A Web of Stories as Told by House of Aama
House of Aama debuted their FW23 “Parables” capsule collection, made in collaboration with visual artist Gianni Lee, at NYFW.
Have you heard the story of Anansi the Spider?
The story of Anansi is a many-legged folktale that began in Ghana eons ago and is very popular amongst Black people.
It is believed that Anansi was born to the sky god Nyame, who turned him into a spider as punishment for his mischievous and trickish ways. In Ghana, he is known as Kweku Anansi, the Ashanti Akan ‘god' of stories, wisdom, knowledge, and trickery. Some believe that he created the sun, the moon, and the stars.
From Ghana, Anansi’s story spread by word of mouth to the southern United States, the Caribbean, and South America by way of the transatlantic slave trade. And naturally, as time passed, the story evolved. Storytellers gave Anansi different names and made up stories about him, adapted to their changing circumstances and environments.
Storytelling is a central part of the life of Black people. Back then it was their way of passing on their heritage and teaching life lessons to generations to come. Today, storytelling has evolved through mediums such as fashion.
For House of Aama, their spiritual experience coupled with family narratives have always informed their brand’s storytelling. The mother-daughter designer duo, Rebecca Henry and Akua Shabaka, are African-Americans from a family of archivists who sought to understand and document their family lineage. Through fashion, archival work, and visual storytelling, House of Aama was brought to life.
For their FW23 collection, they teamed up with a visual artist named Gianni Lee to create a capsule collection titled “Parables.” This collection was inspired by the folktale of Anansi the Spider and its migration from Ghana to the US, Caribbeans, and South America which also represented the Black experience. Using fashion as a vessel, the designer-duo tells us their web of stories. In this collection, Gianni Lee’s artwork explores the interconnectivity between species and flora/fauna expressed in the “Global South” as a means of survival.1
House of Aama’s NYFW presentation titled “Prelude: Aama Tales” showed yesterday Wednesday, February 15th. As I sat there in the crowd, which had gone silent prior to the show’s opening, the low-lighting mixed with natural light, the set design, and the overall ambience instilled a comforting and therapeutic calmness within me, especially as I was seated by a niche that looked like a monument or a sanctuary to their family. Candles were lit and the area was decorated with photographs, African fabrics, artwork, and plants.
The show began with low rhythmic voices speaking about the resilient spirit and strength of Africans during the transatlantic slave trade. The voices then faded into African highlife beats (I noticed that the music transitions also told the story of the slave journey starting from Africa and across the slave routes). The first model strolled out wearing a light cream dress threaded with weavings made to look like tangled spiderwebs.
Interlacing narratives and family history, the collection included mesh dresses and separates in vibrant colors and two-toned geometric prints, which seemed to pay homage to the bright colorful nature of Black cultures throughout Africa and the diaspora. There were also tailored robes with bold and colorful geometric prints. The collection included menswear separates, with spider motifs on the t-shirts, hoodies, and cardigans. It seemed that the journey of Black people from Africa was represented through the design inspiration and styles selected for the collection.
House of Aama continues to merge the past and present, paying homage to the Black experience through carefully thought-out clothing designs. It was a pleasure meeting the designers and hearing more about their inspiration for this collection. Brands like House of Aama are so important in the fashion space because of the beautiful way they bring Black people’s stories and experiences to life. I can’t wait to see what their next collection will be!
House of Aama uses fashion as a vessel to tell stories about the Black experience. What other vessels do you think can be used in this manner?
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