It is said that your dressing defines your personality. It is also said that the place, time, occasion and season determine what you wear, writes GARDY CHACHA
Events in the recent weeks on school girls clamouring for uniforms that reflect modernity has got public tongues wagging, ministers throwing in some two pence, and parents waxing lyrical. Debate has turned into a pandemonium making us lose sight of what needs to be addressed: How should a young woman dress and what and who determines how they dress in different locales?
“In most instances, a young woman’s dressing is determined by personal values, beliefs, lifestyle, identity, society, peers, opposite sex appeal and the media,” says Catherine Mbau, a counselling psychologist. “Identity and social status also play a role in influencing the young’s dress code.”
While modernisation has led many into dressing to suit fashion trends of the day, the larger African society is still adamant in clothes inspired by Western fashion industry. This could be attributed to the fact that as time went by, the hemline seems to have risen to new heights.
Basics
Paulina George, a professional designer in Nairobi, says that for ladies to dress well, they should consider what forms the basics of dressing.
“Why are you dressing yourself? What environment will you be in? What is your feeling about yourself; your personality? What message are you passing to whomever you’ll encounter? Does the weather and what you will be doing corroborate your dressing?” poses Paulina. “At the same time, considering that culture has input in what people, especially ladies, wear, use those borderlines to define the clothes you wear. A human being should dress for their own comfort and that of whoever will be looking at them.”
Making a choice on what is appropriate to wear on occasion requires as much good taste as it is to dress elegantly. In this instance, elegance is a virtue you carry with you, or rather use to define yourself differently. Appropriateness, good grooming and adherence to a dress code are key to having good clothing etiquette.
“There is a reason why doctors, mechanics, secretaries, nuns, office persons and even prostitutes wear in the manner they do,” states Paulina. “If you dress like a prostitutes, then you can’t blame anybody for thinking you are one.”
Young women
What you’d wear to work is not the same as what you would wear when attending a night party. But for many young people, instead of making a statement about themselves through what they wear, the statement is directed to the peers they socialise with. Catherine explains that the media has a big role in influencing how young women dress. She adds that values and belief systems are formed at first by the family unit, though a lot has changed due to our interaction with the outside world.
Jedida Wanyeki, a mother to teenagers, adduces that Western culture’s percolation into our society has changed how ladies dress.
“The young don’t realise that what they wear talks about them,” she says, adding, “You are supposed to command respect as a woman. In fact, when you dress properly, you won’t need to ask that you be respected.”
On the other hand, 30-year-old marketer Sheila Koech says that clothes communicate to people you meet but not necessarily in this generation.
Define them
“The essence here is to dress properly for different occasions. Ladies who understand their worth dress decently. This notwithstanding, their character is rich and you can’t use their dressing to define them,” says Sheila.
She reiterates though the need for ladies to dress appropriately for their own comfort so that they are not mistaken for overt weirdoes.
For school-going girls, Sheila states: “High school girls don’t have a right to say what they should wear.
They are young; they’ve no idea what is right for them, and their parents buy their clothes. For now, their parents know what is right for them. They should wait until they start earning their own money to buy what they think is right to wear.” Fundamentals of dress code, even to a layman, demand that young women dress in a modest way. No matter how important you are or your friends are, it wouldn’t be prudent to dazzle them by your dressing — trying to show them how sexy and noticeable you are. It is always in bad taste to draw unnecessary attention to yourself.
Many opinions suggest that if you want to be decent and look stunningly nice at the same time, go for subtle and perfectly groomed regalia. Take the personal change slow. Let yourself and personality grow into it. The problem with many young people’s perception of fashion is that it has to be Western-inspired and flesh exposing.
Well, fashion is fickle; the catch phrase is “sex sells”. With inappropriate dressing etiquette, you might come across as trying too hard.
The etiquette, according to Paulina George, is: Comfort, decency and purpose.
