Introduction

It is a challenge to want to talk about clothing and finery in Africa, from antiquity to today, even in a full day. Both the subject is rich. Many things have been discovered about this over time, but many still remain to be discovered. In particular, the focus of this article is geared towards African men’s jewelry. It seemed necessary to divide the theme into two essential parts. Which are to know :

• Clothing which concerns only all that the man dresses his body and the various reasons inherent.
• The ornaments that often complete the clothing and for which it should be understood: jewelry (with a focus on African men’s jewelry), hairstyle, tattoos, etc.

No Man is born fully dressed. Even nowadays, this miracle has not yet occurred! A retrospective look at the history of humanity shows us that it was not so long ago that the revolution that brought our ancestors from nudity to clothing, then clothing to fashion (clothing and finery) itself and, finally, contemporary fashion.

The reason for being a garment is plural and varies greatly according to the cultures and periods of history:

• Practice (protection)
• Symbolic (indicate a moral posture)
• Social (display a status)

Young boys Somba (Batamrariba) of Atakora, Natitingou, Benin, shortly before 1960 | Source: National Archive of Nigeria, Ibadan.

The history of clothing is inseparable from its sociology: studying the conditions that contributed to its birth cannot be done without addressing the sociocultural issues of the period.

It is therefore necessary to dissociate the simple original clothes from the first costumes that will succeed them, gradually giving rise to the notion of fashion, of a purely utilitarian role – to protect the human body from bad weather and external aggression, to be able to move easily – the garment evolves by adding immaterial functions: adorned, it becomes adornment. Technical progress and increased trade lead to an acceleration of the pace of transformation from the 16th century. Activity originally very local, because dependent on the natural resources of a territory, clothing and Jewellery manufacturing today is at the heart of economic globalization.

Continue reading African Men’s Jewelry From Antiquity – The African Man in the World of Clothing and Finery