Michael Okunloro | Elevate Your Style

 

It is amazing to see how kaftan has evolved over the years from a free-flowing outfit to smarter and more modern designs. It is interesting to see how modern fashion designers have been able to come up with amazing designs that speak to the current generation and its acceptance by the people to be more creative with how they rock their kaftans. I love to see how men continually explore with their kaftans, kaftans are now worn on sneakers or sports footwear which makes it more acceptable.  

Kaftan is worn by the 3 major ethnic groups (Yourba, Igbo,Hausa) in Nigeria, what makes each group stands out from others is the style and aesthetics, you can always differentiate each ethnic group with their distinctive traditional caps.  

Igbo

 

Yoruba

Hausa

Hausa

Hausa

I remember growing up, boys my age disliked native wears. It seemed so old-fashioned, compared to our trendy jeans, baggies, three-quarters and co. For some reason I can’t really place, they seemed big with no exact fittings and the fabrics used were somewhat basic. So, most people would rather go for the jeans and shirts options, not to forget the growing influence that the Hip-Hop music genre was beginning to have on us all.

 As time went by and with the invention of more customer-friendly fabrics 

and improvements on African prints (Ankara) with better sewing, native wears are now widely accepted by younger men. In our eyes now, they’re more classy, comfortable, and have become a way of preserving our culture and heritage.  

Aside promoting and preserving our culture and heritage, one of the reason I love kaftan’s is they are easy and comfortable to wear and they’re low maintained outfit. In my own opinion kaftan should not be made too tight to hug the body.