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 n'gallama leaf bath, then river-mud fermentation over three passes — 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 ivory silk-linen sleeve cloth, charcoal/ivory micro-jacquard torso with light internal boning, black-and-gold bogolan mudcloth trim at cuffs, inner collar and waist contour, gold-tone z hardware buttons, bemberg-lined front panel.
