Ultimate Guide To Men’s Native Wears | Styles Rules, What To Wear etc

15 Native Wear and Traditional Attire Rules All Men Need to Know

As a lover of native wears, a brand ambassador of African Fashion Week Nigeria and a strong advocate of African Fashion, I hope to give you guys a few tips and style advice on how to rock your native wears and traditional attires better.

First…let’s take a moment and explain what a Native Wear is.

Native Wear (Native Attire), also known as Traditional Wear, Native Outfit or Native Attire is most common in Africa and is also known as a Native-African attire. Over the years there has been a huge improvement from what “native wear” was back then and what it is now.

See what I mean below…

Native Wear Top – 19th Century – 1820

Four Hausa Men Rocking Agbada in 1902

Mr. Uti in short sleeve top and matching trousers – Dashiki Native Style in 2015

Some of the trends which were in existence back then are coming back now with a bit of refinement in design. Things like the popular Agbada have been in existence since the 1800s and they are coming back in style today.

Kaftans [with length almost sweeping the floor] were also popular in the 90s, but they are back in vogue, more refined to lengths just below the knee and with a bit of English touch to it such as the use of double cuff design in the wrist section such that it can be worn with cufflinks.

Mr. Jim Iyke in simple native wear with a pocket square

Mr. Kobi in a simple white native at African Fashion Week Nigeria Press/Blogger Brunch in February 2015

RULES THAT APPLY WHEN WEARING NATIVE WEARS

General Rule:

#1. Ensure your native trouser length is reaching just on the top of the shoe and not sweeping the ground when you walk.

To be safe, ensure your tailor’s measurement of your trouser length stops just at your ankle (NO-BREAK or QUARTER BREAK Trouser Length Style). Not before your ankle (unless you choose that on purpose to make a fashion statement).

A model rocking Kaftan Native Wear with trouser length stopping @ just at the ankle

#2. A native wear top can be paired with jeans, dark chinos, linen pants.

Mr. JackMoh

Mr. Kobi @ African Fashion Week Nigeria 2016 wearing a Native Attire Separates – a mix of dark colored jeans paired with a native attire top (Tunic Top) and headgear. This concept is called “Breaking up a Native Attire Look” similar to Suit separates (Spezzato)

RELATED POST: Friday Style Inspiration | Classic Native Wears – A Tailor’s Work Vs A Fashion Designer’s Work

Let’s look at What Not to Wear with Native Wears and Traditional Attires…

WHAT NOT TO WEAR

Today we have all manner of footwear available for us to choose from namely loafers, boat shoes, moccasin, monk straps, dress shoes etc.

The negative side to this is that the Foot Wear brands do not give advice on what clothes are appropriate for certain types of shoes they make.

FOR FOOTWEARS | WHAT NOT TO WEAR WITH NATIVE WEARS

#3. Avoid wearing your simple native wears with dress shoes or any other form of Lace-Ups Men’s Shoes.

P.S. The only acceptable dress shoe you can wear with a Native Attire (and it has to be a Business Casual or Formal Native Attire) is a Monkstrap dress shoe (which has been described as the “most advanced” dress shoe)

#4.  Avoid wearing socks with your shoes when wearing native wears, there is no excuse for this even if you live in Antarctica or Iceland.

Some people might be wondering, how are they going to survive all the sweat, stink and perspiration without socks. I would say go for “Half Socks” [NOT Ankle Socks]. There are several no-show socks brand in the fashion market that place a big emphasis on comfort and style. Find them and buy if you must wear socks.

NOT ACCEPTABLE when wearing native wear

Native Wear and Half Socks is acceptable, so as long as we don’t see the socks (please ignore this shoe – not the most stylish option to wear)

#5.  Avoid wearing your formal native wears with Canvas shoes, Running shoes or any form of Sports shoes for men.

Sports Shoes is not acceptable with formal native wears

These days you see some folks in Africa wearing their native attire wrongly, rocking a formal native attires (those made from suit fabrics) with casual footwear such as running shoes, sneakers, and slippers. This has become the norm for fashionable individuals and is not right or stylish.

The only exception is when you are either breaking up the look of your native attire i.e. pairing your native attire top (Tunic top) with casual trousers/jeans/pants or when you are wearing casual native attire (made entirely from a non-suit fabric).

The same rule goes for face caps on formal native attire (made from suit fabrics). As you cannot wear a face cap with a business suit, do not wear a face cap with formal native attire.

#6.  Avoid wearing native wears with Leather Slippers for special occasions or events such as Weddings, Cocktail Parties, Grand occasions, etc.

But you can wear this if it’s for a simple look or casual business or when hanging out for a drink or any other leisure activities, just make sure you are wearing a classic one.

Don’t Wear these kinds of Slippers with Natives for an occasion such as wedding, event etc

Mr. Noble Igwe dressed on simple native with Slippers for a simple business casual look

#7.  Avoid wearing native wears with Rubber Flip Flops or any form of bathroom slippers.

Even in an emergency situation…I don’t care if you are rushing out of the house, or just taking a walk down the street, simply change to Shorts and Tees if you must wear the rubber flip flop in an emergency.

NOT ACCEPTABLE – These are meant for the bathroom…Nothing more to say

FOR ACCESSORIES | WHAT NOT TO WEAR WITH NATIVE WEARS

#8.  Avoid wearing native wears with a sports wristwatch. 

The same way a sports wristwatches should never be worn with a suit, sports wristwatches should never be worn with a native wear attire. Try to avoid making this fashion faux-pas.

Sports Wrist Watches are not acceptable on Native wears, it should be left for Sports Events

#9. Avoid wearing native wears with belts

It doesn’t matter if you are trying to match your shoe and belt color, the rule just doesn’t apply here. The trousers are supposed to fit your exact waist size or made with an adjustable strap on the side.

A belt is not acceptable when it comes to native wears

Let’s look at what to wear with native wears and traditional attires…

WHAT TO WEAR

FOR FOOTWEAR

#10. For all types of natives, you can wear loafers, moccasins, boat shoes and any other variation of loafers without laces.

But be mindful of the formality of the native attire when choosing the footwear type. The more casual the native attire, the less formal the footwear can be. The more formal the native attire, the more formal the footwear type.

See images below:

#11.  For some special kind of native wears such as Senators, Agbada, and long Kaftans (which are categorized as Formal or Business Formal Native Attires).

You can wear any nice footwear, as long as it’s not a lace-up shoe. Monk strap shoes are good shoe choices when wearing any of these outfits.

Some examples of these shoes include Single or Double Monk Strap Leather shoes and other simple non-lace up Dress Loafers with or without Tassels.

Single Monk Strap Shoe

Double Monk Strap shoes

Mr. Kobi in Native Wear @ African Fashion Week Nigeria 2015 wearing a Blue Suede Loafers with Tassels

#12.  You can wear Sandals [Nice Leather Sandals] with your native wears, this especially fits Agbada, Dashiki, and Kaftans.

Nice sandal suitable for an Agbada native wear

Mr. Noble wearing an Agbada and nice classy Sandals

#14.  You SHOULD wear your native wear with bracelets.

To accentuate your native attire look, fill up your wrists with different types and colors to match your outfit. Just make sure the wrist bracelet complements the color of your native wear. Some types of bracelets you can use to style your outfit include metal bracelets, nautical trend bracelets, Beaded Bracelets, Leather & Woven Bracelets. This is a trend very popular among the modern stylish gentlemen these days.

P.S. The occasion though, determines how much bracelets you should wear, the more formal the occasion, the more subtle your bracelets should be.

#15.  You CAN wear your native wear with a nice and simple beaded necklace or normal chain necklace.

Avoid the very bold ones though as much as you can especially for the serious event.

Men stainless steel necklace

BONUS PICTURES OF FEMALE ON NATIVE WEAR

Yemi Alade

Toyin Aimakhu

CONCLUSION

I hope I have been able to share some of my knowledge on native wears with you, what not to wear and what’s appropriate to wear.

Thanks as always, for reading. Please feel free to drop your comments, your feedback helps us improve and serve you better. For business inquiries and style advice, write us here.

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Until next time, Continue to Do Well. Live Well and Dress Really Well! Be Classy!

Yours in Style,

Kobi O. Mbagwu (Mr. Kobi)
Founder, MrKoachman.com
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Mr. Kobi

My name is Kobi O. Mbagwu, a professional image consultant, menswear style expert, and entrepreneur who uses fashion, style and clothing as key tools in transforming ordinary men into extraordinary classy gentlemen. My personal goal is to help gentlemen dress better, live well, do well and develop a unique personal style that matches their lifestyle and goals. I believe that success can be built through style. I believe that fashion is a tool that can be used to change people’s lives positively. I also strongly believe that if you dress well, you look good, and if you look good, you feel good and when you feel good, you worry less, and the less you worry the more you are able to stay motivated and focused on your goals pursuit and by so doing you are able to live a more fulfilling and successful life.

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