New fashion is just old fashion brought back
Appearance is everything, Beauty is the only visible good, chase aesthetics every time, how you dress is how you will be addressed, are all quotes that fuel our need for good clothing but what if how you dressed have been tainted by a flawed social construct developed by the capitalist creme that want you to buy stupid clothes and dress in a stupid and vain way that make you spend more on a piece of clothing, championed and advertised by celebrities that don’t know better to youths who see these clothing and make up and develop frustrations from thin air in an angst to attain such clothing so as to be addressed with the hails of society, not knowing that such pelting storms do just as much to the eventually cold of poverty that bite us as an aftermath of a very ephemeral gratification. There is a conspiracy in our clothing that make us spend unnecessary on name brands, chic and fashion in vogue that make us spend our money on worthless things
There are basically three types of clothing in Nigeria,
1. One is the support for Afrocentrism which basically means one spend 1500 ( the cheapest) on a textile material (Adire, Kampala or Ankara) and give it to a tailor that will collect at least 1500 (the cheapest) to sow you a cloth that will last if it doesn’t wash a month of constant wear before tearing and fading.
2. Second are name brands in boutiques (Balenciaga, Fendi, Gucci) that is common among the youth today, they are the flashy types of clothing which they wear with palm sandals they are mostly bright colored polo t shirts with the name brand written on them to show their expensive worth to passersby and those who know their value they range from 2000 naira above
3. Then we have the Okrika cloths, the thrift shop clothes are cheap and are rated from first grade to the last grade from 200(i'm projecting) naira for shirt and trouser upward
I feel, that there is a conspiracy in the way we dress. Most times when we leave our house we most times are drawn to put on a polo shirt and jean/chinos trouser with palm sandals, Why? Though this is not a bad way to dress since what a dress should do basically is cover nudity but my bone of contention is the price we spend to look this ordinary.
To attain the latest designer trendy and socially acceptable polo we might spend 2000 naira even though the prizes differ according to peer pressure. societal and community construct
A jean might go for 6000 naira and palm sandal for 4000 which totals to 12000 for clothing that fades at most after 3 months of constant use, and yes I know some people can keep them well but nothing last forever. However just attainable also is another reality where you could go to the thrift store around you popularly called Okrika in Nigeria and buy a shirt for 200 naira a trouser for 200 a sock 100 naira and a belt for 500 and with a total of 1000 for the same covering of nudity
One of the clothing which is more expensive will make you look like a child with dust all over your legs with your soles sticking out of your palm sandals and your toes touching the floor, another wil make you look respectable and cool for less than half the price of the former, so ask yourself this, would you rather look homeless or like a Peaky Blinder
I feel it is a way to make us look shabby and like slaves a slave mentalism so we can spend money we don’t have on cloths that will never be used past the cultural acceptance of that time, no matter what we spend on them they become lost until they are in vogue again and we keep chasing and being frustrated. But these simple dress of a shirt, trouser and socks have been in vogue for hundreds of years and will continue to do so, and still very cheap.So i ask again which one do you think is preferable you can dress properly and look respectable in old fashioned and ever in vogue plain shirt and trouser or like a delinquent with crazy jeans
Can one be ignorant of his own beauty can we be subtlety unaware of our beauty because of a fear of poverty affront, or being mocked by an ignorant society. Also the palm sandals mentality is something we must fight in Africa, when I look at the spectators of European football matches many of them are not going anywhere after that match but they are dressed well with good shoes and ties, but the average Nigeria sees everywhere as just next door, they put on palm or slippers everywhere and it makes them feel ordinary, shabby and crass.
Put on shoes!, a pair of shoe goes for 1500 in most thrift stores they are called "OK" and they last so long sometimes all you do is change the soles, plus they give you more respect than a palm sandal that probably go for twice the price. It doesn’t matter where you are going you have to dress with grace quite frankly it might be your last day, why not look cool. Why don't we do that when it better, cheaper and always in vogue, we can also earn more respect while doing so we don’t have to look like paupers If appearance is everything and the way you dress is how you will be addressed and In truth, no matter what you will wear people will have forgotten about it the next day, why waste money on clothing.
By
Victor Samuel
Comments
Post a Comment