ANKARA FASHION

I went shopping for groceries yesterday and while I was on the queue to pay at the cash point, I saw a mother walk in with two kids. Judging by their appearance, let’s just say the boy is about 5 years old and the girl should be between 7 and 8 years old.

They had the most beautiful casual outfits on. The boy was dressed in a nice Ankara button down shirt and white shorts while the girl was dressed in a lovely Ankara Skater Skirt made from the same Ankara print as the boy’s shirt.

As they hopped in-between aisles in the store, I couldn’t help thinking of how much life as a whole has evolved. As a child, my siblings and I, and the average kid in that time just wanted to be dressed in imported ready-to-wear clothes which we simply knew as ‘ready-made’. Ankara print clothes, which we called ‘native’ was not stylish, and we believed it was for old people and for some special occasions. It wasn’t trendy to wear Ankara as an everyday outfit for kids.

Now, so much is being done with Ankara. There are cool brands like Tímotiwá that make ready-to-wear Afrocentric pieces, for kids as well as adults. We now have amazing Ankara dresses, Ankara shirts, Ankara shorts, Ankara tops, Ankara bags, Ankara earrings, Ankara bracelets and so much more in contemporary designs.

Anyway, back to my story; it turned out that I forgot to pick up some extra candy for my kids, so I went to the candy aisle, and there the mum was with her two little ones. Naturally, I struck up a conversation with her and before long, we were talking about weird days mums have and of course, we spoke about the beauty of African fashion and why we should teach our kids to place value on their heritage as Africans and as Nigerians.

It was a fun shopping experience and you can bet I got the name of the kid’s clothing brand she shopped from. Can you guess? Ruff ‘n’ Tumble!

I have to stop writing now, I have some Ankara dresses to shop for with my little Princess.