Shiro Meda is one of the busiest marketplaces in the capital and a place where traditional weavers and merchants supply their hand woven tibeb clothes, traditional costumes or Yehabesha libs, for customers.
The hand woven clothes made of cotton and decorated with thread of different colors plus a shiny filament is one of Ethiopians’ age-long traditional outfits. The distinctive costumes embody the cultural heritage and style of various ethnic groups; and differentiate Ethiopians from the rest of the world.
As studies indicate, folk costume (also regional costume, national costume, or traditional garment) expresses an identity, which is usually associated with a geographic area or a period of time in history. It is also one of the most vibrant elements of cultural heritage and is regarded by ethnologists as a semiotic system carrying explicit social, marital, gender, age differences and religious status.
The same is true for Ethiopians. The woven costumes that are made of cotton apart from being markers of specific ethnic groups, and reflecting the culture, they represent the entire makeup of the community.
As various studies reveal, the art of spinning, weaving and weft has been practiced in Ethiopia for millennia as a vocation and way of life for individuals. The knowledge, as of the many art works, has passed down from generation to generation with a strong sense of continuity.
These days, weaving is widely practiced without airs of the seasonal influences of the fashion industry; with increased sophistication and creativity in the patterns, colors, designs, in a manner keeping up with the global fashion trends.
The wears are mostly donned in many parts of the country by most people in the form of full body wraps, dresses, trousers and shawls. At holydays, in special occasions such as wedding and national celebrations, most ethnic groups wear hand woven cotton outfits adorned with colorful embroideries, in line with their own styles; color preferences, and taking into consideration the climate of the particular place they live in.
For instance, while highlanders wear heavy woven cotton clothing such as kuta and gabi to protect themselves from the low temperatures, people in the lowland plains where it can get very hot, wear light clothing.
And while the outfits dressed in, they lend special charisma and grace; create a sense of belonging and self-confidence and add special symbolic properties. That is why in most cases prominent Ethiopians put on traditional costumes in many of the international arenas.
According to Richard Pankhurst, the first weavers were peoples who travelled in nomadic bands and set up their looms on the verandas of noblemen. Currently, there are over hundred thousands of hand loom weavers in the country. However, the production method has not yet developed and is being tiresome owing to the undeveloped pit loom weaving processes where weavers still use the common tool that the treadle is pulled with the feet and the simple boat shuttle thrown by hand.
The Konso and Dorze ethnic groups have the reputation of being the most “skilled” weavers, though weavers can be found in every village in the country.
Nowadays, Ethiopia’s folk clothes are getting greater recognition in the wider international fashion industry and is inspiring global high fashion designers and couture for their diversity, elegance and attractiveness.
The Ethiopian herald June 3,2020
BY STAFF REPORTER
