Fashion and lifestyle

My struggles, failures and success in Somaliland can be personified by my experience and journey with clothing and fashion in Somaliland. Prior to moving to Somaliland personal fashion (dressing) did not take visible energy, effort or thought process. I was a wash& go sort of person, never followed trends (although I’d like to think I set some). Endless hours of browsing the shops, making, trimming, belting, clipping for my own personal use was unheard off (although I did it for work), never mind fighting battles to secure a garment or going to a semi verbal war to get it tailored and then defending the finished garment and your right to wear it!

Putting aside male attire, female attire has gone through significant transition in recent Somali history. Female attire now consists of “dirc will or dirac shiid or abayah/ jilbibi”. Culturally accepted fashion garments such as the cotton shoulder dresses, the guuntino skirts, the go’o shala (cashmere shawls) are no longer in circulation, if you search endlessly for months- you may find a poor imitation of the traditional colours in a souvenir shop hidden in a faraway corner mostly frequented by Diaspora returnees and foreign tourist. Traditional Somali dressing is now considered as somewhat backwards, the thing of a nomadic past and part of our modernisation is to wear the abayas and the diracs as a testimony to us joining the new urban world.

As a Diaspora, although I was aware that Somali women no longer walk around with one shoulder bare or their hair braided, I was still expecting to see some remnants of Somali culture still alive, preserved and practised. At least I expected to see the Somali toob (Somali long sleeve dress) or be able to buy a guuntiino to hang in my wardrobe to admire and maybe make a modern dress out of.

Before I left London, I was lucky enough to take with me tailored NorMode dresses which were beautiful, suitable, ready to wear with Somali influence, covering, fashionable, presentable, loose fitting and acceptable in any Muslim society; whatever else I was uncertain about, I was comfortable and confident about my clothing and wardrobe. I also made myself a few coloured tailored abaya’s for work.

My garments have been a cause for controversy, debates, insults, advice and lectures: apparently they are not colourful enough, not layered enough, or too layered, or not enough pleats and definitely not loose enough (the dirca is big enough to fit at least three people). My abayas were not black, nor shiny with glitters on the arms, the material was too heavy and in any case I should wear an umbrella hijab on top of it instead of my smaller wrap hijab!

On the other hand, my fashion senses were offended with daily assaults of pink, yellow and purple mixed with glitter, and the shock of seeing multi coloured socks with sandals is finally starting to pass. They found my plain colours, colour coordination and lack of rainbow colours and patterns dull and boring (in the UK I was consider loud and colourful with my clothing), which is okay (different society different rules).

I don’t mind being different, nor do the comments or stares (you get use to that), but it worries me that in the long term we have become a uniform society; much like secondary school you get told off for wearing the wrong shade, not tucking your shirt in or something of similar nature. It worries me that our society has journeyed so far from tradition and culture that anything but the uniform is not only frowned upon but also verbally attacked by men and women alike. It bothers me when a man takes upon himself to tell me my toes are showing or why I’m not wearing a dirac, and it annoys me even more when women in see-through dirac lecture me about my dress not being traditional or Islamic (it is both) or why the top umbrella is missing, or comment about the organised colouring of my dresses rather than chaotic rainbow artistic digital printer of the dirac.

I like the dirac and I will wear it, but I want to wear it my way. I am a fan of the dirac- in the right setting- say for weddings, but how do you wear a garment to work which is couple of sizes too big (free size for all size 6- size 26) and one meter too long, a garment which restricts your arm moments and requires the elegance, patience and attention that only a jobless princess can afford! I need my hands to do more than hold my dirac in place or continuously tuck it in! I need tailored, controlled and covered garment which allows me to walk, run (yes run if need be), and sit without having to readjust, re-pin with safety pins, tuck and fold in multiple corners to maintain the effortless layered look the dirac is suppose to achieve. With no pavements and umpteen obstacles on the streets of Hargeisa wearing a dirac is hazards for people like me, I would either trip over, tear it, or prick myself with the multiple pins holding those careful layers in place, this is ignoring the annoying/uncomfortable necessity of adjusting and tucking in my dirac in front of my clients each time I stand/sit.

This aside, the boring uniformity which does not allow individual expression is suffocating the individuality and personal expression of each of us and undermining the fashion industry in Somaliland. The interesting thing is that this uniformity means there is no fashion industry to speak of in Somaliland, every shop has the same dirac and fabric, every household therefore by default has the same wardrobe. It is normal to see five girls in the same dirac walking around, who all came out dressed to impress. It does not help that there are not many hang out spots, chances are at any given moment in any given restaurant if you are wearing the latest dirac, there is at least ONE other girl in the exact same set!

My issue is not necessarily about variety (although variety and exclusivity is very important in fashion) it is about limiting people’s imagination to think and act outside the box, I hated trend setting in London, because everyone looked liked clone idiots for a whole season (leggings are not pants to be worn alone!), but at least I knew that the torture would end at the end of the season! Imagine the dirac trend and chasing the latest printers in this oversized garment becoming the everlasting trend. The dirac has already been upgraded from wedding halls to the streets and restaurants, the dirac shiid has left the confinements of the bedroom and now hangs out at Mansoor and walks in the presidential corridors!

Dirac shiid in particular was once considered by Somali women as calaamtul fakhri (sign of poverty) because you buy them cheap, end up accumulating a whole suitcase of them and after one wash it looks ragged and washed out. Dirac will was (and still is in richer circles) a onetime use garment for attending weddings, one never wore the same dirac outside again and it was relegated to wearing it for dress up for your old man or giving it to a relative. I wonder if this is still the case, but checking out the prices ($120 for the latest set)- I very much doubt that they are still onetime use- if it is Somaliland and its people are richer than I thought!!

I refuse to wear more than three colours are any given time, so I search and troll the markets for two colour printed fabrics, and then clip, cut and stitch with the local suuq tailors who insist on doing it their way until I threaten to not pay them and never go back if they don’t make the tailored half fitted design I want- In return they tell me off- harshly for destroying the fabric, for not having enough space for two extra people and for being too western. I counter with drivel about customer services and doing what the customer wants etc (they don’t care or understand), when really what I want to say is MEET ME HALF WAY. I will cover what is required Islamicly, splash a little colour orderly, and make dresses with a modern flare using locally available fabric. What is wrong with that?

Advertisement