Gold Coast Trading is a clothing company created by Nigerian born, New York based designer, Emeka Alams, which brings together traditional Africa cultures and the Western world. Emeka calls this label his ‘effort to get back to that time’ meaning that time when:
“We would gather in large numbers to mourn with those who mourn and to rejoice with those who rejoice. We have forgotten that we came from a continent where guiding, correcting and rebuking children is everybody’s’ task; a continent with green forests, clean rivers and undiscovered natural resources abound.”
This time was before 1444.
We previously featured the label here and noted that the brand was named ‘Gold Cost Trading’ / ‘1444′, was due to location and it being the same year in which European colonists began the deportation of the first Africans. And his works for every collection seem to have a political stance to it. You can almost relive times and experiences in African history through these clothing items without being in Africa such as with an earlier collection which was about the rise of the youth against the South African government in a Johannesburg filled with apartheid causing him to dedicate it to the youth of Soweto in 1976.
The SS12 collection entitled “Winds from the North” is inspired by the harmattan in West Africa where the wind picks up fine dust particles blurring the sky and distorting the sun and reflects this is sun-kissed all over prints, dusty colour palettes and a fresh morning newness. Having been in Ghana, in West Africa during this time of year I have had first hand experience of the dryness in the air and the dust upon dust and personally I think this collection encapsulates this.
As described it is based on ”a dry and dusty West African trade wind [that] blows south from the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea between the end of November and the middle of March.”
Gold Coast Trading SS12 collection
Gold Coast Trading SS12 collection
Gold Coast Trading SS12 collection
Gold Coast Trading SS12 collection
Gold Coast Trading SS12 collection
Gold Coast Trading SS12 collection
Gold Coast Trading SS12 collection
Gold Coast Trading SS12 collection
Something they do that we think is kinda cool is to accompany each new collection with a mix-tape. This collection tape is by Popular Bass, 14:44-long mixes to mark the year [1444] They got CHLLNGR to produce a dark-dub mix to narrate the journey of the harmattan wind from dessert to city to sea and this can be download on their site.
To check out more details of their SS12 collection on the Gold Coast Clothing also visit: http://www.before1444.com
(images courtesy of Gold Coast Clothing)
Spring | Summer 12 -Photography by: Bo Streeter, Styling by Emeka Alams
Author: Jacqueline Shaw
