How do zimbabweans dress

It is considered bad taste to wear provocative clothing. Skirts and pants should reach the knee; shoulders and midriffs should be covered. If wearing a hat, take it off when talking to someone or entering indoors. You can expect to be asked questions about your personal life and family when initially meeting someone.

For example, they may ask whether you have a spouse and how many children you have. Timekeeping is quite fluid in Zimbabwe and people are commonly late. Appointments rarely begin punctually and engagements often run overtime. Avoid being offended if someone does not arrive or forgets to apologise for being late as it is rarely a reflection on the personal relationship. People are more punctual surrounding business.

Food is usually appropriate. It is not usually necessary to take off your shoes when entering a home. However, remove your hat. Expect to be offered refreshments of tea or coffee at any visit and accept the gesture out of politeness. In Zimbabwe, people usually sit to eat on low stools or gather around a mat on the floor. The host usually serves everybody individually. It is rude to be on your phone at the table. It is a maize paste similar to a cornmeal dumpling.

Some Zimbabweans may not eat pork for religious reasons. Beer is popular in Zimbabwe. If eating out, it is expected that the oldest or wealthiest male will pay for everyone's meal.

If everyone present has the same earning ability and age, they will split the bill. Gift Giving There is a big gift-giving culture in Zimbabwe. It's a sign of a united people. Inheriting western philosophies historically and to this present era, is paving way to the Shona peoples ethnic and cultural crisis.

That should not be an excuse. Most native cultures in Africa have been in contact with westerners since colonization but have managed to maintain their traditional attire. I wish to design one traditional attire for shonas from the pictures above Song of the Week - Zimbabwean Singers U. The only way to find out is to look at historical archives of artist depictions and photos taken in the s and s: After searching around , I found this old picture taken in of Shona women and girls in traditional dress and attire.

It belongs to the website rhodesian. Instead of clamoring for a national dress, we should be clamoring for traditional dresses. During cultural events and festivals, you will South Africans from all backgrounds proudly wearing an ethnic outfit. Zulus, Xhosas, Swazis, Vendas and Sothos will be wearing a cultural outfit on this occasion.

The same happens in Namibia where Wambo, Herero and Damara Nama tribes have their own cultural costumes. So why is it hard for Zimbabwean tribes to come up with their own traditional dress? Is it a lack of pride or are we suffering from identity crisis? Finding a traditional dress is not hard if you know your roots and history.

People just need to rewind back to history to find out what type of traditional dresses were worn. A traditional dress is not something that can be invented, proposed, imposed or copied from another country, but it should be original and indigenous. It should be derived from historical dressing. There have been cases where some Zimbabweans will copy Nigerian traditional attire and flaunt it as their own.

Pokello Nare is one of the leading Zimbabwean fashionistas who likes rocking African fabrics and colours. Ideas for Modern Zimbabwean Traditional Dresses. Shona Dress - By winding the clock back to the Great Zimbabwe era when the Shona people started trading with the Portuguese, you will find out that black inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe were already wearing cotton body wraps as from AD.

This European-influenced attire continued up to the era of Mbuya Nehanda, a female spirit medium who was pictured wearing a shoulder strapped garment. This was the attire for married and older women. Young women did not wear a shoulder-strapped garment, but they wore a simple strapless bodycon wrap with bare shoulders. Ndebele Dress — An original dress can be inspired from the traditional Zulu dress because of the shared roots, language and culture. By tracing back to their historical attire, other 13 tribes of Zimbabwe Tonga, Venda etc can also find inspiration for a modern traditional dress.

Whatever you call it, traditional or national dress, a modern traditional dress is not something that you are supposed to wear on a daily or regular basis. Times have changed, today people have access to high quality clothing with much more beneficial features and functions than traditional attire. You wear this dress for cultural purposes, festivals and events. You wear this dress out of pride and love for your identity.

Whether you want to wear this dress as a fashion item or not is a personal choice. The freedom to wear a traditional dress means you are not ashamed of your culture, and that you are not afraid of being judged.

In the end, you will get respect because people admire people who are proud of their culture. Nobody admires a person of no fixed abode. No matter where on the continent you travelled, however, one thing remained the same: traditional African clothing almost always comes in a variety of styles and vibrant colours and prints.

With a history broadly explored, we can now look at a more specific example of different types of traditional clothing in different African countries. Unlike the other people of the Mediterranean, who traditionally wore one or two big pieces of cloth wrapped around themselves in a number of ways, the Egyptians traditional clothes were nearly always white linen tunics that were sewn to fit them.

Barefoot or wearing straw or leather sandals, both men and women wore eyeshadow and lined their eyes with black kohl. The black kohl served to protect their eyes from the glare of the sun. Another important aspect of their dress was gold jewellery, and those with access to it and who could afford it, never went a day without it. The traditional dress of the Maasai varies both by the age of the person wearing it and by their location. Young men, for example, wear black for several months after their circumcision.

In the Maasai tribe, red is a favoured colour. Prior to , the members of the Maasai tribe wore calf hides and sheepskins. Wooden bracelets are worn by both the men and the women. This beadwork has held a prominent place in the culture of the Maasai, as a means through which they can articulate their identities and position in society.

The traditional dress of Zimbabwe is colourful and consists of wraparound dresses and headdresses for women. Men don a breastplate made from animal skin. Married women wear a blanket, called a Nguba, over their shoulders and a lot of thick beaded hoops of twisted grass called Isigolwani.

They also wear copper or brass rings around their arms, necks and legs, called Idzilla. The animal skin breastplate for men is known as the Iporiyana. They also wear animal skin headbands, ankle bands and a Karos around their shoulders.