2011 was marked by the introduction of what people like to call the “tribal prints“.I remember four years ago, when I was walking around my college campus in my “tribal” dress aka Kaba, people where asking what I was wearing,  mentioning that it looked odd and also seemed like a night gown… well 3 years later and after stars like Beyonce, Alicia Keys started to  show off they love for tribal prints, the world started looking with a different eye on the African style. And now that we are in 2012, and that the tribal fashion is getting stronger in the Western civilizations, what do I see? The same type of dress I wear around home (see picture) and even outside when I am back home in Cameroon. The dress, made exactly the same way as what a seamstress in Cameroon would do for you for a modest price of 2500 FCFA ( ~ $5) is sold in the UK by Easton Pearson for £865 ($1340). SAY WHAT?  I am shocked, and revolted at the same time. I laugh. But I it is not funny at all. I feel like the designers are making money on behalf of our culture, and then they will call it their creations, when our mothers and grandmothers have been carrying the traditional outfits from generation to generations.  I would much more appreciate if those so called famous designers would hire African seamstresses – who don’t make much on a daily basis – to work for them for the so called “tribal” collection. Or better, if the stars would stop purchasing the tribal clothing from famous designers, just because it will look better, and instead promote the economy in Africa by hiring themselves people from the African countries to sew their African clothes. But we are far from that, aren’t we? Oh well…