Smock Fashion Culture in Ghana’s Dress Identity-Making

Abstract

This paper delves into the historical origin, the types of smocks and the notion of colours that characterize smock production in Northern Ghana. It uncovers the philosophical connotations of its usage and the attendant aesthetical powers of an indigenous cloth that served in one sense as a silent metaphorical unifier between northern and southern part of Ghana and in other sense to signal the return to self-governance as a result of its usage and appearance in a turning point of Ghana’s independence struggle. The article uses historical narrative and visual analytic approaches.

Keywords: Smock, identity-making, fashion, dress, indigenous cloth