I A M I S I G O S S 1 6 ‘M O D E R N H U N T E R S’ C O L L E C T I O N

The Iamisigo SS16 Collection ‘Modern Hunters’ takes inspiration from celebrated history of Ghana and the place where it all started for the brand.

Here is a little history
“Sank)ofa” – or sankofa – the Akan concept, where one must “reach back to the past and retrieve it”.

“S3 wo w3r3 fi na wosank)fa a y3nkyi” which translates as “it is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten”. To truly understand where we are going as a brand we took comfort and truly appreciated where we have been.

GHANA meaning “Warrior King” is a country which is rich in historical art, story telling, tradition and most of all in colors. Ghana’s relentless climb to the top is no surprise for a nation built on the shoulders of one of the greatest Kingdoms in African History, the Akan Kingdom and Asante nation.

The collection pays homage to the “Modern Hunter” and takes inspiration from the 17th century folktales surrounding an ancient fabric technique called “Kente” locally known in Asante as “Nwentoma” a type of silk and cotton fabric made of interwoven cloth strips and is native to the Akan people of Ghana. “Nwentoma”meaning woven cloth.

Based on an ancient story surrounding this technique, of 2 hunting brothers, Kweku and Ameyaw, who discovered a spider weaving it’s web which continued to expand as the days went by, they transformed this into what we now know as the kente weaving machine, which has its own belief that a woman may not sit on this machine as it will make her barren.

As a clothing brand, iamisigo is constantly on the hunt for the next new trend and the next look, hunting down pieces to create the perfect looks fusing both the past and present. If 2 brothers from the 17th century could come up with such a unique technique, its quite evident that fashion has, and will, continue to be a “hunting sport”. What is still common now and what was common in the 17th century was the exchange of money for the unerring clothing hunt, explaining why we used a lot of cowries on garments and accessories as evidence to show that there is always a price to pay for that great hunt.

Iamisgo’s SS16 collection is spread across the idea of hunting being a “sport” as most of the Ghanaian warriors were usually hunters like the great Ghanaian female hunting warrior, Queen “Yaa Asantewaa” – the Queen who led men to fight the British in 1900 – a woman of pride who proved that Africans, including African women were – and are still not – weaklings. Her signature warrior outfit included an embellished smock made from“Nwentoma” , which was able to conceal her female identity during battles as well as a form of protection due to the texture of the garment.

The brand has focused on fabrics that would suit “the modern hunter” as well as colours, Red being the most dominant, representing the blood of the great Ghanaian ancestors, with power athletic mesh (airtex and cotton) and velvet for the sporty looks and 100% cotton for the crisp shredded shirts, along with the silk, rayon and cotton composition for our signature “Nwentoma” for embellished smocks.

For the first time ever, we iamisigo has diversified into accessories and shoes. The SS16 collection, features a range of leather strapped neck pieces, “Bandahene neckpieces”, consisting of welded warrior shaded heads in silver, gold, bronze and acid soaked metal. The designer collaborated with Nigerian shoe brand Ethniks for our SS16 shoe line using clear pvc and nwentoma to create easy strapped sandals and half cut slips.

With nwentoma, each clan or kingdom has its own woven print embedded in lines of rich vibrant colors and designs “every line has a meaning”, Enjoy as Iamigo’s modern nwentoma creation. Created by Ghanaian weavers to celebrate the culture and to reflect the diverse clan of women who wear IAMISIGO.