FASHION IN NIGERIA -FikisArchive

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, there are numerous tribes and ethnic groups which wear their own style of garb.Fashion in Nigeria has always been diverse. It depicts the cultures and traditions of many ethnic groups and even religion. Nigeria has over 300tribes which have their own fashion culture. Ways of dressing in Nigeria changes from tribe to tribe, which allows a variety of style to put on for different events and places. 

During the pre colonial era, Nigerians wore their traditional attire to every event and at all times. In colonialism Nigerians began to wear Western clothes, especially to schools and those with government jobs. With time Nigerian fashion began to reflect it's independent status through their dressing. We were back to wearing our traditionally made outfits in urban areas, to work and even church. The Legendary musician, Fela Kuti, in his song "Gentleman" made fun of Nigerians, who rejected the cultural way of dressing and had inferiority complexes about their non-western cultures and lost thier roots, acting as though they were better than everyone else. Late in the 90's Nigerians dressed in a traditional outfit to work or foreign countries would fall out of place, but today it is fairly uncommon for Nigerians to wear Western suits/clothes to work or any occasion. 

The top three ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa/Fulani(the largest ethnic group), Yoruba and Igbo. For the Hausa/Fulani men, they wear a wide sleeved robe called "babban riga" which is a floor-length robe with very long sleeves which have to be folded up to expose the hands, it's the the equivalent of the Yoruba's "agbada". The women wear colorful wrappers-"abaya" with matching blouses and bread accessories around the neck, the wrists and on their heads.

The Igbo traditional wears are designed to display their modest culture. The women wear wrappers some of which are designed for casual events and for formal events wear expensive clothes often imported. The men usually wear cotton wrappers, shirts, sandals as casual wear and better material wrappers for formal events. They. wear caps and heavy beads and sometimes carry a walking stick. 

The Yoruba's are known for their exquisite clothing and are a very stylish people and very conscious of their looks . Their traditional attire indicates status and wealth. They can sometimes be too dressed for an event. Examples of their traditional attire are; 

• Gele - This is a traditional Nigerian cloth which women wrap around their heads. There are many variations of how they wrap it.
• Agbada - For formal events Nigerian men often wear a robe called an agbada over their clothes.
• Buba - A Buba is a loose fitting blouse with long sleeves and a neckline that is either V-shaped or round. It usually falls a little below a women’s waist. Men can also wear a buba.
• Iro - Iros are long wrap-around skirts. The rectangular skirt is worn by wrapping it around the waste and tucking it in at the end.
• S(h)okotos - Sokotos are trousers that are loose-fitting with a drawstring used to hold them up.

Today theses traditional attire have been transformed into modern looks and have become trends and styles that everyone irrespective of which ethnic groups' attire wants to wear them. Local made fabrics like ankara,lace,aso-ebi,aso-oke,gele,adire and so on have been embraced by all within Nigeria, Africa and Western countries. These fabrics come in different styles that can be worn for formal and casual events.   

Thanks to Nigerian fashion designers, Nigerian fashion publications like—StyleHouseFiles.com, Genevieve, Thisday Style, Bellanaija.com etc and style enthusiasts, fashion in Nigeria has received wide acceptance and recognition from the international world. These designers understand that Nigeria fashion is an integral part of the people of Nigeria, most of them opt only to use Nigerian made fabrics for their designs. They make use of African inspired fabrics to promote the beauty of our cultural way of dressing. Which is very attractive to the Western world. Apart from Indian people and a few other nations, Nigerians are the only people that have styles that depict their tribe. 

These designers make clothes in modern styles acceptable in the Western world as the general trend of fashion for people of all shapes and sizes and compel you to dress in the local fabric. 

For some they pay homage to heritage and design philosophy of fusing cultures from a contemporary perspective, thereby creating a collection of Afropolitan pieces. From their choice of fabrics ton designs they tell cultural related stories. These designers are here to stay and blaze a trail in the fashion industry in Nigeria and globally. 

The fashion industry in Nigeria is a fast rising one, it is very competitive just like any other business and this makes working in the industry healthy and interesting for those with passion for fashion. The fashion industry faces alot of challenges ;mediocrity, lack of adequate electricity supply, quality clothes, and so on. Nigerian fashion designers are still at the follower stage in terms of creativity. Where just because the English design is nice and trending they repeat it in ankara or copy a part of some top designers idea. Most people aren't doing it out of passion but because everyone is creating a fashion line they feel they should too. Also some Nigerian fashion designers aren't ready for global competition because they are engaged in made-to-measure while foreign designers concentrate on ready-to-wear. They also have problems with finishing and lack of originality. 

The fashion industry needs support from the government, to make a fashion sector in the economy just like they do with energy, power and agriculture. This will encourage people to buy Nigerian! 

Fashion in Nigeria today hasn't just provided various stylish looks but has unified Nigerians and  has been used to preserve and promote culture.