About this app

African clothing is the traditional clothing worn by the peoples of Africa. In all instances except rural areas these traditional garments have been replaced by Western clothing introduced by European colonialists.

African clothing and fashion is a diverse topic that is able to provide a look into different African cultures. Clothing varies from brightly colored textiles, to abstractly embroidered robes, to colorful beaded bracelets and necklaces. Since Africa is such a large and diverse continent, traditional clothing differs throughout each country. For example, many countries in West Africa have a "distinct regional dress styles that are the products of long-standing textile crafts in weaving, dyeing, and printing", but these traditions are still able to coexist with western styles. A large contrast in African fashion is between rural and urban societies. Urban societies typically are exposed more to trade and the changing world, while it takes more time for new western trends to get to rural areas.

European influence is commonly found in African fashion as well. For example, Ugandan men have started to wear “full length trousers and long-sleeved shirts”. On the other hand, women have started to adapt influences from “nineteenth-century Victorian dress”. These styles include: “long sleeves and puffed shoulders, a full skirt, and commonly a colorful bow tied around the waist”. This style of dress is called a busuti. Another popular trend is to pair a piece of modern western clothing, such as T-shirts, with traditional wraps. Rural communities have also started to incorporate secondhand clothing / western clothing into their everyday style too. For example, rural Zambian women have started to combine “secondhand clothing with a single two-yard length of chitengi that was used as a wrapper over the dress”. With the globalization of western clothing influence from urban to rural areas, it has now become more common to find people wearing a variety of styles of clothes.


Urban Algerian man wearing a burnous (woolen cloth)
In Northeastern Africa, particularly in Egypt, styles of traditional women's clothing have been influenced by Middle Eastern cultures; this can be exemplified by the simply embroidered Jelabiya which are similarly worn in the Gulf states. The djellaba (worn in Northwest Africa) shares similar properties with the Grand boubou, the dashiki, and the Senegalese kaftan. In Nigeria, women wear head ties. In Sahelian Africa, the dashiki, Senegalese kaftan, and the grand boubou are worn more prominently, though not exclusively (the Bògòlanfini, for instance, is worn in Mali). The dashiki is highly stylized and is rendered with an ornate V-shaped collar. In contrast the grand boubou is simpler, even more so than the djellaba, though the color designs reach impressive proportions, especially among the Tuareg, who are known for their dyed indigo robes.

In East Africa, the kanzu is the traditional dress worn by Swahili-speaking men. Women wear the kanga and the gomesi.

In Southern Africa, distinctive shirts are worn, like the long dresses they wear. For instance, South Africa is known for the Madiba shirt, while Zimbabwe is known for the safari shirt.

In the Horn of Africa, the attire varies by country. In Ethiopia, men wear the Ethiopian suit and women wear the habesha kemis. In Somalia, men wear the khamis with a small cap called a koofiyad.

For those of you who are looking for the most complete African fashion ideas for women here we have created a fashion application for African women that contains complete pictures of the latest African women's dress styles from traditional to modern clothing. This application also does not require an internet connection to play because it is designed in offline mode.

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