starving.

[mulegino]

Right. It would appear that there is no sense of irony in the world anymore.
I think all third world countries should just skip the "economic progress and development" angle and go directly for the fashion, eco-tourist, casino subsistence economy.
Sure, there are winners and losers, but hey-it's globalization! I mean, what if a few thousand starve every now and then? If that will help jump start the careers of a few super models and one or two mega-wealthy fashion designers, isn't it worth it?

[TheBlackCat]

You have no idea what you're talking about. As I state in my above post, Africa already had a deep appreciation for fashin as artistic expression before whitey showed up, before globalization took over.

Read books, theyy give you knowledge!!

[TheBlackCat]

Seriously, you sound like a good meaning, good hearted person, but also a racist. Did you honestly think Africa just had no culture of its own without globalization? That they didn't also enjoy clothes and fashion, art, poetry, music, all sorts of things. WHITE people had fashion even before we were modernized, industrialized, when most were peasaants, but you think black people weren't capable of this? That only our corrupting influence could give these "noble savages" appreciation of anything artistic? They're all living in mudhouses naked with a fern leaf over their groin before globalization?

Read something on the cultural history of Sierra Leone or Africa in general. They're not as different from white people as you seem to think.

[starfire426]

Very well stated!