My appreciation of Yorba Tribe philosophy, started with an etsy search a year ago. I discovered this sash with stuffed, raised, quilted lizards and monkeys covered with generous hand beading, in uncommon color combinations, that oddly feel timeless.
This piece was ticking all of my boxes! I have a HUGE fashion fetish for sashes, animals appropriately represented/placed on clothing, fully beaded anything, 3d/quilted/stuffed anything, and of course color combinations that could only come from African gods!
Despite the fact that this sash has obvious African details, and is in fact an uncommon piece of clothing: a sash (I plan to do an entire post about sashes...), strangers (including well read antique dealers) continuously show signs of bewilderment and awe. They can not help but touch it to see if it is really there, and or ask where I bought it, as if insisting I went to a shop that directly sends me to the future, or to another planet.
This truly is the highest of my priced possessions.
Upon researching the beautiful people of southwestern Nigeria and southern Benin, I found that the sashes, hats, tunics and chairs were made for chiefs. Later, they began to represent wealth and success and would be given as dowry pieces. The Yoruba people believe that authentic individuality of each man and women creates success in the development of their nation. They believe that clothing is the most important way to both develop and express oneself to the fullest. Each outfit is not only an expression of a man or woman, but each piece also represents the specific role they take in different tasks and occasions.
Western cultures in the 1960s loved to collect these pieces, and mainly bought 20th century tourist pieces,
I was lucky enough to grab my sash that dates before then!!!
Here is an ebay search of Yoruba beaded pieces.
