Wedding bells are some of the sweetest bells a lady could ever hear. Whether it is your sister’s wedding or a friend’s, it’s always nothing short of a special occasion. As such, you need a matching kente style for laddies if you wish to crush the wedding and the after-party.
Kente is one of the most widely known African fabrics ever. Kente is a world-known African cloth with origins in Ghana. It was used as royal clothing reserved for the king and his royal court. This was when kings had power and could control the community. However, the cloth would later become available for ordinary people and even foreigners.
Most Kente designs feature bright colors. For Africans, color is significant in our culture. This explains why color is prominent in many African cultures. Kente was originally made in black and white. Newer designs feature more colors. Most of which are very beautiful and pleasing to the eye.
Kente has a rich history. It has also become an iconic piece of fabric haven been featured in the catwalk, displayed in the UN, worn by numerous world presidents, and more. Kente styles have graced various fashion events both in Africa and abroad. Some of such events are weddings. Whenever there is a wedding, there is kente.
How is Kente Made?
One thing that screams out of every kente design and cloth is the attractive colors and beautiful patterns. To achieve such patterns, kente weavers carefully use warps placed horizontally and vertically. They have stretched away from the loom. The process is highly manual. The use of a weft is employed to weave the warp together. The creativity of the weaver is very critical. Through the repetitive insertion of the weft threads using a shuttle with a bobbin inside, the weaver creates the pattern. This process creates a single kente strip of about 6 feet long and a few centimeters wide. To get a full cloth, these strips are sewn together.
The same process is employed by both Ewes and Ashantis in weaving the kente designs you see on occasions.
What do African Patterns Mean?
The patterns in kente designs have unique meanings. Kente pattern meanings could be derived from proverbs, stories, wise sayings, events in the community or life of the designer, names, and more. The patterns inherently do not have meaning but the designer will often give them a meaning. As for Ewe kente designs, the meaning could be visible from the patterns. Ewe kente design is a representation compared to the abstract designs from the Ashanti.
Kente Styles for Wedding Bride
Making the decision on a wedding dress is probably going to give you the most headache. But it needn’t be, really. It’s a simple decision. If you are having two separate ceremonies for traditional marriage and western/Christian weddings, you can simply go for kente for your traditional marriage and a white gown for your church wedding.
It goes without saying that you can also go all traditional for both. In both cases, kente styles for ladies will serve you well.
If you want a royal wedding, kente is probably the best option out there to help you realize a truly traditional marriage that is royal.
To make your decision even simpler, these kente styles for wedding brides are some of the best we found in 2021.
Kente Styles For Ladies For Wedding
Ghanaian ladies love to look good especially when it’s a wedding. There is some sort of great feeling when attending a wedding that must be accompanied with a cloth as special as kente. Is a wedding guest’s dress really complete without kente? These amazing kente styles for ladies for weddings will tell.
Kaba and Slit Kente Styles For Ladies For Wedding
If you are wondering if Kaba and Slit are two different dresses, then you are probably not a Ghanaian. Every Ghanaian lady knows Kaba and slit. Kaba and slit are two pieces to the puzzle of a popular way of styling women’s clothing in Ghana.
The style involves two parts: “Kaba” which is the “top” part of the dress and covers the lady’s bust extended to the waist where it meets the “Slit”.
The slit is the lower part of the dress is long enough to reach the ankle and is held to the lady’s waist with a string made of the same material.
A guiding path for inserting the string is sewn into the slit making it easy to put it through and tie.
Why is Kente cloth important?
Kente is one of the few fabrics you can call royal. Having a royal wedding means kente is involved. This is because of its history. Kente was in the olden days restricted as royal wear. Only the king, members of his court, and some elders could wear kente.
This also stood for when kente could be worn. Kente could only be worn during special and sacred events some of them occurring only a few times in a decade.
That was more than 400 years ago. One may ask why kente is still relevant today? It is simple. Ever since kente was made available for the ordinary person, it has still maintained its significance and is still reserved for special and important events only.
The kente cloth was then adopted as the national cloth for Ghana. Also, before its adoption, Kwame Nkrumah wore a special kente design after he was released from prison. This gave kente some international coverage. He would later wear it during visits to the United States and other countries. Also, he commissioned a kente design to be displayed at the UN general assembly in New York.
Today, kente is more than a piece of fashion fabric. Kente is widely used by African American students as a way to show their identity and share their heritage during graduation.
So why is kente important, well, its history and everything about it just makes it special and important.
Conclusion
Kente styles for ladies for weddings feature bright colors, beautiful patterns. They add life, beauty, and love to every wedding ceremony. As a bride, know that when it comes to kente, you can never go wrong. If you are a wedding guest, kente is the best way to show respect, unity, and love to your friends and family.
