Mossi Woman's Wrap / Skirt

Bands of white dashes and dots drift across a smooth, deep blue cloth in bold clusters.

This woman's wrap or skirt is Mossi, from Burkina Faso, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is woven cotton & indigo. In much of West Africa, a length of cloth is worn wrapped around the waist as a skirt, and the stripe pattern may reflect regional taste. Rectangular cloth with horizontal blocks of vertical white strokes, separated by tidy rows of tiny dots. A pale oval shape forms near the center, and a few faint seams run top to bottom. It is 64 inches long and 47 in diameter.

Neat little dashes keeping their appointed places.