The Sheer Revolution!

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"Here I am, faced with the task of doing another fashion piece as a guest blogger and my mind is at unease. I have no idea what to write about next. Efforts to solicit ideas from my dear friends and colleagues are going unheard, and then as I am wandering across town, I suddenly walk into a mad dash, there is chaos, tensions are running high, some are jeering, people seem to be gathered around something or someone… Being the inquisitive person that I am, I manage to push my way to the front and at the center of the stampede is a young woman who is now visibly scared and vulnerable. Her dress suddenly catches my attention and from that onset I become well aware what this fuss is all about. The young woman is in a little black dress that has parts that are ‘see through’! This is what the fuss is all about! Only sheer clothing can cause this much of a stampede, well unless of course someone decides to walk stack naked.

This piece is dedicated to that young woman, other young women and men (yes, men too) across the country that have or continue to suffer and be victimised for their fashion choices!"says Emmanuel Ndlovu.  

Emmanuel is our guest blogger as well today. He is taking us on another topic sheer clothing, a fashion trend that is easily defined by ambiguous terms like right and wrong just like everything else that dares break the rules of conservatism as traditionalist would say.

Sheer Clothing:  The NAKED CLOTHING as some would have it is one aspect of fashion that is taking the world by storm but however, it has also managed to gather mixed feeling among different people around the city.

Before getting to the mixed feelings I think it would be quite plausible to try and trace the origins of this trend; where it is coming from and where is it going. The fashion, Costume and Culture Journal (VOL 1-4) says that this trend can be traced back to ancient India with the advent of saris. Saris are usually long pieces of fabrics that are used as draping across a woman’s body. Its link to the sheer fabric is that they are made from very light silk that gives an illusion of a see through.

From ancient India to ancient Greece, a dress style called the Ionic Chiton was developed. Everyone and anyone could wear Ionic Chitons but the real politics kicked in when only the wealthiest could wear Chitons made of fine wool or woven linen that was so thin it was almost transparent. This lightweight garment was worn by both men and women. The sheer clothing can therefore be attributed to the wealthy Greeks apart from the Indian saris.

In the 16^th century, almost every woman, rich or poor wore gowns and dresses on a daily basis. By the end of this century, the gowns went from modest to revealing a lot of the women's cleavage. For those who did reveal so much, many wore a light weight, somewhat transparent shirt under their gowns called a Chemise. This shirt usually covered the whole neck and had a ruff attached to the end of it.

The 19^th century brought a number of old trends from centuries before. Trends began to reappear in fashion. One major trend is one called the Betsy. The Betsy was a ruffled collar that imitated one that Queen Elizabeth wore in the 1500's. This is also how the trend got its name. The 19th century version of these ruffles was composed of either tulle or a sheer silk or cotton that was easily worked into gathers and pleats.

From sheer stockings in the 1920’s, today, we are seeing anything from sheer prints and sheer stripes to sheer overlays and embellished sheer blouses. This trend has since evolved over time and now hemlines that start at the thigh up and reveal undergarments are becoming popular. Extreme cases of sheer clothing are those that reveal totally everything and ‘nothing is left to the imagination’ as one commentator said!

Using this picture of Rihanna (see insert), I then took out to gather people’s thoughts on this phenomenon and the responses were overwhelmingly negative.

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Lindile Ngwenya, a devout christian, said: ‘such dressing is dressing to kill, both the men and the morals.’

Thembelani Moyo, a traditionalist, said: ‘this type of dressing cannot be accepted in the African context, it is totally un-African.’

 The question that then sprung to my mind is what is African and what is un-African and what criterion is being used to classify things?

Nonhlanhla Mabhikwa, a media practitioner in the making, admitted that celebrities make it look good and that she likes it but her main concern was the difference between the Western and African values.

Anesu Marshall, a radical, had this to say: ‘it is sexy but inappropriate, but one thing I know is that most if not all women wish they could pull off a look like that’

Another radical, Nqobile Tshili, said: ‘what’s the purpose of dressing if it’s all out? People should then just go around naked because nothing is left to the imagination, why imagine when you can see it all?’

‘But the bottom line is people should dress however they want if they are comfortable with it,’ he added. 

TalentGumpo, an active resident of the city of Bulawayo, said: ‘I think it all depends on how much you reveal, but things such as sagging breasts and stretch marks are a reality so those should be taken into consideration before engaging in the dress code.’ 

What is clear from all these comments is that there is no consensus especially in matters to do with fashion and particularly with this sheer clothing dress code. My view (TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT) is we are just too conservative as a people, I feel people should learn to take risks in life, after all we only live once. A friend of mine always says, ‘you only live once but if you do it right, once is enough!’ So let us go all out so that we die with no regrets.

Inappropriate dressing or not, no one deserves to be treated the way the young woman was treated and no one has no right whatsoever to treat someone that way. It is simple inhuman!

How different is this ill treatment from the way our forefathers were treated by the colonisers as slaves? We need to tread carefully and not use fashion as grounds for oppressing each other.

 AS FAR AS FASHION IS CONCERNED, WE STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO, THAT’S ALL I CAN SAY!

By

Emmanuel Ndlovu (@emman_amp)

Guest blogger.