World Fashion   +  UK fashion designers

Black Volta by A. Sauvage

After an eleven year absence, British designer Adrien Sauvage revisits Ghana. Black Volta, his most recent collection, captures the carefree spirit and assertive independence of the Ghanaian society.

The economical and political interrelationship between Africa and Europe is examined through his use of point and shoot photography, which examines the construction of identity.

This has further been channeled into Adrien’s 000-1.00011 collection where extracted segments from African cloths and textiles, such as Kente, discreetly furnish the articles.

The single narrative thread of his portrait photography, which sees natives dressed in the Black Volta collection, explores his relationships with family, friends and people from then neighborhood.

By revisiting his heritage a new story begins yet the collection builds on the same principle of perfecting cut, concentrating on fit and adding pieces to the range as season and need demands.

Kente cloth is a type of silk and cotton fabric made of interwoven cloth strips and is native to the Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

Meanings of the colors in Kente cloth:

Black—maturation, intensified spiritual energy
Blue—peacefulness, harmony and love
Green—vegetation, planting, harvesting, growth, spiritual renewal
Gold—royalty, wealth, high status, glory, spiritual purity
Grey—healing and cleansing rituals
Purple—associated with feminine aspects of life
Silver—serenity, purity, joy
White—purification, sanctification rites and festive occasions
Yellow—preciousness, royalty, wealth, fertility

See the images.

Photos Copyright A. Sauvage.