TURNING HEADS

THE LOOK THAT'S MORE THAN FASHION

CALL it a turban, a headscarf or a doek. It’s a cultural symbol that has grown in style and become one of the most fashionable pieces today.

It has symbolic significance in African culture, but we’ve also seen celebrities such as Bonang Matheba, Thembi Seete, Nomzamo Mbatha and Terry Pheto wearing a doek as a fashion statement.

And in the past few months we’ve seen the resurgence of it through the #FeesMustFall movement among students around South Africa.

Matheba says a doek is traditionally a sign of respect and gives a woman her social clout.

Wearing a doek gives an African woman a layer of confidence and strength, she says. “The headpiece is also associated with being an important expression of your heritage and it’s always fitting to grace traditional events wearing one.

“On the other hand, we all have bad hair days, and to keep it hidden away we just bring out the doek as our fashion piece or statement, making it a fashion convenience as well,” she says.

Matheba says African fashion has had a huge influence on global fashion trends, even on designers such as Michael Kors and most recently Louis Vuitton.

“It was fashion stylist to the stars June Ambrose who revolutionised the doek back in 2009, when she rocked it like it was the greatest accessory.”

Matheba says the louder and bolder the doek, the better for her as it matches her personality. “I love the dramatic effect that it has.”

She wears a Maasai scarf in one of her most popular photos on social media. It is tied in the Gele style mostly seen on Nigerian women.

According to Yoruba tradition, the way a Gele is tied can indicate a woman’s marital status. An end leaning to the right indicates a woman is married, while an end leaning to the left indicates she is single.

Professor Hlonipha Mokoena of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research says the current vogue for head wraps and scarves is strongly influenced by Afro-soul and neosoul artists such as Erykah Badu and India Arie.

African women (or, more broadly, women of colour) may feel they are empowered by wearing a headscarf — but they may also be making the choice because they don’t want the in- A HEAD FOR FASHION: Celebrity Bonang Matheba appropriate attention that natural hair often elicits.

Historically the doek or headscarf was imposed on black women in many colonies by convention or by law as a way to control the sensuality and exoticism that “confused” white men.

“The covering of the hair was therefore a tool by which white colonial culture attempted to erase the differences between black women while accentuating the differences between white and black women.”

Asked if the doek is then a symbol of oppression, Mokoena says she believes the question should be whether the headscarf has a place in modern society — and the answer is yes and no: “No, at least not in our context of Southern Africa and yes, it has a place if it is understood as an aesthetic or fashion choice.

“There is no cultural pre-