Abidjan was in the forefront of African fashion de- sign in 1969, and Seydou found great success in the city, designing clothing for many of Abidjan’s wealthy and in- fluential women. Seydou then spent seven years in Paris beginning in 1972, where he studied European couture. He met other African artists and designers in Paris, with whom he organized the Fédération Africaine de Prêt à Porter (African Federation of Ready-to-Wear Designers), an association that seeks to promote African designers on the international market. Seydou was also one of the three founders of the Fédération Internationale de la Mode Africaine (International Federation of African Fashion), which continues to provide an important forum for African designers. Seydou found that his work appealed to African women who sought clothes made in “la mode occidentale” (Western style), and that European women appreciated his “exoticism” (Seydou; and “Chris Seydou: Le roman d’une vie,” p. 34). As Seydou explained, these women did not buy his work because he was African, but because he “brought an African sensibility” to his designs (Seydou 1993). Seydou returned to his country of birth in 1990. He came to Bamako in search of “the authors, the origins” of “the real African traditions” (Seydou 1993). He was particularly interested in bogolan or bogolanfini, a cot- ton textile traditionally made for ritual functions in rural Mali, and known as mudcloth in North American mar- kets. Seydou had begun to use the cloth while he was working in Paris in 1975–1976. He described his return to Paris in 1973 or 1974 after a visit home and finding in his suitcase several pieces of bogolan he had received as gifts. He was already familiar with the material from his childhood in Kati, but there he had associated it with hunters and local ritual practices rather than with his own interest in fashion. In unfamiliar Paris the familiar cloth was transformed into a souvenir—a reminder of the place and the people of home (Seydou 1993).Abidjan was in the forefront of African fashion de- sign in 1969, and Seydou found great success in the city, designing clothing for many of Abidjan’s wealthy and in- fluential women. Seydou then spent seven years in Paris beginning in 1972, where he studied European couture. He met other African artists and designers in Paris, with whom he organized the Fédération Africaine de Prêt à Porter (African Federation of Ready-to-Wear Designers), an association that seeks to promote African designers on the international market. Seydou was also one of the three founders of the Fédération Internationale de la Mode Africaine (International Federation of African Fashion), which continues to provide an important forum for African designers. Seydou found that his work appealed to African women who sought clothes made in “la mode occidentale” (Western style), and that European women appreciated his “exoticism” (Seydou; and “Chris Seydou: Le roman d’une vie,” p. 34). As Seydou explained, these women did not buy his work because he was African, but because he “brought an African sensibility” to his designs (Seydou 1993). Seydou returned to his country of birth in 1990. He came to Bamako in search of “the authors, the origins” of “the real African traditions” (Seydou 1993). He was particularly interested in bogolan or bogolanfini, a cot- ton textile traditionally made for ritual functions in rural Mali, and known as mudcloth in North American mar- kets. Seydou had begun to use the cloth while he was working in Paris in 1975–1976. He described his return to Paris in 1973 or 1974 after a visit home and finding in his suitcase several pieces of bogolan he had received as gifts. He was already familiar with the material from his childhood in Kati, but there he had associated it with hunters and local ritual practices rather than with his own interest in fashion. In unfamiliar Paris the familiar cloth was transformed into a souvenir—a reminder of the place and the people of home (Seydou 1993)
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