海角大神

Freetown, Sierra Leone

If she were still in New York or Paris 鈥� anywhere but here, really 鈥� Adama Kargbo would be wearing striped socks that reach her knees, or a blouse in an outrageous color, or a one-of-a-kind couture find.

Not so here, she says, walking the Freetown streets to which she鈥檚 been exiled, on a workday, by yet another power cut. 鈥淗ere, they鈥檇 say, 鈥楽he done gone cris鈥� 鈥� that I鈥檇 gone crazy, that my head is no longer there.鈥�

Ms. Kargbo came back to her native Sierra Leone about a year ago, to do something that may also seem a little cris. She wants to launch a fashion empire 鈥� in a country where tailors still power sewing machines by pedaling and stitch buttonholes by hand.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 find good zippers, or buttons that aren鈥檛 plastic, or machines that will finish things,鈥� Kargbo acknowledges, referring to the embroidered touches that polish off pieces sewn on serious machines. 鈥淚 would love to buy industrial machines which sew better, stronger stitches, but 鈥� I buy a machine, [when] I don鈥檛 have lights?鈥�

Little about setting up shop in a post-conflict country seems to make sense, but tens of thousands of Africans are returning to their native countries as stability takes root. Kargbo is one of hundreds of Sierra Leoneans who鈥檝e returned and opened businesses; she thinks her home is poised for an economic upturn. Longtime and recently returned Freetown residents alike say peace feels permanent 鈥� it has been six years since the infamous diamond wars here officially ended, and last year鈥檚 presidential elections changed the political leadership of the country for the first time in a decade.

Kargbo wants to parlay the optimism that pulses through Freetown into profit. This year, she rented a space on busy Padembe Road and opened Aschobi Designs, a business whose name is a play on one kind of traditional wear in this part of the world. For weddings and funerals, families choose their own aschobi 鈥� a matching fabric that each member stitches into an outfit in a style of their choosing.
Like traditional aschobi, Kargbo鈥檚 designs combine individual style with small-scale mass production. Unlike most designers here, who craft clothes on commission for clients, she鈥檚 selling to strangers.

She buys fabrics at the local markets in quantities large enough to stitch three dozen of the same shirt or skirt, making her store the closest thing this city of 1.2 million people has to J. Crew. It鈥檚 the start, Kargbo thinks, of western-style retail shopping for the small but growing upper middle class.

As Sierra Leone urbanizes, Kargbo thinks her clothes will be as much about what women need as what they want to wear. Women often take a brightly colored lapa fabric and simply knot it around their waist, topping it off with a blouse. The effect is a mishmash 鈥� more of necessity than style 鈥� Kargbo thinks. And the intricate wraps women wear high on their heads are easily knocked off by the low roofs of private cabs or public minibuses.

鈥淲omen tend to wear African fashion in a way that鈥檚 restrictive, that鈥檚 not everyday-accessible,鈥� says Kargbo, whose shop is nestled between traditional tailors鈥� storefronts. With her designs 鈥� that leave out the head wraps and avoid the copious loose fabric of traditional designs 鈥� she says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 easier to hop in and out of a taxi.鈥� Kargbo learned about the considerations of working-wear fashion during her years at the prestigious Parsons The New School for Design. In New York City, Kargbo says, she learned the ins and outs of office basics, like button-down blouses. But she preferred the school鈥檚 Paris campus, where the couture culture allowed her to indulge her design inclinations.

Her Aschobi venture lets her combine both, she says, by fusing everyday styles with the colors, patterns, and textures that define African fabrics. She鈥檚 given herself a crash course in local specialties 鈥� the thick, narrow pieces of fabric handwoven from the Mende tribe鈥檚 cotton ronko yarns, the deep pastels of stiff, waxy gara tie-dyes.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all about the fashion of the textile ... the juxtaposition of the African aesthetic and modern design,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he last time that happened was in the 1960s, postindependence ... when my mother was in miniskirts in African material, with her 鈥檉ro and her platforms. But you don鈥檛 see that now.鈥�

Partly, observers say, that鈥檚 because the young are turning away from traditional wear and embracing Western style. Secondhand clothes from the West pour into Freetown and sell for a fraction of the cost to commission a traditional outfit, says Hindolo Trye, Sierra Leone鈥檚 minister of culture and tourism.

鈥淵oung people want to wear Western fashion,鈥� Mr. Trye says. 鈥淭his is true for most third world countries.鈥� Trye says appreciation for local clothing and custom sets in only as the young grow older. Most of the customers who鈥檝e chosen from the dozen or so $30 to $150 designs on Kargbo鈥檚 rack have been expatriates working in Sierra Leone, or natives who鈥檝e recently returned. But she aims to use Western styles that appeal to the young to regain the interest and pride in African fashion she says women like her mother felt.

鈥淢y mother is the first person I dressed,鈥� Kargbo says. 鈥淪he鈥檇 say, 鈥楶ick me out something to where to work.鈥� I was 5 or 6 years old, but I would follow the trends.鈥�

Indeed, her mother, Jennifer Aksua Kargbo, who had a career with the United Nations, gave her children a cosmopolitan upbringing: childhood in Ethiopia (鈥渒nown for its linen鈥�), summer vacations in Sierra Leone (鈥渇amous for its gara dyeing鈥�), boarding school in America (a capital of fashion magazines). Her mother鈥檚 forethought helped make it possible for Kargbo to get the student loans she needed to attend Parsons: Every time she neared a due date, Kargbo鈥檚 mom boarded a plane for the US, making Kargbo and her siblings 鈥� with the exception of a brother born at the Lungi Airport in Freetown 鈥� American citizens. Here, that background makes Kargbo (who also has Sierra Leonean citizenship) more expat than local. She still brandishes some elements of Western urban fashion 鈥� chunky black glasses and figure-flattering dresses. Others, like her black Gucci boots, she stores until vacation takes her back to the fashion capitals she loves.

But being an insider鈥檚 outsider is about more than what she wears. She picked up street skills, like 鈥渉ustling with taxi drivers鈥� quickly, she says, while other elements of this culture 鈥� her culture 鈥� she still struggles with.

鈥淭he mentality is the hardest,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 allow my workers to decide what time I open my shop. You can鈥檛 be late because you live far away and there鈥檚 traffic; you should know that.... But it doesn鈥檛 work that way with them. Er, us.鈥�