Cover up or bare all

Recently, a friend and I went to the Palms in Lekki, having just watched a film, we decided to wander around the centre, because we were both reluctant to go home, to bad TV and mediocre conversations. As we got off the staircase, our eyes were confronted with what I can only describe as a girl, who couldn’t be more than 17 displayed in an extremely low cut and short dress.

I’m not one to automatically see the display of flesh as a thing of shock, but girlfriend, was showing all for the world to see. Her dress was so short that should she even have thought of bending down to pick anything up, the world would have become her gynecologist. When my friend and I saw this, we stifled our giggle and walked away quickly, but as the visit continued I became aware of the general state of people’s clothing in the mall. The women both young and old where wearing, tight, short and revealing clothing, the boys and men seemed obsessed with showing off their boxers and letting everybody in on the brand they had chosen for the day.

There seems to be a renaissance in the air; young and old Nigerian generations apart seem to have discovered the value of crop tops, tight jeans, backless dresses and low slung pants during the day. It’s no longer a taboo to stride along the roads of Lagos in any of the above flashing all for the world to see. What is even more surprising is that parents rarely ask their children to change or ban them from leaving the house when they see them in what could be considered inappropriate clothing. For the older generation, being seen in something better suited for their children does not faze them, instead it confirm they are ‘down with the kids’. But where did the acceptance of such attires come from and is there any value in it, particularly as Nigerian dress culture is one of covering, from head to toe in some instances.

In the North, women are dressed in Kaftans, Jilbabs, Hijabs, and men are in Dahsikis, and long trousers. In the south south, womens traditional wear includes a blouse and a wrapper, two wrappers in fact and men in buba’s and wrappers. In the south west, women wear Iro’s and Buba’s and men Agbada’s and trousers. All of these clothes while enhancing the body still cover you up from neck to toe.

So why is it that Nigerians have now become obsessed with the idea of revealing all, why is it that even when making our own traditional wear we are going for the shorter, tighter version of what there is. There are many explanations for this, some see it as the western influence permeating the Nigerian one, and corrupting our young and old and making them believe that they are not good enough until they are half naked. Others see it as a reflection of change, after all fashion is forever changing and the fashion of the time is short and tight. For those who choose to remember, some of our parents who are now complaining at one time wore mini iro’s, and our fathers wore chest revealing buba’s, so why should the new fashion be seen as a negative?

Either way this fashion of low and high seems to be making headway, though it should be noted that the Island and mainland of Lagos, have key ideas as to the way Nigerians, particularly women should dress. On the island, wearing short short’s and low tops, is so natural, it doesn’t make an impression, but go onto the mainland in the same outfit and you get a different reception altogether.. On the mainland, wearing the same will label you as a ‘woman of easy virtue’, or alternatively ‘an ill taught child’. I had always seen myself as a ‘freedom of expression in how you dress’, kind of a person, but the ‘incident at the Palms’ as the event is now known as has shown me that in some cases I am not. I have reservations about overly exposed body part. I am not against spaghetti straps, and short short’s, but in the proper setting, not when I am walking around in a mall. This proves even more distressing for me particularly if I am confronted with gynecological shots that should be kept between you and your doctor. As the adage says, ‘cut your cloth to suit you, do not insist on trying to fit your body into a too small piece or cloth’, even if it is spandex.