3 african outfits you should try

If cloths could talk, then Africa outfits would speak the most.

 

Africa culture and tradition are filled with beautiful colors and is made obvious through their outfits.

Through outfits, Africans communicate, they have outfits for celebration, mourning, and so on.

So if you love African outfits, this post is for you, so you know the various kind of outfits you can sew, and also know the message you are passing through the patterns on the outfit.

There are more than 1000 cultures and traditional practices in Africa, and I can’t write all of them, so I have made a list of 5 African outfits from 5 different countries. So here are they.

1 kente Ghana

 

If you are an African or love African practices, then you should seen the famous kente material.

As a matter of fact this is the most popular fabric in Ghana and its one of the most popular in Africa.

Kente in Ghana means Basket, its patterns are made of different colors which include black, green, gold, blue, maroon, pink, purple, red, silver, white and yellow. All these colors have specific meanings

The kente material is a sign of royalty, and was worn in the olden days by only royalties, though today, anybody can wear them.

You can use the kente material to sew, any kind of outfit, from skirts, blouse, trousers, shorts, dress, robes, and even suit.

 

The kente material is also attention catchy due to the various colors used in drawing the patterns, such colors makes it easier for you to style, as the kente material contains almost all the primary colors, which makes it able for you to wear it on any outfit of any color.

Aside sewing the material as cloths, you can also use them to customize accessories like bags, scarfs, chokers, hats, belts, sandals, etc. so you can wear them on any outfit to add a traditional outfit to it.

 

2 South Africa Zulu

 

 

 

Personally I call this the courtship attire

The Zulu attire is made of beautiful beadworks, which is used to communicate to people

In the western world, people wear rings to show that they are engaged or married, but in the Zulu culture, by wearing outfits, one can tell if you are male, female, married or single.

This is done by a simple pattern

 

A triangle means that you are a single lady

An upside down triangle means that you are a single man

An hour glass shaped triangle means you are a married man

And a diamond shape means you are a married woman.

Aside the use of shapes, by wearing specific colors, you can also communicate, colors often range from black, yellow, blue, green, pink, red, and white

 

Black and white means marriage

Red, white and black means hurting heart

The Zulu attire is generally attractive to wear, just like the kente, its very colors makes it easy to wear on any color of cloth.

 

3. Agbada Nigeria

 

 

 

I call this the king cobra outfit

Let me explain why

When Agbada is worn, you can fold the sleeves on your shoulder, to look normal, or release them to make you look bigger and proud just like the king cobra, who inflates its neck to look big.

You can find this outfit mainly in its origin which is the western part of Nigeria, a West Africa country.

Just like how the king cobra is king to other cobras, the Agbada is king to other similar outfits called babariga.

You can wear Agbada in celebrations and high end ceremonies, just like color red, this is an outfit you can’t wear without been noticed.

 

The Agbada comes in different textures, but you can add color to your Agbada by adding embroidery to the outfit.

Beads and caps are other ways which you can add colors to your outfit.

Unlike western wears, the Agbada is not ready made, if you want to get one, you have to go to a professional tailor or fashion designer to get your measurement.

Styling the Agbada depends on the color of the Agbada which you are wearing, there are no particular colors, as they can be made with any color, and the major use of Agbada is communicate royalty.