Accepting Nudity As A Fashion Trend

                                                                

African women were known for wearing conservative but beautiful traditional dresses. Such dresses conform with the cultural values and norms of Africa. The traditional African attire
portrays decency,respect and high moral values. Such traditional dresses include long flowing khaftan gowns, long ankara skirts, long-sleeved or short-sleeved blouses, with complementary headscarf. Clad in it, an African woman is a personification of modesty, sanctity and uniqueness. Her appearance is simply admirable, especially to the men folk. This was the scenario in the 60s, 70s and early 80s.

Naturally, when an African man wants to get married, among the criteria for his considerations is the woman’s manner of dressing. A young woman who has an indecent dressing style is assumed to be bereft of good moral standard and decency because proper dressing is a product of moral values and decency. For instance, no man would ask of the hand of a girl who is notorious in her vicinity for provocative, indecent dressing in marriage. The belief is that if a woman has exposed her sacred parts to the public by wearing skimpy dresses that would expose her chest, arm-pit, hairy or hairless thighs.

However, over the years, the African woman’s dressing has taken a different trend. This is as a result of civilisation and cultural and cultural importation. Girls no more have interest in wearing the long flowing khaftan gowns, Ankara skirts, native blouses and headscarf. Rather, Western dresses have taken the centre-stage and are regarded as the only thing in vogue. Indian attires even compete with western dresses in the market as a lot of African ladies often go in search of Indian-styled dresses or materials that could make them look Indian.

A boutique operator in Area 1 market who identified herself as Dorcas M. Zammani, confirmed to LEADERSHIP FRIDAY that young ladies of today have abandoned the traditional African attire for Western designs. According to her, “the belief these days is that it is only aged parents that wear traditional dresses made by local tailors or seamstresses. Young ladies of nowadays do not value putting on native attires. They prefer putting on trousers, tight-fitting clothes or corporate wears”.

In her view, exposure to the appearances of actresses and celebrities on local and foreign scenes further heightens the inclination of young women to foreign dresses, especially, the sexually appealing ones. “They use to copy from them (actresses and celebrities0 just because they want to look like them or because they like what they wear on the screen”, she said. However, she argued that “wearing skimpy skirts and other provocative non-African dresses does not actually translate to indecency of character of the person. It is just a matter of choice. Sometimes, what the person wears does not reflect the person’s real character”.

Further in her response, she dropped a shocker which most girls may not want to hear. For her, she would not advise her brother to marry a girl who dresses in sexually provocative dresses. As she put it, “when a girl dresses improperly, she attracts the attention of the wrong people such as men that wear ear-rings, those that ‘sag’ their trousers and other ranges of indecent people. Good people will not come to her because they are incompatible”.

Another business woman, Blessing Chukwu, who sells ready-made foreign ladies’ wears in Area 1, also confirmed with an emphatic ‘yes’ that Western dresses have dominated or eliminated African traditional dresses. But according to her, the lady who prefers to Western clothes, even if it exposes her body, should not be blamed. This is because, as she argued, “even we, Nigerians see the person putting on African dress as a local person or village woman. Sometimes, the person becomes a laughing stock in the midst of her friends”.

Nigerian employers, according to Blessing, do not help matters at all. She pointed out that a Nigerian woman attending a job interview in African attire has low chances of competing with a candidate in corporate dress because the prospective employer will disqualify the former on the ground of unseriousness while the latter will be favoured.

On the issue of African men’s preference for a more decently dressed lady for marriage, Blessing said people may use native dresses to give a good impression but their character may be different. According to her, wearing provocative dress does not actually mean that the person is a flirt. Some people may be very reserved but it doesn’t stop them from wearing what they like, especially when the occasion calls for it, such as attending a party. These days, some men even prefer their wives to dress in attractive and appealing dresses because men are always comfortable with that”, she said.

Asked if majority of her customers prefer skimpy dresses, she replied that it depends on the individual and the season. “There are individual differences and there are seasons that necessitate buying light, revealing clothes”, she said.

A pastor of a new generation church in Abuja who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the trend is really becoming too disturbing. According to the pastor, “some girls come to worship centres almost naked, exposing their body as if they are in their room but as men of God, we tolerate them because we believe that one day, God will arrest their hearts. It’s a gradual thing to change people’s lives. But it is really tempting and distracting.

Just as the pastor expressed, the situation is really jumping out of manageable proportion. Some ladies ‘wear’ clothes but still leave their body uncovered. Even when they are obviously conscious of this, they still prefer to go about in that form. Some wear very short skirts that they cannot even pick a pin from the ground. That is nudity. Can this uncanny form of nakedness continue to be seen as fashion? If it is fashion, who is it fashionable to? And, is it a mess or a value?

By: PAUL CHIAMA

source:LEADERSHIP