Keep Calm And Put Your Dresses On!

So, on Saturday, I was traipsing around my favourite mall, shopping, looking at clothes and jewellery even though I knew I wouldn't buy anything. So I decided to treat myself to a movie. It was showing by 9pm and it was still just after 8. I had an hour to kill. I bought a chocolate brownie and sat down to enjoy, thinking of a post for this blog. Two girls walked past me. They both wore miniskirts and tank tops with weaves past their butts. They were giggling and taking pictures on their phones and trying to stylishly pull the hems of their skirts down. I was irritated. Why wear a skirt so short you risk exposing your panties AND try to pull the hems down? I looked around and realized that 80% of the girls were wearing short hems: Short dresses, short skirts, daisy dukes (micro shorts). They all looked the same: same long weaves same touch screen gadgets, same short hems, and same giggles. They all seemed cloned. Was there a dress code memo that I missed? I mean, did coming to the mall/cinema have a particular dress code of looking as scantily clad as possible? I looked down on myself to scrutinize my own outfit. Blue jeans, pink sequinned sneakers and a grey t-shirt with Mickey Mouse emblazoned on it. Did I look out of place? Before leaving my house, I didn't think so. I have a serious question for the ladies: When did it become appropriate to show so much skin? And which parent allowed their wards out of the house looking like that just to watch a movie or hang out with friends? I admit, there are dress codes to particular places and events and people should learn to dress appropriately. If I wore shorts and a blouse to the beach, that would be fine. Or if lounged in a 2-piece bikini at a pool, it is also fine. And appropriate, as far as I am concerned. Nowadays, so many girls watch music videos and read the latest hip-hop magazines and they think they are Rihanna, Miley or Nicki Minaj. Ladies, you are not pop stars who make it their business to shock people so as to stay relevant in the news.

Which brings me to a sub-topic: Why are Muslim girls better dressed than their Christian counterparts? I lived in Northern Nigeria for the better part of my life and at every social function, the Muslim girls are the ones who are covered up. I know it is part of their religion. But please, can someone point me to the part in the Bible where Christian ladies are told to strip themselves naked just for fashion sake. When our ladies are getting married, the deeper the neckline of the wedding dresses the better. And when they wear jackets in the church, after the ceremony, at the reception, it is a different matter. The jacket is off, her boobs are threatening to spill out of the dress and this is considered sexy. How?? If your church would not allow you to wear a strapless dress for your wedding, it is with good reason. Why don’t you choose a style that flatters your body shape/size while leaving you covered up? I attended a wedding sometime ago and the bride was Hausa. She wore a long dress, with long fitted sleeves and a turban. She was covered up and she was beautiful. Her friends in the asoebi bridal train looked the same. Not one of them had her boobs or thighs out on display. Meanwhile someone should go and google Mozar Bint Nasser Al Missned of Qatar. she is widely regarded as one of the world's best dressed women. I'm not telling anyone to go and buy a hijab. All I'm saying is we should learn to dress in a responsible manner befitting of the occasion. Do you know the funny thing here? More often than not, a scantily dressed woman will be accompanied by a properly dressed man. Maybe ladies will never understand that they are sexier covered up. No reasonable man will take a lady serious with all her goods hanging out.

Am I getting old fashioned? Maybe. Or maybe I am just maturing every day. I used to be guilty of this too but now, I wear black tights underneath the short skirts and dresses I own and wear my shorts on Saturdays when I have to do my household chores or go to the beach or the pool(you get my drift, right?). Yesterday, I gave out the last mini bodycon dress I owned (a gal has gotta breathe, biko) to a girl two sizes smaller than myself. Why did I do this? Because when I wore it and looked at myself in the mirror, I didn't like what I saw. I got wolf whistles whenever I wore that dress, but deep down, I knew the whistles were for the wrong reasons. It was wrong. I think it is a good thing to be attractive. But there are so many ways to be sexy without being overt about it. I would want to do it in a different way; in a classy way. I would want people to look at me and see a responsible female. When I am a mother, my girls will be dressed in the same manner. Nothing, I repeat, nothing irks me more than attending a kiddies party and seeing little girls of 5 or 6, wearing ‘show me your back’ or micro shorts, miniskirts and knee high boots bumping and grinding to the music. Those little girls are being told that it is OK to dress that way and be seen as sexual objects. What sort of mother would dress up a kid in that manner? Morals are going down the drain every single day because people feel we gotta keep up with the times, after all we aren't in the Stone Age, right? Call me holier-than-thou, I don’t know but I just want to leave this earth in a better way than I met it. Even if it means starting with something as (in)significant as clothes.

Peace, love and a productive week ahead.

‘Rene.

P.S. Before I forget, the chocolate brownie tasted amazing and I ended up having a second square. It was absolutely divine. Get it at Coldstone Creamery.