African Head-wraps
A historical look at how culture turned into a strong fashion statement and stood the test
of time and history.
An African Headwrap or African Head Wrap (two syllables) is a piece of fabric that is intricately knotted around the head. It might be a powerful cultural statement, a trendy adornment, or a practical solution for bad hair days. For ages, African women have used head coverings as a fashion statement. While there is no denying the relevance of head wraps in today's world, these wraps did not appear out of anywhere, as they are frequently associated with age, position, and ancestry. The headscarf dates back to pre-colonial African history in Sub-Saharan Africa and was fashioned with traditional colors and patterns. It may be only a simple piece of fabric, but it can highlight a woman's beauty and power like nothing else. The headwrap, also known as iduku in isiZulu, dhuku in Shona, duku in Chichewa. The Yoruba refer to their well- layered and artistically knotted headwraps as Angeles or Gele and Dukus is a term used by Ghanaians. To show respect, a lady in Zulu culture is supposed to cover her head when she visits or is in the presence of her in-laws. In the presence of in-laws, certain Xhosa women are also expected to wear iqhiya as a gesture of respect. In a traditional Sotho wedding, the in-laws present the makoti (bride) ituku (Traditional fabric) as an external symbol that she has been accepted into their family.
Headwraps predate religious tribal influence in Africa and are worn by women of many spiritual beliefs as a symbol of respect, humility, and occasionally modesty. Women from the Zion Christian Church, for example, wear headwraps even outside of their place of worship and when praying or receiving communion, some Christian women cover their heads. The gele can identify if a lady is unmarried or married in Yoruba culture.
Headwraps were historically put on African women in the United States as a mark of captivity by white owners during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. They were quickly turned into an instrument of oppression: European slaveholders compelled African women to wear them as emblems of their servitude. For them, it meant taking control over and dominion over the lives of others who would be labeled as submissive and poor. To reduce their attraction to French and Spanish men, Spanish colonial governors enforced that Afro-Creole women wear tignons, a turban-like head wrap, in 1785. Many slave owners in the antebellum American South, South America, and the Caribbean ordered enslaved African women to wear head coverings. Headscarves had utilitarian benefits, such as covering women's scalps from the heat, perspiration, filth, and lice, but they also acted as symbolic identifiers, showing a slave's inferiority in the historical period's social order. Even after slavery, like in the case of Aunt Jemima, these images persisted. The lovely cultural emblem was reduced to little more than a sign of shame and inadequacy. Enslaved African women, on the other hand, devised several inventive means to rebel. In regions of Central America, such as Suriname, for example, black women utilized the folds in their headscarves to send coded signals to one another that their masters could not comprehend.
Eventually, the headwrap evolved into a rebellious fashion statement for liberated women of color. The headwrap tangibly connects black women in the West to their ancestors' customs as well as their relatives across the Atlantic. After slavery was abolished in 1865, black women who worked for white families were still required to cover their hair with a simple cloth, and it became a sign of servitude and homeliness. However, wearing headwraps in public fell out of favor in the early twentieth century, when upwardly mobile black women felt compelled to conform to European standards of beauty.
African headwraps did not resurface in the United States until the 1970s black power movement, becoming a key component of the Black Power uniform of revolt and gaining importance as a symbol of self and community identification. Colorful headwraps became trendy again in the 1990s thanks to celebrities such as Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. Headwraps had become the ultimate fashion accessory at most events, as well as a piece of art in their own right. Many people outside of the African diaspora were unfamiliar with the style, but it soon reached the mainstream in the 1990s and 2000s. Headwraps were also being worn by celebrities, both locally and internationally, as a fashion statement as well as a political weapon. African American pupils at a secondary school in North Carolina had to demonstrate the right to wear ethnic wraps in 2016. Headwraps were also prevalent during the South African #FeesMustFall demonstrations in 2015, with student leader Nompendulo Mkhatshwa wearing one in multiple media appearances. Whereas Lupita Nyong'o turned heads in a Carolina Herrera gown and a blue gele at the Toronto premiere of the film 'Queen of Katwe.' In 2016, former African Union chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma initiated the Headwrap campaign to commemorate Women's Month.
Headwraps have long been a sign of culture and beauty, and the tradition continues today. As the natural hair trend takes traction, the headwrap is making an appearance on the runways, and many women are flocking to them as a trendy protective style alternative. African headwraps serve both a utilitarian and a stylish function. They are a one- of-a-kind statement of historical links, as well as a current emblem of style that denotes a sense of culture and individuality. When African American women and men began to struggle for freedom and equality, the traditional scarf resurfaced as a sign of pride and Afrocentric celebration. They have survived and prospered as part of the African diaspora over the world. African headwraps have gone a long way in terms of both time and distance. When black women in the Americas began wearing headwraps with pride, what began as a symbol of servitude became a community identity. The head-wrap will continue to have cultural and symbolic value throughout Africa and the world for the foreseeable future, whether as a cultural, spiritual, fashion, political, or other statements.