CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF HEADWRAP (GELE) AMONG WOMEN IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

Adeola Abiodun Adeoti

Abstract


Head wrap is the covering worn on the head to cover the entire hair and the two ears for variety of purposes. This is commonly worn by women in many parts of the world. The use of head wrap in Nigeria originated among Yoruba of southern Nigeria which is worn as part of the dressing accessory to decorate the head. Despite the ephemeral nature of fabric and lack of chronology of head wrap in Nigeria, there had not been scholarly attention to its development in southern Nigeria. This paper studied head wrap (gele) among women in southern Nigeria with the aim of having chronological record of the head wrap in the annals of history. The study adopts descriptive research design using qualitative method to analyze the data. Samples of head wraps were collected from wearers and literatures, thereby arranged them chronologically. Findings indicate there is creative development in the way gele is tied among the women in southern Nigeria. Tying of gele has now reached the stage whereby it is very easy for every woman as the innovation of automated gele popular known as ‘auto gele’ makes it creative, beautiful and easy-to-wear.

Keywords


head wrap; creativity; fashion; gele; development; auto gele; fashion accessories.

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.52155/ijpsat.v44.2.6147

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