Wedding Gowns

Afrocentric Wedding Gowns

The term “afrocentric” comes from the word “Afrocentrism”, a concept that underlines the importance of African people in areas like philosophy, culture and history. This concept appeared as a result of a Black people’s reaction to the racism that crossed the Western world in the 19^th century. This reaction has generated into a reviewing of the history in order to document the influence that Black people has brought to the civilization of the world. It has been claimed that important cultural features of the ancient Egypt have originated in Africa and some of these characteristics were still present in other civilizations belonging to Africa.

A good example to support this claiming is the costumes that the nowadays African people are wearing at their celebrations. The style of long straight dresses with geometrical colorful patterns together with the wide beaded knotted collar worn as a collier around their neck are some of the ancient attire’s elements still seen in present African countries.

This ethnic outfit has gained different representations that can be recognized in the Afrocentric wedding gowns. The pattern is mostly preserved in that of the long straight cut dress with the collar-like necklace and as a note of variety, a fabric-made tiara that has a up pointed cut that resembles to those tiaras worn by the Egyptian queens. This is an element to choose for the brides as they want to be considered the queen for one night.

If you choose an Afrocentric theme for your wedding ceremony, you have to know in advance the rituals that fill the wedding party. They are very colored and full of fun and because of their meanings, you should consider them too before setting out to organize an Afrocentric themed wedding .

The nowadays Afrocentric wedding gowns carry lots of symbols that adorn the fabric of the dresses, both for women and for men. Perfect stylistic decorative patterns are printed in the outfit meant to define the ethnic accents of the African nation. Some fashion designers have even adopted this style to the modern wedding dress succeeding in creating very special gowns made from silk with the bodice that has a quilted effect with pearl-like cowrie shells and a cathedral length train. Other gowns are created from chiffon veil with satin trim and again the cowrie shell embellishment.

The grooms wear an Afrocentric wedding gown with ethnical designs printed on the long white tunic blouse (generally the midi length), designs that represent decorations around the collar being defined by rich colored borders. The traditional outfit is made out of a thin African fabric that is sweatproof and therefore cozy to wear. There is also a tradition for the wedding couple to wear headwraps in shape of a shawl for brides or round rimless hat for the grooms.