Which Afrodelicious Diva are you? Part II

Right, so I’m back to share more of my “wisdom” with you about how you go about being the fabulous Afrodiva you want to be.

(Seriously, I’m having too much fun with these mash-ups! Here’s an idea, how about you send in your suggestions on what to call all of us ladies who love our African fashion and rock it brilliantly. I’ll take them and use them throughout the blog....we’ll see if I can get my friends at my fave online store to sponsor us with some kind of prize for the one I judge the winner!)

Sorry, I tend to get carried away and go off at a tangent at times. Back to the topic of the day!

So here’s what you missed last time on Fashion Sista! (yes, I’m also a Gleek!)

I was throwing out ideas on how you can make African fashion work for you.

Suggestion 1: you only have one body, what shape it is isn’t important. Learning to love it and treat it with respect is.

Suggestion 2: let your personality dress you in the morning.

If none of that makes sense to you then either (a) I’ve left it too long between posts or (b) you’ve just caught up with me and the lovely people out there who’re following  this blog (the real people, not my imaginary friends!)– in which case, a big Fashion Sista welcome to you!

Moving right along.......

Fashion Sista’s suggestion no.3: keep a sense of perspective. Just because you bought it all doesn’t mean you need to wear it all at once. Baby steps ladies!!  Why not try layering a beautiful bubu over your favourite skinny jeans instead of a tunic or replacing your usual earrings with some  bold statement pieces. You get the idea, right?

Fashion Sista’s suggestion no.4: mix it up a little! Try wearing that extra long necklace as a funky belt or switching a lovely wrapper for your usual belt. Think accents rather than whole languages!

Fashion Sista’s suggestion no.5: ignore everything I’ve just said! Bottom line, you’ll discover through trial, error and sarcastic comments from your loved ones what actually works for you. Who am I to try and steer you in any particular direction. After all, I don’t know you like you do, do I?!

Happy experimenting peeps!

Which Afrodelicious Diva are you?

I know, I know, my last post inspired you to go out and get all Afrolicious (and if you can’t figure out what I mean by that then stop reading right now!) So you rushed out, bought everything you could that remotely whispered “African”, tried it all on and had a “How do I look?” moment.

The verdict was................a hot mess!!

Let’s face it, not everything looks good on everyone. So let’s break it down a bit.....what suits who?

Disclaimer time: I am not a fashion expert – I am just an opinionated female who spends a lot of time dissing people who just aren’t dressed right!

Also, if you’re looking for a detailed step-by-step “how to look fabulous in African fashion” then unfortunately, I can’t help you.

Firstly – body shapes. You’ve heard them all....pear, apple, hourglass, ruler (skittle, vase, cornet, lollipop, column, bell, goblet, cello, brick too according to Trinny and Susannah). I hate to say this because I know it’ll piss off a whole lot of people but.....who cares?!!

Fashion Sista’s suggestion no.1: forget body shape, just love the skin you’re in! We come in all shapes and sizes and fabulous is all about how you feel, not what shape you are! Rules are for school, who wants to be a grown woman and be told they’re a brick or an apple? I mean really, how’s that going to make me feel good about myself?!

So now that we’ve thrown that theory out of the window....

Fashion Sista’s suggestion no.2: dress for your personality! Radical thought, isn’t it? But think about it, if you’re a loud, proud kind of gal, then why not dress that way? Go for those bold prints, loud colours and huge statement pieces. You have the guts to carry it off (plus the chutzpah to tell off anybody who says otherwise!)

If you’re a more reserved type of sista (what do you mean ‘do they exist’?!) then pick out clothes and accessories that speak to your sense of style. They are out there......they might be harder to find, but if you know where to look you’ll find them.

Check in with me soon to find out more about getting your Afrolicious on.

Laters!

"African fashion is lame"

“It’s not funky enough.”

“It’s not professional enough.”

“Western clothes are better.”

Before you get all up in arms on me (which I assume, as a loyal reader of this blog you would do), these are some of the opinions I got from various young people (aged between 18 and 30 (yes, 30 is still young!))after I asked them if they ever wear or would consider wearing African fashion.

Drumroll please.......................

Apparently, they don’t see African fashion as being relevant to them!

What do you guys think – relevant or not?

Ok, so we all know those pieces of African clothing stashed in our mother, aunt or even grandmother’s wardrobe that we’d just like to take out and burn (sorry Auntie T!) but it’s come such a long way since then!

Take a look around and you’ll see “Afrocentric” ,“Afrofusion” or “African inspired” clothing on runways and in catalogues all over the world. There are clothes which are both modern and African. The two are not mutually exclusive!

Which leads me nicely into my next train of thought.... We’re talking about fashion here guys, and in my mind that’s wider than just clothing. It encompasses all manner of accessories: jewellery, shoes, bags, wraps, scarves....the list goes on! You don’t need to dress fully in African clothing if you’re not comfortable with it, but surely you can rock a couple of pieces?! Think about the feel good factor of proudly displaying so much heritage – and helping out all the people who are involved in the production of those items. It could be your version (every bit counts) of giving back!

And before you get started on the “Oh, it’s so hard to find it...” trip, I’m here to make it that much easier for you! I personally love the ease of buying stuff online. My favourite online store has an awesome range of all things fashionably African and by following them on Twitter and being a fan on their Facebook page I’m constantly getting updates on new arrivals and great deals.

I have hereby decided to make it my life mission to seek out fashion fabulous Africana and share it with you!

Have you ever wondered about the story behind the fashion?

Why is it important, you may ask?

I don’t know if it is, I’m just one of those people whom, once an idea is stuck in their head, can’t get rid of it until it’s been thoroughly processed!

In this case the idea was: what’s the history of African fabrics and textiles? Why do African fashions tend to use certain colours and what drives the choice of fabrics? So, true to form, I set about finding out.

The main and most obvious fabric commonly in use nowadays is cotton – they grow it, pick it, spin it and weave it! It’s been around for ages. According to some sources, remnants of cloth were found somewhere in North Sudan around the fifth century!

Prior to that, apparently a popular form of textile was.....wait for it.......tree bark! A tribe in Uganda specifically used (and still uses for some ceremonial robes) the inner bark from fig trees. Still in East Africa, silk was popularly used as well. Sheep wool has also been around for the longest time in parts of North Africa – bet you didn’t know that they used to use camel wool as well! (Admission time, I didn’t even know camels had wool!)

If we’re going to go all the way back, then of course there were the feathers, the animal furs and the animal hides (I’m kind of glad we moved on from that to be honest!)

Cola nuts, various plants and trees all contributed to the dyes that were used to colour fabrics, with tie and dye being the most common method of colouring.

At the end of the day, the lesson I learnt was this: African fashion is a product of environment and circumstances – a case of working with what you’ve got.

A pretty good life lesson if you think about it.

It also involves several labour intensive steps and as we all know, labour = jobs. Just one more reason to buy African!

By the way, that site I mentioned last time works with suppliers who donate part of their proceeds to job creation charities in various parts of Africa – isn’t that awesome?!

Got to go now but till next time, keep working with what you’ve got divas (and divos)!!

So what is African fashion?

Is there really any such thing? 

Or is saying “African fashion” the same as assuming that no matter where you’re from on the beautiful continent you speak “African” and must know so-and-so’s cousin who’s also from Africa?! (Note, to self: so not the time and place to go on a rant, shall save it for another day!)

So back to the question at hand.... what is African fashion?

I think most of what we consider African fashion, that is, the huge head wraps, the bold jewellery,  the intricately patterned cloth and three layer outfit is quintessentially West African.

Nigerian and Ghanaian movies have definitely done their part in making this the face of African traditional wear. 

Random fun fact – did you know that originally the loose blouse part of the Nigerian outfit was introduced by Christian missionaries to make African women seem more chaste? Nowadays, a girl’s got to get her diva on so the chaste blouse has dipped somewhat to display tantalising teases of bronzed cleavage!

Uganda has its own traditional type dress called Gomesi (which, I learnt the other day, is also called a Busuuti). It’s normally worn to weddings and ceremonial events and while it isn’t as well known as the West African buba (that’s the blouse) and wrapper, it’s certainly as colourful.

In Gambia, the traditional outfit is similar to a kaftan but falls all the way to the wrists and is called a Grandmuba  (seriously, I didn’t make that up!). It’s worn with a headdress called a musorr or tiko. It is similar to but not as intricate as the Nigerian headdress.

As I’m learning (and sharing with you) the potential range of African fashion is as diverse as the languages on the continent. Considering that countries like South Africa have 11 official languages then you start to see exactly how diverse that can be!

I’m assuming you all know what I’ve been talking about but if you don’t (or if you do and you just want to buy yourself some beautiful African clothing!) then check out www.afrawear.com – they have a great collection of clothes. 

They also have a Facebook page and are on Twitter so there’s really no excuse not to hook yourself up!

I’m off to see what more I can learn....see you soon!