Fashion is simply defined in the Oxford dictionary as a popular style of cloth; hairstyle, footwear etc at a particular frame of time. It can also be referred to as clothing style and what complements it like hairstyle and footwear. It is also a high sense of identifying people from different cultural background and civilization in the way they dress, how they do their hair and their outfit during festivities and ceremonies.
The intensity of fashion can never be underrated as it affects the daily life of people. For example, without much interrogation, a person’s mood can be told in accordance with his or her outfit on the said day. Let me take you through the effects fashion is having on our current society.
Apart from fashion being used to exhibit wealth, it depicts the tradition and culture of a particular group of persons in Ghana. For example, while Akan chiefs dress in Kente cloth with beautiful ornaments to suit the occasion, their counterpart in the Northern part of the country wears smock popularly known as “Fugu” or “Batakari” with Kufi cap and local foot wears to match with. In the olden days, one could easily tell where someone hails from than the recent times.
Fashion which pertains to the culture of Ghana is identified by the way of dressing by the various ethnic groups to portray their beauty. Fashion in Ghana can also be used to describe the type of mood a person , whether he or she is happy or not. For example, when a person wears white it means that the one is in a joyous mood and black is a pain or sorrow. During festivities, such as funerals and other occasions, the dress code of people in different communities varies front one to another.
Some ethnic groups use red cloth known locally as ‘Koben’ when a chief dies while others wear black “brisii”. In a situation where the dead person lived longer, white and black is worn. This is to signify that the person has joined the saints above. In the famous puberty rites of the Krobo’s known as ‘Dipo’, the teenage girls graduating from childhood to adulthood are made to wear just a piece of cloth which covers their under part, showing their breast to the public view. This in its own way depicts fashion with respect to the performance of rites and it differs from one ethnic group to another. According to the above examples, fashion can never be underrated in respect to culture and traditions in Ghana. Notwithstanding the rich culture and tradition the country has in respect to fashion, it has greatly been influenced by modernization and globalization.
Fashion in the country today has changed quickly towards the European line of dressing. What a young European can put on half naked and walk through the streets, without seeing anything wrong, young ladies in Ghana today have adopted it as a Fashion even though it is nude to our culture. The famous skirt and top, kaba and sleet which showed our origin have been relegated and substituted by high waist, hip yoke, bare back, skinny, pencil among others. Also, hairstyles like corn row, nkakua, dread locks which depict African culture have been taken off by the pony tail, straws, pea cock etc. gone are the days when an ideal Ghanaian woman would dress in kaba and sleet which covered the entire body and put on head gear. Their fellow men would also wear nice cloth and shave gently. This made them gain respect at where ever they appeared.
However, with the introduction of the European fashion trends, morals have been dropped into the gutters. Young women of today dress to expose their breast and stomach which they call in the local parlance “mahye dwa” or dress to kill or am aware with the aim of attracting men. Young men also dress the Otto fister style of dressing which they pull their trousers beneath their buttocks. They also have hair shaves like peacock among others. We do talk about promoting tourism in the country. Does fashion also not promote tourism? When our leaders are representing the country abroad, they wear suits instead of local wears.
Parliamentarians when going to the parliament in this hot weather conditions also wears a suit. Is it not also sad to realize only a day has been set aside to wear our locally manufactured prints and even this is not compulsory. The emergence of this western cloth has contributed to the high rate of fornication, rape, and other social vices. The invitation of the Western culture has relegated our beautiful way of dressing to the background losing the credibility, identity and moral implications of our rich culture since it has engulfed our people especially the youth.
The Western style has however sidelined the concept of African Beauty and modesty to satisfy the egos of the younger generations. However, I was very pleased to see the re-emergence of kava but this time with jeans to match it.
Though it is not enough, there is a saying that goes, it is better to have little than none. My question, however, is, in the name of modernization, should we sideline our identity in terms of fashion to pick the non-cultured Western style? IF NO THEN WE HAVE TO RE-VISIT THE TRADITIONAL WAY OF DRESSING.
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