Fulani Yaake Dance Tunic

Orange, yellow and white stitches marching across dark stripes in combs, ladders and grids.

This Yaake dance tunic is Fulani, from Niger, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is embroidered cotton. Among the Wodaabe Fulani, young men famously dress up and dance at the yaake, a celebration of beauty and charm, and embroidered tunics are often part of the finery. The ground is narrow-striped dark cloth, sewn with a dense chain of motifs in orange, gold, red and white: ladders at the shoulders, branching comb shapes across the chest and a crisscrossed panel at the center. A white zigzag border trims the neck and hem. It is 24.5 inches wide and 26 long.

Designed to be noticed, and it succeeds.