Dida Raffia Dance Skirt

Spiky at one end, stringy at the other. Between them, a very good grid.

This dance skirt is Dida, from Ivory Coast, West Africa, 20th century, of dyed raffia. Dida women wove and tie-dyed raffia into cloth of this kind for wear at dances and ceremonies, and the striking patterns were achieved with nothing more than binding, dye and patience. Tall vertical columns of ochre and rust ripple across the cloth. Above them runs a checkerboard of ribbed squares and small dotted squares. Pointed tabs rise along one edge, and long twisted cords hang from the other, some gathered into tufts. Thirty-four inches wide and 32 long.

Hard to imagine it standing still for long.