Boubou and skirt (Museum Accession number R6129/12)
This woman’s boubou style top and skirt outfit belonged to Saundra Lang, an African American collector and fashion enthusiast. Saundra collected fashion during her many trips to West Africa, and bought this outfit in Dakar, Senegal, a city that has become a global fashion capital. She recalls: ‘At the time, shorter boubous were in fashion with skirts or pants that were visible from the botton of the boubou top. Typically, heavy starch is used in boubous for men and women. I worked on the pieces to restore the original white color and starched them. ‘ Collected as part of the Fashioning Africa Project.
Creator: unknown
Place: Dakar, Senegal
Date: 1985
See more of Saundra Lang’s capsule collection
These trousers belonged to Saundra Lang, an African American fashion enthusiast who spent time in West Africa from the 1970s Read more
This woman's boubou gown was made by Jean Kablan, a popular designer based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in the 1970s. Read more
This wax print dress is actually a matching top and skirt. The outfit was made for African American collector Saundra Read more