ABETEI MEETS JAPAN THROUGH COUTURE

The Norway based fashion label, T-Michael, is collaborating with Ishmael Annobil to to create a body of Kimonos adorned with Abëtëi emblems for major showcases internationally. Run by Ghanaian Bespoke tailor and Designer Tetteh Michael Nartey, T-Michael is an international couture line, with shops in Bergen, Oslo, Paris and Tokyo. 

This collaboration will be a culmination of T-Michael’s ongoing collaboration with the preeminent Japanese Kimono makers, Yamato Kimonos, and also Y. & Sons, who are noted for their contemporary and progressive approach to the art of kimono construction. 

It is anticipated that T-Michael will create an exquisite fashion-house show around the kimonos, drawing in a fresh demographic to art, while expanding the theme of textiles as an innovative medium for communication.
 
This Abëtëi collaboration is momentous in that it brings two Ghanaians or Gadangme origins to influence a Japanese traditional sartorial form, and, hopefully, open a new avenue of transcultural discourse. It is envisaged that the Abëtëi employed for this line of kimonos will reflect the commonality of worshipfulness and independent thinking between the Ghanaian and Japanese cultures.