adminAnn Ruthenburg
HELLO there everyone, I hope you are all well. I am battling a flu like no man’s business. But you know me, I am making every effort to look like I am okay kikiki.This week, I have an interesting topic to discuss with you, which up until last week, I did not think was an issue.
I found myself being invited to a few events where the top brass were, and of course my usual issue. I struggled to find something that was exclusive enough, but not costing an arm and a leg. So as usual I went to my favourite traditional fashion shop and got myself two amazingly beautiful outfits.
At each event I found myself on show, I had no idea, the fitting fish tail skits, tie up blouses and headgear were so attractive.
At first I thought it was just people I knew commenting, but by the end of each meeting, I found out that it was actually the outfits that were beautiful. One guest eventually asked me why we as Mutareans or even Zimbabweans do not wear more African attire?
I had the same reaction at the next evening event I attended and the next one. I then asked around to see what the issue might be with wearing African attire. The feedback was very interesting. One group of the ladies I spoke to said that we as Zimbabweans do not have African attire specifically made for Zimbabweans.
They said we have African attire representing political parties, but one cannot call them fashion attire. They said unlike in Ghana and Uganda, they have specific attire representing who they are, which is not political or with their leaders’ faces on. They said Zimbabwe has a confused fashion sense because it has adopted everyone’s designs. Personally, I have to say that the shop I get my African attire from has personalised designs. The owner of the shop designs her own outfits.
They are not exclusively Zimbabwean, but they are exclusively African. So it is not necessarily copied from other nations because it is her design, but it is also not really a Zimbabwean style because we are not sure what our style is. But it is definitely African. The material and the designs and the style can never be attributed to being European in anyway. Another group of ladies I spoke to said they do not want to be identified with any one African style. They said that as “born free” citizens of this country, they wanted to wear what they wanted. They felt that having specific attire for the country was restricting because we all have different body types and how did we know what will suit us especially women.
In my mind, looking at the attire worn in other African countries I feel the style suits everyone, every colour, every age and every body shape. Unlike our European fashion designs which are tailor-made for certain body shapes. That to me is the plus side of having African designs in or shops because you know everyone is going to be able to wear them.
I spoke to some designers trying to encourage them to start a fashion trend in this city that might spread across the country. I was not very fruitful there. They felt that many people would not support them. They also felt that those who would want to purchase their outfits would want to do it at a low cost. They said that bringing in African designed prints e.t.c, was costly and putting together the intricate designs which are mostly handmade was even more costly. So by the time one is finished with an outfit, there is no way it will cost less than the ordinary outfit around town. This means that the outfits are then sold as exclusives rather that for everyone.
That is it from me folks until next week, God bless!
Online Reporter