subject: Did Hand Painted Shirts Make Madiba Famous? [print this page] hand painted shirts that made Nelson Mandela famous were crafted by Desre Buirski.
Before the government of reconciliation was formed and in fact during the years of the struggle Desre' immigrated to America when she was only eighteen years old. She only came back to the country of her birth once Mr. Mandela was released from prison. She was amazed and humbled at the power of his love and the ability to forgive that exuded from this great man during his first speech after his release.
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.
It was in 1994 that he wore his famous fish shirt publically at the opening of Parliament. In his pocket was a letter from Desre' expressing her gratitude for his love and that entire he had sacrificed in order for South Africa to become a democratic country.
Nelson Mandela took a shine to Desre and it was soon evident that he was very fond of this lady that had crafted him this beautiful shirt. This was the catalyst that began her journey of crafting many fine hand painted silk shirts. On all Mr. Mandela's travels he would be seen in these shirts whilst meeting with various world leaders.
Her designs portrayed the freedom that came with Nelson Mandela's struggle and the rainbow nation of South Africa.
Desre has painted each shirt one at a time by hand. The inner linings of each shirt are silk, this is the same color and design as the outside of the shirt.
Mr. Mandela has been photographed on numerous occasions wearing these shirts. Important world leaders are also in the photographs with this distinguished leader.
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.
This inspired her to sew all these scrap pieces of material together and she made 2 huge wall hangings to show off all the shirts that she had created over the period that has spanned twelve years. There is also a piece of silk cloth that was a gift to Nelson Mandela from leaders of certain countries. These include Egypt, the Philippines and India. These silk clothes were also made use of when Desre made the shirt for Nelson Mandela.
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.
Soon all around the world people wanted to wear 'Madiba' shirts. People who did not wear these shirts were not considered to be in. They became statements of fashion and were also called Presidential shirts.
Woman have followed suite and now wear hand painted suits and dresses.
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.
It sounds like now would be suitable to roam the streets and obtain your own Presidential shirt.
