Yoruba Modern Aso Oke – TOLA ADENLE

Three different usages for aso oke, Lagos, Nigeria, May 2012

Three different uses for modern aso oke:  a fila (cap) to top the factory-made Western fabric for the male outfit sewn into traditional Yoruba 3-piece sokoto, buba & agbada;

A 2-piece gele & iborun/ipele (head tie & shawl) to go with the iro & buba (wrapper & top) made from a light lace fabric, and

A Western dress of Western fabric topped with a hat and a modern shawl aso oke woven from silk thread for softness of the dress.

Okay, it does not hurt that this picture flatters me – or so I’m told by those who love me –  but two reasons why it goes up are:  I want occasionally to let my many readers around the world have an idea of how I look from time to time and secondly, to show my favorite fabrics, the Yoruba Aso Oke.  And, of course, the picture is from the get-together marking my older sister’s 70th birthday.

Blog visitors will notice the changed gravatar.  That photograph was taken this month to update my look for the same reason.  I promise:  when I turn 70 – if health permits this adventure to be still on – I’ll post pictures!

While Nigerian women are like women the world over but as Africans, we are less hung up on the ravages that time wreaks on the physical look, hugging the advantages of old age, a lot of respect!  Ravages of time is unavoidable, Dear Sisters in the West.  Women are also going plastic here but the tight laugh lines – pardon me as I really believe one should be left alone to do as she wishes with her body – are not that desired and women who are not Size O (!) are not that desirable, anyway!

The outfit worn here AND the iborun [shawl] were the same as I had for the family pictures last Christmas/New Year festive season:

http://emotanafricana.com/2012/01/01/the-seasons-compliments-greetings/

In that post, the full use of the Yoruba traditional piece did not really show in the two photographs.  In addition, there are points to note in this addition.

Dr. Adenle’s agbada is topped with a fila [cap], a must not only in the Yoruba-Southwest but in the rest of Nigeria wherever the complete outfit is worn although in Northern Nigeria, the cap is usually the Moslem-type tajia or such.

On the other hand, in The Gambia and Senegal, for example, the men wear their resplendent agbada often without caps.

His cap was made using a strip from the piece I got for a shawl, and such dressed-to-match using coordinated Aso Oke fabrics, classics or modern like the ones here, are common in Nigeria.

My sister’s iro and buba gele and iborun  are  modern Aso Oke.

I know I promised to get back to these traditional clothes by the early part of the year but had not been able to do so before now.  In fact, I’m working on getting some that show even children wearing outfits made from these fabrics.  I’ll make sure it does not take too long!