Mythmaking Towards New Worlds: Humanizing Ribbed Chenille
Our latest collection is titled Jollof, named after the famous West African dish that is prepared by most countries in that region.
Jollof has become a symbolic form of communicating within these communities as it fosters positive engagement from friendly banter (WHO MAKES THE BEST JOLLOF?), to the way families eat.
Every process at Post-Imperial involves some sort of collaboration. When it comes to the adire dying process, we not only see it as an opportunity to collaborate with the dyers but also an opportunity to collaborate with the materials.
These materials go through a transformation during this process. This can happen through the force of human hands, or using an empathic approach of listening and working with the material in tandem.
We have found that the latter approach tends to bring out a more satisfying result. Our dyeing partners, Adire Lounge, are there to help facilitate that transformation.
For this season we approached ribbed chenille cotton as one of our main collaborators (Think of a fuzzy corduroy).
Unlike the other cotton fabrics that we work with, we had to make sure that ribbed chenille was handled with extra care due to its composition (About 25% of it is composed of polyester).
Our decision to collaborate with the ribbed chenille was because it allowed the garments to reflect the texture of the Jollof rice dish found in West Africa; as well as to convey the sense of intimacy, warmth, and comfort you feel when you are in community.
The garments that we used for the ribbed chenille were the Ikeja Jacket & Pant- 2 new styles that we introduced into the collection.
It is named after Ikeja, the capital of Lagos state. Ikeja is located on the mainland- the part of the city where the working class of Lagos resides.
The Ikeja Jacket is a shirt jacket that can be worn with or without a top underneath, it was designed to reflect the utilitarian values that you find in a place like Ikeja.
The Ikeja Pant is our first wide leg pant- a style that is perfect for these current times.
Both items are very soft and cozy. Made out of love towards the chenille cotton from our dyers in Nigeria and our manufacturing partners in Kenya.
When you buy items- like all our other products, please intend to wear them as often as you can. Our clothes are made with love, but they are not intended to be artifacts.