The Blue Eye of the Sandstorm and the Indigenous Dress of the Sahara

Deep in the heart of the Sahara Desert, a blue eye carved into the sand by time stares out into the universe. The eroded dome can be seen from space where its circular structure, comprised of concentric swirling blue-gold rings, has given it the appearance and name of the 'Eye of the Sahara'.  It sits in the Adrar Plateau of Mauritania, and is unfathomably old, so much so that its origin is disputed.

Officially known as the 'Richat Structure,' theories have ranged from meteorites to Atlantis (Mat, 2019). Ultimately, these are just theories, and the Eye is posited to be the result of a ring fault deep within the Earth, among other geological occurrences (Mat, 2019).

The Richat Structure (European Space Agency, 2014)

But, it does reveal a connection; blue and gold, within the desert. From a desert oasis, to an all-seeing Eye, blue dominates the Sahara in small ways that encompass everything once you know where to look.

The nomads of the Sahara, for example, wear blue. The indigenous people of the Sahara are comprised by several different groups: the Sahrawi, the Tuareg, and more. Many of them wear the now-iconic indigo that marks them among the dunes, but the Tuareg are known as the 'Blue Men' of the Sahara, for their indigo garments, and cobalt-stained skin (Martinez, 2021).

The Tuareg are a nomadic people, who now inhabit an area ranging from Libya to Algeria, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso (Martinez, 2021). During the 7th and 8th centuries, the trans-Saharan trade between Sub-Saharan and North Africa emerged, in which new commerce hubs on the outskirts of the desert were established for a range of ethnic groups to trade in-demand items, like spices, minerals, animals, and textiles (Martinez, 2021). This trade brought the nomadic Tuareg into Mauritania from the north-east, where they settled alongside other indigenous groups like the Berbers (Amazigh), merging their fashion trends to synthesise their garments today (Martinez, 2021).

Their garments are designed for the unforgiving nature of the Sahara Desert; to maximise airflow, conserve body water, repel the heat and protect the skin (Martinez, 2021). They are passed down across generations, and vary from everyday clothing to occasion wear, from simple to embroidered, from plain to colourful.

Women wear mlahfa, a dress made of a single piece of fabric, with two knots at the top connecting to two loops called ihilalin, allowing the wearer to free her head and hands (Moroccan Sahara, 2023). It is tied at the shoulders and draped around the waist to cover the body (Moroccan Sahara, 2023). This is considered a fashionable item; a sign of femininity and beauty (Moroccan Sahara, 2023).

A Tuareg Woman in Traditional Dress (Lemmens, 2014)

A Tuareg Woman's Decorated Hands (Lemmens, 2014)

Men wear the daraa or boubou, a long and loose gown, and tagelmusts, a cloth veil that is used as a turban (Moroccan Sahara, 2023). This is a loose dress, bearing colorful decorations, with two wide openings on either side, worn with a shirt and loose fitting trousers (Moroccan Sahara, 2023).

CNN (2016)

The influence of this cultural wear is undeniable. For example, tagelmusts have inspired the design of scarves in Europe (Martinez, 2021).  Additionally, the fashion house Valentino drew inspiration from the daraa in designing its S/S21 runway collection (Martinez, 2021). The silver jewellery so common among these people is on countless hands, as its appeal lies in its 'ethnic' appearance and the growing demand for 'chunky' jewellery.

The first versions of the daraa are thought to have come from the Haalpulaar, who resided alongside the Senegal River between Senegal and Mauritania (Martinez, 2021). While wealthy merchants wore white daraas and tagelmusts, as they could afford to clean their clothes every day, slaves would wear black, as they had limited clothing and worked in unclean environments (Martinez, 2021). The indigo-dyeing technique only became popular after the Haalpular started to trade in indigo dye - a colour suited to the emerging middle-class, the in-between of the former and latter (Martinez, 2021).

While the first daraas were made of silk, today, they are made from polyester, muslin, and the wool of camels and goats (Martinez, 2021). Many are embellished with gold and white embroidery, and even have pockets (Martinez, 2021). With the arrival of new, chemical dyes and low-cost dyeing techniques such as bale-dyeing, a variety of blue shades are now worn by the Tuareg (Martinez, 2021). The rise of the middle class have allowed them to choose light blue daraas for their similarity to white daraas and the social status they symbolise (Martinez, 2021).

The colour represents the sky in Islam, the dominant religion in the region, and symbolises divinity and the warding away of evil spirits (Martinez, 2021). However, its practical uses are paramount - these include protection from sunburn,  as well as insect-repelling qualities.

(Eveleigh, 2014)

The colour blue is everywhere in the Western Sahara, from clothing, to architecture, to the dye-stained skin of its people; the desert truly is a 'blue world' (Martinez, 2021). It was made so by the indigenous peoples living there, who, one doesn't need to be an all-seeing eye to observe are facing severe repression by their respective governments.

The Tuareg face political persecution and economic hardship at the hands of Mali and Libya, as well as their colonial occupier, France, experiencing droughts, the confiscation of land, the withholding of aid, forced labour, and vulnerability to terrorism (Minority Rights Group, 2023). They are denied autonomy and representation in the countries they reside in (Minority Rights Group, 2023).

The eye of the storm is seen to be the calmest point - as violence rages on in and around the Western Sahara, the Tuareg persevere in their nomadic way of life. While their most notable acts of resistance are organised and large-scale, their individual, small-scale acts are also significant: insisting on their indigenous dress despite the widespread preference for modernisation around them, donning their blues to demonstrate the cumulative impact of the decision of the individual. While fashion is a means of self-expression, this expression is undoubtedly connected to its sociopolitical context - here, fashion represents a collective cultural act of perseverance, of a commitment to the nomadic way of life.

At LINE's Fashion Show on March 6th, designers' creative and technical abilities, as well as their representation of the sandstorm biome will be evident in the garments they display. Regardless of whether they choose to align their vision with the explicitly environmental facets of the biome, or explore cultural precedents similar to the aforementioned for their designs, their work will certainly deliver in terms of expectations, and contribute to the experience of 'Echoes of the Universe'.

Sources

CNN (2016). A Nomadic Life. [online] CNN. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/14/africa/gallery/nicholas-jubber-nomad-life-sahara/index.html [Accessed 23 Feb. 2025].

European Space Agency (2014). Richat structure, Mauritania. [online] esa.int. Available at: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2014/05/Richat_structure_Mauritania [Accessed 21 Feb. 2025].

Eveleigh, M. (2013). Blue Man of the Desert. [online] Flickr. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/markeveleigh/9377962411 [Accessed 21 Feb. 2025].

Lemmens, F. (2014). Tuareg Woman in Traditional Dress During Tafsit near Tamanrasset. [online] Getty Images. Available at: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/tuareg-woman-in-traditional-dress-during-tafsit-royalty-free-image/492691095 [Accessed 23 Feb. 2025].

Martinez, J. (2021). The Blue Men of the Sahara. [online] www.bbc.com. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210927-the-blue-men-of-the-sahara [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].

Minority Rights Group (2023). Tuareg in Mali. [online] Minority Rights Group. Available at: https://minorityrights.org/communities/tuareg/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2025].

Moroccan Sahara (2023). Mlahfa and Daraa | The Portal to the Moroccan Sahara. [online] sahara.ma. Available at: https://www.sahara.ma/en/discover-sahara/culture/mlahfa-daraa [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].