Dida Plangi or Tie-Dyed Dance Skirt

Every pale ring here began as a small knot, tied shut against the dye.

This plangi, or tie-dyed dance skirt, is Dida, from the Ivory Coast in West Africa, 20th century, in raffia and pigment. Dida people wore raffia skirts like this at dances and festive occasions, and makers are known for resist-dyeing the cloth, with sections bound off before the color goes on. Blocks of small rings alternate with ridged tan patches on a deep red-brown ground, and the cloth keeps a puckered, pleated texture. Twisted cords gather below into a single knot. Twenty-eight inches wide and 64 long.

It was meant to move. Hanging still, it manages to look impatient.