Yep, I'm back researching fashion again for WAR: Retaliation, Book Four in my WAR series. Only this week, I’ve been researching women's fashion.
WOMEN'S CLOTHING
Fashion is a big deal in West Africa. Women take great pride in dressing up and when I was living there it wasn't uncommon to see women very nicely dressed even on the long and dusty bus trips.
Many women have their clothing made by a seamstress and I did, too. Here are photos of a blouse and skirt that were made for me.
My heroine is West African with medium brown skin. I envision her wearing bolder colors than my pale outfit, but in a similar style. I searched online for a comparable outfit in stronger colors, but I didn't find anything that I loved.
However, I found it fascinating that some websites have bolts of cloth for sale on the same web page as ready-to-wear outfits. Scroll down about half way on the Jumia website to see what I mean.
HEAD WRAPS
More important than the outfit was finding an appropriate head wrap style for my heroine to wear. Head wraps in West Africa can be quite elaborate and pouffy, but since my heroine is wearing one to an important business meeting, I want her to wear something more subdued.
The Kinky Curly Yaki website shows a couple of head wraps in styles that I think would be appropriate for my heroine. The fabric is all wrong, though.
Africa.com has this short post on head wraps and also has a link to the below YouTube video on how to wrap the scarf. I'm leaning toward the first style for my heroine. A bonus to watching this video is that the lady doing the demonstrating has short, natural hair. Just like my heroine. 😀
So there you have it. This was the second of two weeks of fashion research for my latest thriller. All to get the details right for a handful of scenes. Such is the life of a writer! LOL
