African clothing

thumb|Women's headscarves for sale in Damascus|alt=Four mannequin heads with different headscarfs are arranged on top of a display-table of colourful headscarfs. thumb|In Christian cultures, nuns and [[widows often covered their bodies and hair. Here, widowed Queen Anna of Poland wears a 16th-century wimple with a veil and a ruff around her neck.|alt=Portrait of widowed Queen Anna of Poland wearing a white wimple, veil, and ruff typical of 16th-century noblewomen.]]

aspect of history

traditional wrapped garment of East Africa, typically worn by women

Ghanaian fabric made of strips that are woven from silk, cotton or rayon using horizontal looms

right|thumb|Musicians in Egypt wearing jellabiya|276x276px

REDIRECT Litham#Tagelmust or Afrwal or litham

Seshweshwe () (also known as Seshoeshoe) is a printed dyed cotton fabric widely used for traditional Southern African Basotho clothing. Originally dyed indigo, the fabric is manufactured in a variety of colours and printing designs characterised by intricate geometric patterns. Due to its popularity, shweshwe has been described as the denim, or tartan, of South Africa. ==Name== thumb|upright|Xhosa people|Xhosa women in traditional costume wearing [[indigo shweshwe aprons]] thumb|upright|Xhosa people|Xhosa woman wearing a head scarf made from [[indigo seshoeshoe (on the right)]] The local name

thumb|Bògòlanfini fabric

thumb|The late President Umaru Yar'Adua of [[Nigeria, a chieftain of the Fula emirate of Katsina, wearing a crown style kufi.]]

thumb|Mobutu (left), wearing a long-sleeved abacost and "Mobutu Hat" with Caspar Weinberger|Caspar W. Weinberger (right), wearing a Western lounge suit, during a state visit to the [[United States in 1983]] The abacost, a blending of the French "à bas le costume" (), was the distinctive clothing for men that was promoted by Mobutu Sese Seko as part of his authenticité programme in Zaire, between 1972 and 1990. Zairians were banned from wearing Western-style suits with shirt and tie to symbolise the break with their colonial past. The abacost was a lightweight suit, worn without a tie, though s

garment

thumb|A typical kitenge pattern. thumb|Customers and visitors at a display of African kitenge clothes

Litham (, sometimes pronounced lifam) is a mouth-veil which the Tuareg and other West and North African (namely Sahelian) nomads, particularly men, have traditionally used to cover the lower part of their face.

traditional dress of women in Suriname

wax-resist (batik) printed textile of Africa

thumb|200px|right|A pair of black balghas.Balgha (), also spelled balga, belgha, or belga, are heelless slippers made from leather. They are part of traditional dresses of the Maghreb and Egypt.

textiles originating in and around continental Africa or through the African Diaspora

Aso ebi is a uniform dress that is traditionally worn in Sierra Leone and some West African cultures as an indicator of cooperation and solidarity during ceremonies and festive periods

thumb|300px|Women wearing Gomesi at a wedding in Kampala, Uganda.

textiles indigenous to the Kuba people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

bundled used clothing shipped to Africa from wealthy countries

hand-loomed strips made of a mixture of dyed and undyed cotton loom

Yoruba men's cap

thumb|right|A 1902 drawing of a Hausa man from Yola, Nigeria|Yola in an AlashoAlasho is an indigenous Hausa long turban, worn across the head and neck. It is near identical in length, colour and dimensions to that of the Tuareg tagelmust, but is wrapped differently to the Tuareg method, leaving the sides of the head and some of the lower neck free. A similar style turban is worn by Songhai men, known as 'fatalaa' in Zarma.

thumb|250px|Men wearing kanzus at a wedding in Kampala, Uganda. A kanzu is a white or cream coloured robe worn by men in the African Great Lakes region. It is referred to as a tunic in English, and as the thawb in Arab countries. The kanzu is an ankle or floor length garment. It serves as the national costume of Tanzania as well as the Comoros, where it is called a kandu as well as a thawb. The robe is also worn in some coastal Muslim regions of Tanzania and Kenya. The men of Uganda consider it their most important dress. Kanzu is a Ganda word of Swahili origin, which means "robe" or "tunic".

thumb|Sahrawis|Sahrawi women wearing colorful melhfas

brimless cylindrical cap with a flat crown

thumb|Ahenema slippers Ahenema is a traditional, royal slipper worn by the Kings, Queens and children of the Akan, Ga, and Ewe ethnic groups in Ghana. This traditional slipper came to be worn by anyone to events such as festivals, funerals, wedding ceremonies and church.

traditional head tie native to Yoruba women

thumb|Kikoy fabric in Nairobi thumb|Traditional kikoi being worn. A kikoi is a traditional rectangle of woven cloth originating from Africa. Considered a part of Swahili culture, the kikoi is mostly worn by the coastal people, but now also includes the Maasai people of Kenya and men from Tanzania and Zanzibar. It is most commonly viewed a type of sarong.

thumb|A pair of "vellies"

common materials used for clothing in West Africa

type of hat worn in West Africa