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Yoliswa Dube-Moyo

I HARDLY get the time to watch television these says because of #Khayalethu. He’s a year old now and such a ball of energy! 

On rare occasions, I get a glimpse of some of my favourite shows when he’s napping or someone else is babysitting. The other day I got a chance to sit down for Old Mutual Amazing Voices, the regional singing competition currently running on DStv’s Mzansi Magic, Channel 161. 

The first pleasant surprise was seeing Ghanaian, Elikem “the Tailor” Kumordzie. Most of you would remember him as Big Brother Africa housemate, Pokello Nare’s ex-beau. 

Anyway, Elikem was presenting the show with South Africa’s Thembisa Mdoda. Thembisa won the hearts of many as the presenter of Our Perfect Wedding, partly because of her good fashion sense. 

And well, Elikem is a tailor so he knows his way around fashion. The two were a fashion dream to watch. They were in African print outfits and looked absolutely amazing! 

I wondered if Elikem was the hand behind the outfits. Perhaps, I don’t know. Anyway, after the presenters got onto the stage, next to come in were the judges. 

They were also in African print material themed outfits and I thought each of them looked quite ravishing! 

Among them was our very own afro-pop musician Ammara Brown looking better than amazing. She was in an African print material pants suit with an asymmetrical jacket with a long sleeve on one end and a sweetheart neckline on the other. 

While I still admired the African vibe going on, I couldn’t help think how much of a Nigerian influence everyone’s outfit had. The Nigerians popularised the African print material and it’s a huge part of their culture. 

Consequently, we synonymously associate “African attires” with Nigerians. Just like we know the quilt is for the Scottish and the sari is for the Indians. 

I couldn’t help think how we, as Zimbabweans, don’t have a national dress yet it’s such a critical aspect of our identity. 

Even the First Lady Amai Auxilia Mnangagwa said she had a difficult time deciding on what to wear after other African First Ladies suggested they wore the national dress from their respective countries for their do. Whatever it was. 

Don’t you think it’s about time we had a national dress? Something that identifies with us. It’s easy to identify Kenyans and Batswana but it seems we just borrow from everyone else’s dress. 

Some may argue that it’s difficult to come up with a national dress and that’s why we don’t have it, but it’s not like we’re popularising our various traditional outfits anyway. 

How many Ndebele men own and proudly wear umqhele whenever an opportunity presents itself? 

While South Africa doesn’t necessarily have a national dress, the various tribes across the country can be distinctly identified. You can tell they’re proud of who they are and their dress.

We know the Xhosa have the black and white, the Pedi are bright in yellow, blue and pink and the Shangaan’s are in a xibelani. It’s quite easy to identify a South African on any platform. 

I had an argument with someone the other day and they were saying the various ethnic groups in Zimbabwe — Tonga, Sotho, Ndebele, Shona, Kalanga, Venda, Tswana, Xhosa, Chewa, Tsonga — can be identified by their specific dress despite the fact that we don’t have a collective national dress.

While their point was valid, I’m not sure. I can’t remember a day I’ve seen someone in Shona dress and specifically identified them as such. This person raised many other issues along tribal lines highlighting that some groups might feel inferior to the next if the other’s dress is used to come up with a national dress. Maybe.

Or are we not united as a nation that we can’t come up with a national dress? I don’t know.

If we were to do a coat of many colours like Joseph’s, would we find the Tonga for example, complaining that their bit was used for the hem and not somewhere prominent like the bust?

For me, the national dress is a challenge presenting for Zimbabwean designers specifically and each of us broadly, to come up with something that we can ALL enjoy as a nation. 

I want to get onto a world stage some day and before I even introduce myself or where I’m from, my dress would’ve done the introductions for me. 

Until next week, flaunt your pattern and style and don’t forget to catch up with me on Twitter handle @PatternStyleZw or drop me a WhatsApp message on +263774492700.