A Madiba shirt is a loose-fitting

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...

shirt, usually adorned in a bright and colourful print. It became known in the 1990s, when

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

—then elected

President of South Africa The president of South Africa is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa. The president heads the executive branch of the Government of South Africa and is the commander-in-chief of the South African Nat ...

—added the item to his regular attire. Mandela popularised this type of shirt, elevating the seemingly casual garment to formal situations.

Design

A form of

casual wear Casual wear (or casual attire or clothing) is a Western dress code that is relaxed, occasional, spontaneous and suited for everyday use. Casual wear became popular in the Western world following the counterculture of the 1960s. When emphasisi ...

, Madiba shirts are loose-fitting, usually worn without a

necktie A necktie, or simply a tie, is a piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat, and often draped down the chest. Variants include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, crav ...

and untucked from

trousers Trousers (British English), slacks, or pants are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, and ...

. It is adapted from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

n clothing, and generally made of cotton or silk patterned with vivid colours. Mandela was said to prefer earthier tones for the shirt, though Madiba shirts with bright colors have endured in popularity.

History

Yusuf Surtee, a clothing-store owner who supplied Mandela with outfits for decades, said the Madiba design is based on Mandela's request for a shirt like

n president

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto l ...

's attire. Fashion designer Desré Buirski presented this type of shirt (and her contact information) to Mandela as a gift on 7 May 1994 by getting it to a bodyguard during a visit to a Cape Town synagogue; Mandela wore the shirt to the dress rehearsal for his presidential inauguration. Sonwabile Ndamase said he "was the first to do it" in 1990. The name "Madiba shirt" comes from Mandela's

Xhosa clan name Iziduko (pl.) in Xhosa are family names that are considered more important than surnames among Xhosa people. Many Xhosa persons can trace their family history back to a specific male ancestor or stock. Mentioning the clan name of someone is the ...

. The affectionate name became linked to the shirts when Mandela wore them to many business and political meetings during 1994–1999 and after his tenure as

Legacy

Within the clothing industry, Mandela's willingness to wear the casual attire—he eventually owned dozens of the shirts—marked a new style of international business dress. In a broader sense, the fashion choice can be read as a signal of "friendly" regime change away from strict formality and toward greater acceptance. It can also be argued that, throughout his life, Mandela's fashion was a significant part of his public image: in the 1950s, he dressed in sophisticated clothes; during the

Rivonia Trial The Rivonia Trial took place in South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, and led to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and the others among the accused who were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life at the Palace of Justic ...

in 1963–64, he brought out Xhosa traditions with a leopard-skin

kaross A kaross is a cloak made of sheepskin, or the hide of other animals, with the hair left on. It is properly confined to the coat of skin without sleeves and used to be worn by the Khoikhoi and Bushmen / San peoples of South Africa. These karosses be ...

; and after his release from prison, he wore the colourful Madiba shirt often. In 2013, art historian Lize van Robbroeck wrote: Madiba shirts (and variants) are popular among tourists to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, South African sportspeople, and Tanzanian men (possibly as a sign of general African solidarity or reflecting Africa's supposedly more laid-back dress than Europe).

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Nelson Mandela South African fashion African clothing South African English Nelson Mandela Shirts

Design

History

Legacy

See also

References

Bibliography