What is 'Adire'?
Adire traditionally means ‘tied and dyed’. It is the name for a resist dyed cloth designed and hand-printed by the Yoruba people in Southern Nigeria. Traditionally, the cloth was folded, pleated and tied before dyeing in Indigo to produce lengths of patterned cloth which were then made up into garments.
The fabric was predominantly produced and worn by women. As techniques, trade and materials evolved, the resist methods came to include the use of stencils, starch paste and wax to produce even more interesting motifs and details.
Adire Patterns
The craftspeople of this particular cloth are known as ‘Adire Masters’.
What makes Adire really special is the intricate designs, which is the result of hand painted work carried out on the fabric.
Perhaps more than any art form, the Adire textile reflects the culture from which they come.
The motifs and designs are well-represented in various forms and shapes over time. The designs however tell a story of a particular culture from the very past but could have changed over time due to the influence of other cultures and the colonial era.
The patterns are in form of stylised representation of animals, plants, abstract patterns and everyday objects.
Why we love it
There is such a variety of batiks and tie dye, but the most special element of Adire is it’s uniqueness.
Due to the organic and somewhat unpredictable nature of the creation of the textile, no two pieces are exactly the same. With each piece of cloth, you can see the craftsmanship of the person that has created each piece as they either draw the motifs by hand in wax or starch in the case of batik or tied and stitched every single line in the case of Adire or tie dye.
Each piece of Adire textile is truly a work of art.
The Adire Day Dress will be available to pre-order Saturday 19th February at 9am (AEDT).