The hypocracy of zimbabwe’s fashionists

from the time zimbabwe fit the so called independence, there has been attempts to urge the people to pick some harare driven label as a national dress. There has been all sorts from some portraying nationalism in the form of flag colours to all the designs of madness you can imagine.

There has even been attempts at adopting animal prints, tie and die, and all the sort. I am here to argue for or against the designs or the point for national dress. I am here arguing that in such choices one can easily pick the biased thinking of the people and how ignorant people are of their history.

Some years back I remember there are twins who were harassed by police in zimbabwe for chosing to dress in loin covering made from animal skin. Both sides displayed sad and dangerous ignorance; the twins ignorance of their culture and how they should be attired. The police for thinking ignorantly that any dressing that’s not cotton trousers is indecent.

What I find particularly confusing is that Zimbabweans derive their political relevance to nehanda and kaguvi.one would expect accordingly that the dressing of them is what was fashion of their ancestors and hence their traditional dressing. But they try to go beyond the nehanda and kaguvi era.

I was asking around for what exactly Zimbabweans used to dress before dresses and trousers. The finding is interesting . If I had been born in certain communities at the time I was born I could have dressed in a mufoyi, mukofo or mugwada. Some mapostori sects still dress in a mufoyi.it is probably what the bible calls a loin cloth in various formations.

I once worked with some mapostori who used to dress in that type of garment. One of the guys showed me how to dress in one. It is a skill. It would leave you imagining that you are putting a nappy on somebody but in reality it is not. It is different and it too comes in different formations.

There is one where you have to have a string on your waist. This is not to be compared with the female waistline beads. A cloth is then tucked into the string and manipulated discretely covering all essentials in that one attempt. It covers but it is not warm.

There is also one which is a long cloth that you nappy like wrap round the thighs and through the legs too.it is worn baggy and would be perfect to today’s boys.

Also getting avoided is the black cloth. Most of these mikofo, were in linen white. Black as particularly a dressing colour of the religious . The hosannas, the spiritual leaders are the ones who would prefer to wear the black.there is also a demonic milti-pattern cloth that is commonly know as jira remashavi. The jira remudzimu is always black but even that is not remembered