My First Nigerian Outfit

Soon after moving here I bought some cloth and have been wanting to make a Nigerian dress to wear to work. I finally had someone make me one. It is two pieces but I know it is hard to see that in the photo. Most Nigerian dresses have a long skirt but mine is short because we only had 6 yards of cloth and wanted to make Bob a matching shirt (he does not have it as it needed to be altered). How cute! ; )

I wore the dress to work last week and I received more compliments than ever. All the Nigerians were very happy to see me embracing their culture by wearing their style of clothing. I am also slowly learning Yoruba, the local tribal language, and Pidgin English which makes the locals on the street laugh when they hear Yoruba words coming out of my mouth. Our driver is a great teacher!

I will get my next outfit from the tailor soon so expect another picture.

The cloth type is adire and it is made using wax (batik) or a starch, such as cassava (a major food item here), to treat the cloth in the areas that you want the material to resist taking the dye. The cloth in the photo above is made with indigo (blue) dye and is made locally using traditional methods.

Here is a close-up picture of the material.