Nelson Mandela Made Famous For His Hand Painted Shirts.
During the struggle for freedom in South Africa Desre' left South Africa and went to live in America. She did not return to this country until Mr. Mandela was released from prison. She left South Africa at the young age of eighteen years old. His ability to forgive and love the very people who had incarcerated him astounded her. This caused her to be in awe of the great man, who himself was very humble.
Desre' decided to make a hand painted shirt for the man and the design of her loose, free-flowing design was to express the fresh approach which Nelson Mandela's release embodied.
At the opening of Parliament in 1994 he wore the shirt for the first time. Unbeknown to anyone Desre' had written a note to Mr. Mandela, she told him she was grateful for all he had done to make the transition from apartheid to democracy. She thanked him for the immense sacrifice made by him to achieve freedom for South Africa.
Mr. Mandela welcomed Desre warmly when he met her and this was the start of her making many hand painted shirts for the first democratically elected President of South Africa. These shirts he would wear to all his meetings with leaders around the world.
These designs were in keeping with the struggle of the great man and symbolic of the rainbow nation.
She painted each shirt one at a time using only her hands. Both the inners and the outer part of the shirt were made from silk. The shirts looked the same inside and outside.
There are many photos that have been taken of Nelson Mandela with these shirts as part of his attire. Various world statesmen and stateswoman are posing with Nelson Mandela in these photographs.
Over the years, she has made more than 120 hand painted shirts out of silk for Madiba and since she had decided to collect all the cut offs from the Madiba shirts, they started accumulating into quite a bit of scrap materials.
Finally, Desre' came up with a great idea. She decided to sew all the cut offs together and in doing so, created two huge wall hangings to mirror all Madiba's special silk shirts over the 12-year period. Included in the patches is also a piece of silk cloth which was given to Madiba as a gift from the Presidents and Prime Ministers of countries such as India, Philippines and Egypt. Desre' also used those silk cloths to make shirts for Madiba.
Desre' shared her idea with Madiba in 2007 to auction these wall hangings and he granted her permission to include his signature onto the quilts to verify their authenticity and the increasing value of the wall hangings.
Hands painted shirts have now become a fashion statement the world over. Often referred to as Presidential shirts, all the modern men want a piece of this fashionable yet fabulously unique garment.
Woman around the world have also latched onto this craze and were suits and dresses crafted in a similar fashion.
Walking through the streets of South Africa you will notice many people trading in the fabric so you can make your own shirt, readymade shirts are also available.
African hawkers and street vendors even create and sell hand painted shirts and fabric for the brave who want to design their own Presidential shirts.
