By ALICIA ROACHE, Staff ReporterFIRST YOU WILL see it, then you will say it. Watabongoklaat designs is the result of the creative effort of Gloria 'Mama G' Simms, and her two-member team of Iyata and Ishel Iion.
Both the design and the name often inspire sensational reactions from those who see the clothes and hear its name.
But the idea behind the name, according to Mama G, is not for shock value. "Whenever we design the clothes an we wearing them people say 'What a design!'" she says, which inspires the first part of the name of the designs. The second part, 'bongo' is an ancient name for her ancestors, she says. 'Klaat' she says, simply means material and in Nigeria this 'klaat', burlap, is worn by royalty. The name therefore is a combination of all these concepts.
The finished product, which combines as many articles as the name combines ideas, is both unusual and remarkably familiar. All the raw material is taken from either naturally available or recycled products, as simple as a stone which is used to make a button, or a recycled potato bag which serves as the fabric for the outfit.
All the outfits are hand sewn and hand painted, which accounts for the 'rustic look' says Mama G.
Crystal/limestone are sometimes wrapped and used as accessories to adorn the clothes. "It provides a certain amount of energy," she says. Belts are made from dry banana trash or calabash. In some instances crochet is done on the fabric. "Crocus is the only thing we import," she says. The multi-talented designer who is also, among other things, a dancer, carver and painter, says she invests all her creative talent into designing her clothing.
But Mama G's vision for making these unusual items of clothing is born of years of study and observation of fashion and people, she says. "I spent time researching and studying the demands and trends of fashion," she says. "Building my creativity and my career and seeing where I really want to build in fashion."
Human behaviour
A keen observation of human behaviour and fashion's effect on the same, accounts for her second and most important influence. Clothes are a statement, she says. "I love to watch people. I see how they move when they have on jeans. The same person when they have on a jacket and tie behaves different."
"I see what fashion do to you and what it can bring out. I want to get into fashion because I see so much antisocial behaviour that I wanted to change," she said.
Using fashion to reform behaviour may seem like a foolish ideal, but Mama G is certain that if how you look affects the way you feel, fashion is as good a place as any to begin reform. "You have to be real tough and hard to wear this clothes. Your attitude has to project in it. It is not pretty but you can look real fabulous in it."
If you think like Mama G that the clothes do not make the man, but that instead the man makes the clothes, then you may agree with her aesthetic vision. According to her, you do not 'put on' her designs, you 'wear' them. As a result, she says, "You can't be in a crocus bag and jumping over someone fence and you can't be in crocus bag and pick somebody pocket because that is real ugly behaviour and the crocus bag is already ugly," she said.
"We have to give back our men that kind of strength that says 'you are a king'. A king can't do certain things," she says. "I want to give back that regality and if fashion can do it I'm very determined to do it."
And for this, Watabongoklaat fashion goes way back, she says, back to when black men and women were kings and queens in Africa. "Our history did not begin at slavery. I have clothes that when I wear them I feel like I own the world." Wearing Watabongoklaat designs is one way in which, she believes, you can experience that feeling.
