The Clothes People Wear in Durban

By Nevani Nair & Londi Mteshane

Durban has a variety of cultures, each having different traditional wear, but they all share the same casual lifestyle. Fashion - well that refers to the type of clothing that is in style at a particular time. In modern times nearly everyone follows fashion to some extent. Clothing, coverings and garments, intended to be worn on the human body, have so many different forms that here, in this city, you will find more variety than almost anywhere.

Only a small minority of people dress in the clothing that appears in high-fashion magazines or on fashion-show runways, but Durban has a thriving fashion industry with some of the best designers in the country. Just pop into Durban Designer Emporium, 77 Musgrave Rd and check it out. The designs are brilliant and the talent is awesome.

Durban with its different cultures, stream out many different traditional garments. The Rastafarians, members of the Jamaican cult mostly wear simple clothes. The colors associated with Rastaz are yellow, red, green, black and white but you will find that most of the men wear brown clothing. The Zulu, Xhosa and Sesotho speaking people wear traditional attire on special or ceremonial occasions.

The Umblaselo is a traditional Zulu pair of pants with panels of different colored material. In days gone by Umblaselo was associated with old rural men, but now this style is often worn by people in the city. Umblaselo is worn with sandals.

Izishweshwe (German Print or Sis) is always fashionable. The cloth is often made into skirts with a variety of prints, in different colors. These are usually sold at Warwick Triangle and along Umgeni Road near the old station on the street corners. Some stores also sell German prints and pieces range from R70 to R150 for a skirt. One of the African garments store is Fuz's Creation. It is on the 4th Floor , room 27 - B, West Walk, West street, Durban.

Great fabric of all kinds can be bought all along Grey Street, which is the garment district of Durban. Many of the Indian shopkeepers have been doing business there for decades.

When Zulu women attend traditional ceremonies they wear traditional skirts. There is inhloko or isicholo which is a hat matched with an outfit. A necessity with a traditional outfit is a necklace made from beads. Xhosa women wear Umbhaco, which is usually a skirt with a top. The well-known colors are orange, cream and white with prints.

Township clothing is no different to that which is worn in the city. The youth tend to wear takkies, favouring Converse All Stars and other well-known brand names. They generally dress casually in jeans and t-shirts. The young people, rich and poor alike are very inspirational and brand names are big.

The coolest guys have their ear(s) pierced and their hair braided in a variety of designs. Following the trends of the soccer stars, some guys even bleach their hair to look like their heroes or shave their heads entirely.

Indian clothing is known for its colorfulness and grace. Traditional outfits for women such as the sari bring out the essence of femininity. The sari is a rectangular piece of cloth, five to six yards in length. The material can be cotton, silk or synthetic and is used during Indian ceremonies. The sari reveals the woman’s midriff and belly button and is worn with a ‘choli’. The choli is a tightly fitted short blouse. Many Indian women wear saris as their everyday dress, with very ornate saris for special occasions.

Indian men normally dress more for comfort than style. Most common clothing for men is the lungi and kurta. The lungi is a rectangular cloth, usually made of cotton, draped around the waist and pleated in front at the groin. For ceremonial occasions, this clothing also takes on a very ornate form with the finest cloths and brocades and embroidery.

These types of garments can be bought in eastern wear shops like those at the Victoria Street Market of in most of the Shopping Centres like The Pavilion in Westville and Gateway in Umhlanga, which are usually expensive as they are imported.

Work wear and office wear is mainly western. Suits and ties for the men, although mostly short sleeved shirts, with dresses or skirts or trousers and tops for the women, depending on the corporate culture of the individual company or organization. But because of the climate, Durban is a lot more casual than the other cities in South Africa. Many private companies do business in more casual clothes and since 1994 Madiba shirts and other tie-less African shirts have become acceptable formal corporate wear.

But because of the ethnic mix in Durban, it is entirely appropriate for Eastern or African people to wear more traditional wear in the workplace.

If you stroll to Durban’s beachfront you will see surfers’ clothing on almost every person who passes you. The surfers are trendsetters when it comes to fashion and many clothing labels base their collections on surfer styles. Baggy jeans are most popular amongst the teenage crowds with T-shirts or vests with surfing brand names or logos. Baggy surfer shorts are worn by the guys with vests to show of their muscles and tans, while the girls can be seen in ‘hot shorts’. The most popular brands of surfer clothing are Instinct, Quicksilver and Billabong. You will be able to get these clothing from the factory shops situated in Linz Rd near Umgeni. Wearing any of these name brands makes you one of the cool surfer dudes.

Although there is no uniformity in dress code, certain trends in clothing prevail throughout the city of Durban. We know that although everyday clothing does not usually change as rapidly as high fashion does, it does change constantly but here in Durban, the more it changes, the more it stays the same.