Chitenge

Chitenge is the word used for 'material' or 'fabric' throughout Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania.  It is usually very colorful and sold in 2m long sections.  Two pieces are enough material to make a tailored outfit but it is often worn unaltered: one piece is wrapped around the waist as a skirt and occasionally women will wrap a second piece around their head, tied architecturally, and may have a third piece folded and draped over their shoulders.  

The fabric made in Africa is wax-dyed.  Below, the pattern on the top (the orange one) was made in Tanzania on a piece of fine cotton, and the bottom pattern is from Zambia, on a courser weave cotton.  The pieces from Africa tend to be very colorful.

In Mbeya, Tanzania, we stayed near a police station in the middle of a market.  Across from this police station, while Orian was trying to talk to the guys and find a place to stay, I went to the fabric stores to look around.  I returned the next day and picked out some chitenge that is wax-dyed and made in Pakistan.  Chitenge from India and the surrounding countries tends to be on a finely woven cotton with more subtle colors and more intricate patterns.  In the pictures below you can see the subtle tie-dye or batik-type pattern underlying the main print.

I had a couple of outfits tailored from the Pakistan-made cloth in Dar es Salaam.  Each outfit cost $20 to tailor, which is not small money (I hear tailoring is cheaper in India), but it is also a good deal for the cut and the fit, especially because the tailor provided the lining and the zippers.  

The style is a little conservative, which is how most people dress there--very modestly.  The outfit on the top is two pieces, a top and a skirt.  The way the tailor matched up the swirls in that outfit is very geometric: notice the reflective symmetry on the right and left sides.