African women are known for their expressive, rich and flamboyant type of dressing.
The African woman's dressing, hairdo and make up is her pride.
Her dressing often times reflect her feminine, mood, emotion, state of mind etc. The African woman “dresses to kill,” she dresses to” impress”, she dresses to “honor and respect” her husband and family as well as to “worship God.”
Going To The Roots
The African continent is vast and contains a variety of different environments and societies, the people of Africa dress in many types and styles of clothing, with some basic similarities appearing in the clothing of each region.
North African women have traditionally worn veils and scarves to cover their heads, and long robes. Beneath their robes and veils, they wear a long blouse or a second robe with either traditional loose trousers, called chalwar, or a skirt.
Both Berber and Arab women usually wear a great deal of jewelry, some of which forms part of their dowry (property brought to marriage) and indicates wealth and status.
Fulani women characteristically wear bright robes of cotton, elaborate hairdos, and large gold earrings.
In northeastern Africa clothing typically consists of tunics and wrapped skirts. The Amhara people of Ethiopia practice a very ancient form of Christianity, and their clothing resembles that worn in the Roman Empire during the early Christian period: long tunics, togalike wraps, and, for men, white turbans .
In Somalia, Islam has influenced clothing, and many women wear veils after marriage. Both men and women wear elaborate beaded jewelry.
Traditional dress depends on age and marital status. Young warriors, for example, wear beaded necklaces and earplugs (thick, cylindrical ornaments worn on the earlobe), with special hairstyles and headdresses. Warriors also wear short skirts of fur or hide, while women wear cloth skirts.
Unmarried women go bare-chested and wear a beaded belt with their skirt. Married women traditionally wear cotton cloth body wraps, which come in a variety of colors, with red a favorite.
Dress has also been a political issue in Central Africa, where traditional clothing and adornment is seldom seen today. As a symbol of personal freedom, some young people in cities wear modern, European-style fashions as seen in fashion magazines such as Vogue.
Clothing in West Africa shows the influence of Islamic styles imported from North Africa, especially in the extent to which it covers the body. Women usually wear a long wrapped skirt, a loose blouse, and a head wrap. Many of the skirts are made of printed cloth, the patterns of which change from year to year.
In West Africa clothing for people of the highest status is made of kente cloth. Tribal kings traditionally wore this silk material, which is notable for its elaborately woven decorative patterns. Kente cloth (and its imitations) has become an important symbol of African pride among descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas. Whereas weaving has been considered women's work in most of the world, in West Africa, men weave certain kinds of prestigious textiles. Other well-known textiles of West Africa include mud-cloth of Mali and cotton textiles of Nigeria. Mud-cloth has patterns of gray-brown on an off-white background, which are produced by a special dying process. Nigerian cottons are elaborately decorated with blue dye from the indigo plant.
In southern Africa both minimal and modest styles of dress exist. Among the Himba, a nomadic herding people living in Namibia, men and women wear little more than red body paint and short skirts. These skirts were once made of hide but are now made of cloth as well.
The Himba have elaborately braided hairstyles. For protection from the elements and as decoration, they cover their bodies, including their hair, with a mixture of animal grease and red ochre powder.
Among the Herero, also of Namibia, women wear full-sleeved and full-skirted long cotton dresses, a style introduced by German missionaries in the 19th century. Among the Xhosa of South Africa, unmarried girls wear short skirts and go bare-chested; married Xhosa women wear longer skirts, cover their breasts, and wear elaborate head wraps.
The Zulu people of South Africa, who dress similarly to the Xhosa, also create elaborate beadwork for belts, pouches, jewelry, and other accessories. Zulu chiefs wear leopard skins on ceremonial occasions. Zulu women often wear tall, stiff woven hats.
The African- American Woman Christian
Dressing up for the glory of God is an important aspect of Sunday service in the African American community. The congregation presents the best of themselves for worship. Accessories, such as fine hats, are also worn complementing women's Sunday outfits.
During the course of live in domestic service, many African American women had to wear specific uniforms for their duties. In the transition to live out domestic service, African American women began to dress very fashionably for Sunday church services.
These fashions consisted of bright colors, double breasted suits, and fine fabrics.
Dressing up in high fashion was a source of pride for many African American women who had to wear uniforms for work 6 days a week.
The fashions African American women proudly wear are symbols of independence and freedom. It is a visual representation of their culture Fashion was important to these women, not only as a display of freedom, but also as a cultural statement.
"The church was a place where black women's moral character, beauty, style was openly recognized and appreciated. At church a black woman could walk down the aisle holding her head up high topped with a fancy and heavily decorated hat and wearing a style that reflected her African American heritage. White observers to the dress of black churchgoers continued to notice differences between their own dress choices and those worn by African Americans" (Lynch 85).
There is a Biblical reference to the importance of a woman covering her head in church for more than just style. Hats, commonly referred to as crowns, have not only set a style for African American women, but they also have continued as a religious tradition.
As stated in the Holy Bible: Corinthians (I.11.5): "5. But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled brings shame upon her head, for it is one and the same thing as if she had had her head shaved. 6. For if a woman does not have her head veiled, she may as well have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should wear a veil."
Covering your head has turned into a fashion statement for African American women. Hats have served a purpose to cover the woman's head in church, but their styles and fashion have become their own statements.
