I am on the skinny side, what you will call a model figure but I want to go to the university and I look forward to this but meanwhile, if modeling comes up and I don’t have to expose my body inappropriately, I will participate. My friend who was also quite skinny before increased in size and it was a bother to her. She continued to work on herself and now she is a size 8 but will not do without dressing inappropriately, even though I am young, truth is, I still don’t get it…why do we youths of today think we have to expose our bodies? I really don’t get it. Sadly, the matured ones who we look up to are not helping us as some of them also dress in ways that are unimaginable! What is this insanity with inappropriate fashion affecting the whole world that has even contaminated Nigeria? We want to eat like the white using cutlery, walk like them, even stop speaking our native tongue and speak like them, we even dress like them.
Nowadays, I see all sorts in the name of fashion which is mostly common among the females. The average Nigerian woman has thrown away her culture and value on dressing and is trying to emulate the white (foreigners) which has led to bizarre dressing.
My mother told me that in the olden days women were taught the value of modesty in dressing but everything taught has degenerated in this present generation. Funny enough, even some women have become fashion victims. We see women putting on clothes fit for the bedroom, walking with them on the street…why??
Looking at the men, I don’t think they have much trouble apart from sagging and the likes but one question that really perplexes me is “Why wear suit inside the hot sun?” Everywhere we see graduates who are going for interviews wearing suits and sweating profusely inside the hot sun. Why wear a suit when you know the weather will be hot? I believe a simple shirt will do. This is another tradition we copied from the white which they do because of the kind of weather they have and that is even seasonal. Picture this scenario, a man is scheduled for a job interview for 1pm, he struggles to enter a bus, he gets to his destination all soaked in sweat…seriously, if you were the interviewer, will you be able to focus on what he says no matter how intelligent?!
I am not trying to condemn the suit. I actually think it is a nice form of fashion but it should be reserved for certain occasions and certain places. It should not be worn in hot weather. When trying to emulate the whites, we should also try and copy something as simple as obeying traffic lights and the likes…
It is alright to want to be like the developed nations, everyone aspires
for greatness but we should not completely forget the real Nigerian fashion. When dressing there are some nice modest clothes that still make you look beautiful. You don’t need to indecently expose your body before thinking you are beautiful. I believe there is beauty in simplicity and appropriate dressing matters.
Joy Uwegba
