How Mud cloth  (Bogolanfini) is made
Traditionally, the men were responsible for weaving the narrow strips of plain fabric that were then pieced together into a larger rectangular cloth.
1. The cloth was first dyed in baths of the leaves and branches of trees (this dye acts as a mordant).
2. The now-yellow cloth is sun-dried and patterns were painstakingly painted with a special mud, which had been collected from ponds during the previous seasons and left to ferment.
2. As the cloth dries, the dark black mud turns gray and the cloth is washed to remove excess mud. This process is repeated numerous times and with each application, the mud-painted area of the cloth becomes darker. The yellow areas are painted with a bleach, which turns the yellow patterns brown. The cloth is left to dry in the sun for a week. When the bleach solution is washed off with water, what remains is the characteristic white pattern on a dark background.
Why is it also called Mud Cloth?
In the Bambara language, spoken in Mali, the word bògòlanfini is a composition of three words. Bogo, meaning “earth” or “mud,” lan, meaning “with” and fini, meaning “cloth.” The word is translated as “mud cloth.”
The Meaning of the Patterns
Just one of the many things that makes traditional mud cloth so special is that each piece has a story to tell. Even the arrangement of the symbols on the cloth reveals something secret about the intended meaning, and this language of the cloth was passed down from mother to daughter. This site has a great key to understanding the stories in mud cloth but one of things that is so extraordinary about mud cloth is the complexity found in its simplicity. There are some basic symbols that everyone agrees on – a twirl for life and a concentric circle to represent the world, for example. But these motifs were traditionally codes for a small group of people. They just weren’t meant to be understood by the uninitiated. It is the language of a community so there will always be just a little bit of mystery for the outsider.

Modern Bogolanfini
Most historians credit fashion designer Chris Seydou (1949-1994) for bringing bogolanfini onto the international stage. Chris’ mother was an embroiderer so from an early age, he was surrounded by textiles, the clothing trade and fashion magazines. He got his start in fashion by apprenticing in tailor shops of Mali when he was sixteen years old, and by the time he was twenty-six, he was already designing his first collection using bogolanfini fabrics. He simplified the older patterns (feeling that the traditional patterns were too complex for Western clothes) and used the cloth on his haute couture mini skirts, motorcycle jackets and bell bottom pants. It was a huge hit on the runway.

Today, bogolanfini is a matter of national pride in Mali. Large quantities of the cloth are made purely for the tourist market, and today much of the cloth is made by men, rather than women. In the 1990s, bogolanfini production was seen as an entrepreneurial opportunity and perhaps it was easier for young men, who were less restricted by home and family responsibilities, to obtain capital to purchase materials.

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