theafricatheynevershowyou:

These images are from a series of postcards produced between 1900 and 1910 by the photographer F.W.H Arkhurst in Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast.

His studio photographs perfectly captures the then fashionable style of women’s dress along the African coast from the Niger Delta to the Ivory Coast as families grew prosperous from trading opportunities in the expanding colonial economies.

Hair was swept high and adorned with gold jewelry or wrapped in cloth. The tailored dresses were made of imported cotton prints, often with a shawl or wrap of locally woven fabrics.