The Africana craze in the jazz age: A comparison of French and American fashion, 1920--1940

During the early twentieth century France developed a strong interest in African art which directly influenced the decorative arts. Americans who looked to Paris for the latest fashions were thus also influenced by African themes. The Harlem Renaissance concurrently gave legitimacy to African-American arts. In this climate artists in the United States and France used African motifs and themes related to jazz within the design of fashionable textile prints, clothing, hats, jewelry and accessories. The most influential themes within French and American fashion were North Africa and Orientalism, Sub-Saharan Africa, Images of Africans and Jazz.; The strongest similarities between French and American fashion were in textiles and garments based on North African textile design and costumes. "Slave" jewelry was evidence that the harem associations of slavery shifted, linking African-Americans to the exotics of slavery. Sub-Saharan influence was strong in the use of animal furs or prints. Images using Masai shields were important in the United States. Unique American novelty textile prints interpreted the African landscape, animals, plants, and people. French designers copied and adapted African textiles. Hats based on the head shapes and hairstyles of the Mangbetu women in Northern Congo were created by French couturiers. Blackamoor and Gollywogg images of African people were the most prolific in fashion magazines. The Blackamoor appeared repeatedly after 1935. The Gollywogg was more popular in France, perhaps influenced by African-Americans playing jazz in nightclubs.; Jazz influenced French dancing dresses which incorporated fringe, beads of "primitive" materials like wood, and became shorter to accommodate dancing. Jazz influenced textile design through geometric patterns and irregular repetitions imitating the sound of the music. American motifs were limited to novelty textile prints depicting people playing and dancing to jazz, suggesting ambivalence by textile manufacturers to jazz influence.; While Africana fashion was one of many influences on fashionable dress during the 1920s and 1930s, it influences were far-reaching. Africana fashion was an important part of the radical transformation of dress during the 1920s. It also assisted in bringing African art, textiles and forms of adornment to the attention of people in the West where it had not existed before.