Zimbabwe National Dress – The Original Traditional Dress of Zimbabwe For Shona People

What does an original cultural/ethnic dress for the native Shona people of Zimbabwe look like? The only way to find out is to look at historical archives of artist depictions and photos taken in the 1800s and 1900s:

After searching around , I found this old picture taken in 1900 of Shona women and girls in traditional dress and attire. It belongs to the website rhodesian.com.au

Mashona Women 1908 - Source: Rhodesian Study Circle

Native Shona Villagers 1908 - Source: Rhodesian Study Circle

1910 - A Native Shona Brass Worker and His Wives   Source: From the Book Women of All Nations.

The pictures above are from the book [Women of All Nations: A Record of Their Characteristics, Habits, Manners, Customs, and Influence] published in 1908 by Thomas Athol Joyce [1878-1942] and Northcote Whitridge Thomas [1868-1936]

The book has many colorful plates of original photos taken in the 1900s. You can view and read the book online at Archive.org

The Book: [Women of All Nations: A Record of Their Characteristics, Habits, Manners, Customs, and Influence] 1908

Archive.org Books - Women of All Nations
Google Books - Women of All Nations

Image Sources:

Rhodesian.com.au - Mashona Women 1890
Flickr - Shona Brass Worker and Wives 1910
Vintage Edition - Mashona Women
Rhodesian Study Circle - Mashona Girls
Rhodesian Study Circle - Mashona Villagers

While other countries have been celebrating their traditional dress from time immemorial, Zimbabwe despite its rich culture has been having a hard time coming up with a clearly defined traditional dress for its various tribes. To add to the confusion, prominent personalities in Zimbabwe have been talking about a national dress, but the idea of a national dress is not practical in a country with more than one tribe. A country like Botswana, UK, Spain, Portugal, Japan, China or Russia where more than 95% of the population share the same culture and language can easily come up with a national dress, but for multi-cultural countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya and Namibia, a single national dress would not represent every culture unless everybody agreed to collaborate.

Instead of clamoring for a national dress, we should be clamoring for traditional dresses. Beyond our borders, South Africa and Namibia are two multi-cultural African countries which don’t have a national dress, but instead they have traditional dresses, something which you would also call an ethnic or cultural dress. During cultural events and festivals, you will South Africans from all backgrounds proudly wearing an ethnic outfit. Zulus, Xhosas, Swazis, Vendas and Sothos will be wearing a cultural outfit on this occasion. The same happens in Namibia where Wambo, Herero and Damara Nama tribes have their own cultural costumes.

So why is it hard for Zimbabwean tribes to come up with their own traditional dress? Is it a lack of pride or are we suffering from identity crisis?

Finding a traditional dress is not hard if you know your roots and history. People just need to rewind back to history to find out what type of traditional dresses were worn. A traditional dress is not something that can be invented, proposed, imposed or copied from another country, but it should be original and indigenous. It should be derived from historical dressing. There have been cases where some Zimbabweans will copy Nigerian traditional attire and flaunt it as their own.

Pokello Nare is one of the leading Zimbabwean fashionistas who likes rocking African fabrics and colours. She likes mixing African designs with modern attire - CICI Fashions Facebook

Ideas for Modern Zimbabwean Traditional Dresses

Shona Dress - By winding the clock back to the Great Zimbabwe era when the Shona people started trading with the Portuguese, you will find out that black inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe were already wearing cotton body wraps as from 1200 AD. This European-influenced attire continued up to the era of Mbuya Nehanda, a female spirit medium who was pictured wearing a shoulder strapped garment. This was the attire for married and older women. Young women did not wear a shoulder-strapped garment, but they wore a simple strapless bodycon wrap with bare shoulders.

Ndebele Dress – An original dress can be inspired from the traditional Zulu dress because of the shared roots, language and culture.

By tracing back to their historical attire, other 13 tribes of Zimbabwe (Tonga, Venda etc) can also find inspiration for a modern traditional dress.

Pokello Nare in African Print Pant Suit - CICI Fashions Twitter

A Modern Traditional Dress is Not a Regular Dress

Whatever you call it, traditional or national dress, a modern traditional dress is not something that you are supposed to wear on a daily or regular basis. Times have changed, today people have access to high quality clothing with much more beneficial features and functions than traditional attire. The need for a traditional dress doesn’t mean you should take it with you everywhere - to work, shopping mall, party or social functions. It’s not compulsory. You wear this dress for cultural purposes, festivals and events. You wear this dress out of pride and love for your identity. Whether you want to wear this dress as a fashion item or not is a personal choice. The freedom to wear a traditional dress means you are not ashamed of your culture, and that you are not afraid of being judged. In the end, you will get respect because people admire people who are proud of their culture. Nobody admires a person of no fixed abode. Why do some Zimbabweans copy and envy the Nigerian Yoruba and Igbo dress? It's because Nigerians are proud of their culture.

Attempts to Launch a National Dress in Zimbabwe

The first attempt to launch a national dress was in 2005, when the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture announced a design competition. Fashion designers across the country were invited to participate in this competition, but the panel was not impressed with the quality of submissions. The competition ended with no winner and the whole project was abandoned.

The year 2012 saw another attempt to launch a national dress, but this time it was not a design competition but an exhibition of a proposed dress. The showcase of the “Nhowe Zimbabwe Dress” ran along the Miss Curvy beauty contest where fashion models took to the catwalk to exhibit the conceptual design.

The designer of the Nhowe dress Mercy Mushaninga lamented the fact that Zimbabweans are often confused with other nationalities because they don’t have a defined cultural attire. A Zimbabwean in the USA would be taken for an African American, unlike Nigerians who have a clearly defined traditional attire.

Sure, it’s not only Nigerians and West Africans who can be identified by their cultural attire, but Indians and Arabs are also known to have a strong association with their cultural dress code. Although people in western countries have what you call the western attire (the regular fashion one can find at Edgars, Truworths and Woolworths), most if not all European countries have cultural festivals and celebrations where people wear traditional costumes. That’s the reason why I said earlier on, that a traditional dress is not necessarily a regular dress.

Evolution of the Traditional Dress

How does a traditional dress come to be a traditional dress? A traditional dress is born from historical dress code. It is shaped by ethnic culture, identity, beliefs and historical influences. The evolution of a traditional dress is natural.  You cannot just wake up and decide to make a traditional dress that you dreamed of. You have to go back to the past to check the original generational trends and influences in native wear within your tribe or clan. After researching the historical background of the dress code within your clan, the next logical step is adapting the original styles to your modern design. The outfits may not be 100% similar, but some degree of resemblance must be maintained between the original and modern design.

Postal Stamp of King Mutapa of the Monomotapa Kingdom 1589 to 1620

Adapting and Modernizing a Traditional Dress

The following template will be helpful in designing a traditional dress from original native wear. The design process in this case is adapting and modernizing a historical dress, not inventing a dress. The designer should answer the following questions:

1. What did Shona natives wear during the Mapungubwe Kingdom?  1075 - 1220 AD
2. What did Shona natives wear during the Great Zimbabwe Kingdom, and during the Mutapa, Torwa and Rozwi Empires, when trade with the Portuguese and Arabs was at its peak? 1220 – 1834 AD
3. What did Shona natives wear during the time of Mbuya Nehanda? 1890 AD
4. Look at the dress codes during these 3 episodes, and adapt them to your modern design while maintaining some resemblance.

Mashona Men from Chief Mashayamombe - August 1890 Source: Rhodesian Australia

The famous picture of Mbuya Nehanda

Depiction of the Great King Monomatapa by the Portuguese

References:

Vintage Edition - Mashona Women
Rhodesian Study Circle - Mashona Girls
Rhodesian Study Circle - Mashona Villagers
Archive.org - Women of All Nations

Rhodesian.com.au - Historic Gallery Rhodesia 1890
Rhodesian.com.au - Mashona Men in 1890
Flickr - Shona Brass Worker and Wives

Kingdoms of Ancient Zimbabwe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Zimbabwe