Staying Culturally Trendy In A Western World

Author: Yvette Ndlovu

 

Coming to college is a surreal experience, especially for international students like me. We cross borders and even oceans to learn in a place that is sometimes completely different from our home countries. With this migration inevitably comes the pressure to assimilate. But this process of integrating into a new society can generate anxieties over losing important aspects of one’s own heritage especially when that heritage has been misconstrued for centuries like the African heritage has.

 

 

The 11th annual Afrik Fashion Show hosted by the Coalition of Pan-African Scholars helped put this dilemma into perspective for me. Hosted on March 12th, the show was dedicated to showcasing the “Africa the media doesn’t show you.” The show included clothing lines from both students and alumni of African descent, among them Ida Adjivon, the founder of “I, Africa.”

 

 

All the pieces exhibited the richness of African couture which deserves recognition in the fashion world for its diverse and edgy patterns, prints, textures and colors which can be incorporated into modern shirts, dresses, trousers, you name it. The Nigerian Students Association and Ghanaians at Cornell who organized the event represented our continent well. The Afrik Fashion Show displayed ways in which I can stay culturally trendy while learning about other cultures in such a diverse environment as Cornell.

 

 

To many, fashion might not be the foremost thing to represent someone’s identity or cultural affiliation. But Shakespeare hit the nail on the head when he wrote that “the apparel oft proclaims the man”. The way you dress can affect how people perceive you. So when someone wears traditional attire from a country, religion or culture that you may be unfamiliar with, what are your initials thoughts? You might pretend like you don’t notice that they are wearing something “different,” or unwittingly stare until said person feels like you have seen into their soul; maybe you take a quick glance and look away to avoid seeming rude. If you go through the motions just by looking at someone dressed differently, imagine how the person who is wearing something culturally “different” feels as a result of that attention.

Wearing traditional clothing can inadvertently elicit both curiosity and sometimes hostility. For example, some attires like the headwrap – which is used to adorn the head and so covers a large portion of a woman’s hair – might be misconstrued as a symbol of oppression. As a result, some may assume that you are a conservative just because you have embraced your culture. Such stigma that may come with staying culturally trendy in a western world might deter one from wearing clothing that might be considered unusual.  

 

 

What many don’t realize, however, is that African-inspired fashion does not have to be limited to African people. Styles such as the dashiki shirts for men and tribal print pants for women, as well as accessories like headwraps, beaded jewelry and handwoven bags are so dynamic they can be worn by anyone from any background both on special occasions or in everyday life. This message was encompassed in the inspiration for the clothing line Malaika Apparel, which celebrates the designer’s both African and American roots by combining the two heritages in her designs.

 

 

With that said, it did not go unnoticed that the audience contained mostly people of African descent. That shouldn’t have to be the case: anyone from any background should be able to wear similar designs without being denounced for cultural appropriation. It’s time to move away from discomfort surrounding what’s different and explore the ways in which fashion can bring people together so that future audiences may be more diverse.

 

Watching this fusion of styles strengthened my resolve to not only share my dynamic heritage with the world, but also to debunk stereotypes about Africa. The predominant stereotype concerning Africa is that it is merely an impoverished continent with nothing to offer. Although African countries still have many problems to alleviate, these do not and should not define African people and the richness of our diverse cultures. So I resolve to celebrate my heritage by wearing a piece of my home everyday. I want to help change the rhetoric surrounding Africa, and one of the ways to challenge this stigma is to own my identity as an African woman.