@article {Gott162, author = {Suzanne Gott}, title = { {\textquotedblleft}Life ({\textquoteleft}Fashion{\textquoteright}) Goes On{\textquotedblright} }, volume = {25}, number = {1}, pages = {162--172}, year = {2023}, doi = {10.3368/gs.25.1.162}, publisher = {Ghana Studies}, abstract = {For Ghana{\textquoteright}s style-conscious women, life{\textemdash}in the form of African-print fashion{\textemdash}{\textquotedblright}goes on{\textquotedblright} despite three decades of economic decline caused by the World Bank{\textquoteright}s Structural Adjustment Programs, which ended many women{\textquoteright}s ability to wear and stockpile assets in costly {\textquotedblleft}Holland{\textquotedblright} wax-print cloth. In the early years of the twenty-first century, Ghana{\textquoteright}s struggling commission-based grassroots fashion system has been reinvigorated by the advent of affordable Chinese- manufactured African prints and new digitally produced fashion {\textquotedblleft}calendars,{\textquotedblright} displaying a profusion of new exuberant African-print styles.By the late 1990s, inexpensive fashion calendars featuring the latest African-print styles began to appear on workshop walls of Ghanaian seamstresses and tailors who specialized in women{\textquoteright}s fashion. The photographic realism achieved by new digital publishing technologies proved especially valuable for conveying the intricate stylistic details and inventive combinations of African prints, solid-color cottons, and lace that express Ghanaian women{\textquoteright}s African-print fashion aesthetic.Importantly, the twenty-first-century infusion of energy from the youth-driven boom in {\textquotedblleft}fanciful{\textquotedblright} African-print kaba-and-slit styles, seen in 2007 and 2010 fashion calendars, attests to the enduring vitality of African-print fashion. By 2013, youthful African-print {\textquotedblleft}straight dresses{\textquotedblright} also began appearing in fashion calendars with titles such as New Generation, Living Young and Free, and Lady Gaga, further expanding the innovative scope of grassroots African-print style.}, issn = {1536-5514}, URL = {https://gs.uwpress.org/content/25/1/162}, eprint = {https://gs.uwpress.org/content/25/1/162.full.pdf}, journal = {Ghana Studies} }