The cloth
Bogolanfini begins as hand-woven cotton strip cloth, joined selvedge to selvedge before it ever meets the dye. It is dyed with a wolo bark tannin with iron-rich mud drawn from the Niger banks — the pattern is not printed on, it is drawn in mud and then the ground around it is lifted away. On this piece the mudcloth meets pearl-ivory wool-crepe, pressed pleat front, black-and-ivory bogolan mudcloth side stripe, waistband and hem facing, hook-and-bar closure, gold-tone z belt buckle.
