African clothing has a vibrant and interesting history to match its bright and bold textiles. This history is thought to stretch back 75,000 years! Although tracking the evolution of African styles can be difficult, ancient art gives us hints about the textiles used. Egyptian art suggests that flax weaving began in 5000BC and there are hieroglyphics as old as 3000BC that show drawings of looms.
Made out of animal skin, fur, feathers and bark cloth, very early African clothing was perhaps not well matched to the usually hot conditions. It is believed that these materials were mainly used in the form of aprons that would have been tied around the waist and robes that were draped across the body. Later, cooler materials like cotton were used for cloth-making.
