I woke up this morning and wondered what shirt to put on. I have this problem...which most men also exhibit...some shirts can only be matched with some particular trouser. The shirt am wearing today is usually meant to be put on when the wardrobe is reading ''weekend clad only'' especially on a thursday. In my struggles in trying to find out what matches what, some things came into my mind with regards to upcountry fashion trends.
Savko, Tokyo, Stone-Wash and ''ochwiti''
Life in shagz is very interesting and people care less about what matches what. The fact that you can hide your nudity is good enough to make you feel comfortable and presentable. For the boys and men shorts are very popular. These shorts are not tailor made shorts - they are short trousers made from a trouser that is torn at the knee level. You only need sciscors to have this quick 'designer outfit'.
In the late 80's and early 90's (maybe some of you never saw these), we used to have these new arrivals. No Denims were available, only hard jeans in the name of savko. These trousers were too heavy and anyone who didnt own one was branded as 'so yesterday'. They were baggy with huge back pockets big enough to fit in a galaxy tab. They were also refered to as stone wash. Reason I dont know..but i think twas because you needed a brush, a basin full of water and you would place the trouser on a stone rub it and squeeze it to shine.
Then a new bug hit the market ''Tokyo''. This was a khaki trouser with a Tokyo brand on the right pocket. they came in three colours Grey, brown and black. Primary school teachers were the majority owners since the brand wasnt cheap for the local unemployed peeps. It was such an identifier, 80% of the time you would spot it with a teacher. 20% either were donated by the teachers or some guy sold sugar cane or tomatoes and bought one.
Then we also had ''ochwiti'' - currently referred to as ''fitting'' - tight trousers. These ones were very tight such that you make one mistake by trying stretching or climbing on a bicycle the wrong way...you automatically find yourself half naked. Those days we didn't have mobile phones and there was no need to carry a wallet (anyway why would one need a wallet then...) otherwise the number of protruding 'gadgets would scare many people' then.
''Kichungi'' Sieve - Vest
This was and still remains my favourite Shagz clad of all time. There are those vests that are highly flammable brightly coloured and fitting in size. Yellow, green and orange are the common colours. A typical shagmodoz will clad in one tuck in and complete it with slippers. That guy will walk around very proud. He will even go far places in such clad while on his 'hunting' mission. Interesting enough the gals love them that way. Lol...dont try this in Nairobi city. They would oil their bodies with vaseline...sorry there is this milking jelly called ''Ng'ombe'' (I've used it before - hata wewe). So as they walk around the tu-muscles glitter. That vest looks like a fishing net, so you can count the number of cubes, packs or ribs depending on the size customer wearing it. Yawa its a vest and not a tshirt.
Watches
Every young man in shagz wanted to own a watch, the most common was a disco watch - some of you dont know how that looked like. Having a watch did not necessarily mean you publicly exhibit it on your arm, its presence in your pocket still counted. Disco watch was a digital watch with alarm sounds. If you owned one in primary school you would stand a high chance of being the school time keeper. (I need to do some post on primary school time keeper...some day that it is). Then there was the one powered by 'majira', No battery...no problem, just rotate the gears in clock wise direction and you have it powered for some days. If you had this type of watch....your dad was either a teacher or worked in Nairobi....or you were a bully so you snatched it from some naive boy. And finally....
Nike, Ronaldo branded T-shirts
After world cup '94 everyone wanted to clad in Nigeria's national team jersey; proudly sponsored by Nike. There are chaps who you would spot for 2 weeks dressed in those t-shirts. They were very light, so it would take 15 minutes for it to dry up when washed. Some guys would buy it and wear it in shifts. Today I would wear the Ronaldo as you put on the Nike, tomorrow we exchange. They used to be washed at night.
I remember my dad used to buy us christmas clothes. One day he bought us Kaunda suits, then our mum bought us shoes .... which ones.... Sandak!
Sandak - You leave your home with shoes well fitted, but you return home carrying them in your hands. Reason, they are very hot for your feet and they've expanded big enough for your dad to fit in. Hahaha...okay chaps....
Its me...Ernie.
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