WEDDINGS PERSEVERE – A SILVER LINING
“TŠHABA E E SENANG NGAWO KE MONKA E LATLHEGILENG”
Sir Seretse Khama I
In a pool of wisdom from the late President, Sir Seretse Khama I is one of his most recurrent sayings. It directly translated to, “A nation without culture is a lost nation.” This saying implicates the importance of culture and cultural preservation, especially in Africa, a continent rooted in diverse cultures and even more diverse ethnicities within counties.
Fashion or clothing is a fundamental element of culture. In Botswana, we undeniably have a wide range of apparel for different occasions according to different ethnic groups. These vary in textures, colors, and design. Wedding culture, however, has a more uniform clothing code that includes leteisi skirts and dresses, a blue shawl, and doek. This attire is traditionally worn by married women in wedding proceedings and the bride when proceedings are final, and she is now married. Nevertheless, weddings in Botswana are greatly influenced by western culture. The term “white wedding” is common in our local vocabulary. It refers to the fact that the bride wears a white wedding gown. It could also mean the “white people wedding”, referencing the origin, if you think about it.
The entire world experienced radical changes throughout the last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For a few months, the world stopped. Thereafter we had to adjust to a “new norm”. Football stadiums without supporters, no concerts, no sitting in at restaurants, the list goes on. Weddings were no exception, guests are limited to only close friends and relatives, the ceremony duration is also a lot shorter. These adjustments took Batswana a while to get used to. Our weddings are normally filled with food and dance, invitations are open to all family, friends, neighbours, even gate crashers. They were more like a fashion extravaganza, with 3 or 4 outfit changes.
In adaptation to the new wedding rules and regulations, the costume inevitably changed. Weddings are a short, single ceremony so brides are trying to encompass both the traditional and modern styles in their gowns as cultural practices such as Patlo and Magadi are no longer done in great detail. This way of dressing has been common in some South African tribes but is a relatively new trend in Botswana.
We love to see it. These gowns are not only unique and creative but also cut costs that would have been incurred from making a lot of dresses. Most of them are also very functional and not extravagant, leaving room for possible future repurposing. This trend might just be one of the Covid-19 pandemic silver linings. It has created an opportunity for Batswana designers to show off their organic creativity and capture our culture and traditional prints in a new, exciting way.
I sincerely hope local designers see this trend as an opportunity to add cultural identity to our fashion as well as explore the juxtaposition of bridal fashion and culture. This gives them room to manoeuvre the fashion future in the direction we need as Batswana. A place where designers are expressive, experimental and our culture is predominant in our modern lifestyles.
Poppie Moseki is the Fashion Editor of Focul Media House, mainly Africa's Very Own magazine. She handles all the fashion articles.
