Every year about this time, a small group of skilled craftswomen display an impressive array of African fashion in the Main Street Avenue, close to Courts Guyana Inc. The display usually serves as a timely reminder of the impending arrival of August 1, Emancipation Day, an occasion that affords African Guyanese to reflect on their heritage through dress, food, drink and music.
Over the years, as awareness of heritage has grown, this Main Street mini mall has become a popular venue for customers wishing to acquire anything ranging to complete African outfits for men and women to a pair of leather sandals.
While there is evidence that patronage of the work produced by these creative designers is increasing public discourse around this time usually embraces the issue of the failure of the African fashion industry in Guyana to grow beyond the seasonal patronage usually associated with heritage celebrations.
Some of the designers have told Stabroek Business that African dress is still to make the kind of fashion statement that has come to associated with the European-style costumes though it is generally agreed that the Africanization of Guyanese fashion is, these days, much more in evidence than had been the case a decade or two earlier.
