Amazing Aso Oke Designs and Styles for Men and Ladies

Hello, lovelies. Today we are going to be writing about a very popular and beautiful cloth fabric in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, West Africa. We would also talk about some of the different styles and designs of this fabric available in the African fashion industry today. Amazing Aso Oke Designs and Styles for Men and Ladies.

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Living in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria, one cannot claim to be ignorant of the amazing Aso Oke dress which is a part of the identity of the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria.

Meaning of the Word Aso Oke

The Aso Oke is a Yoruba word that means ‘top cloth, prestigious cloth, high cloth or cloth for prestige’ when translated to English.

The fabric which was once called Aso Ilu Oke meant ‘clothing for the highland’. It was called Aso Ilu Oke, not because it was meant for only the rich, but because of the geographical region from which it was imported. The fabric was imported from Iseyin in Oyo State, Nigeria, which is among the highland part of Nigeria.

However, today, the meaning of the English interpretation of the name Aso Oke does not refer to geographical regions but mainly to social status. The Aso Oke can be currently said to mean, top clothing, premium clothing, or clothing for prestige.

The fabric was a prestigious dress fabric that was worn to a couple of special occasions, like marriage ceremonies, chieftaincy ceremonies, naming ceremonies, ETC.

The dress fabric represented royalty, and it was normally worn by the royal ones, the rich, and also people with high social status.

The word Oke, from Aso Oke, incidentally means ‘Top’ in English.

The Aso Oke fabric is a handwoven, patterned dress fabric usually very common among the Yoruba tribe, which mainly resides in the South Western part of Nigeria.

 

History has it that most Yoruba families had very big cotton farms and the processing of cotton to cloths was one of the major ways from which they earned money. Every family member would be involved in the production of the cotton to the Aso Oke fabric. Women would spin the cotton to thread and skilled women and men would hand weave the threads into the popular Aso Oke fabric.

Today, the Aso Oke fabric is no longer widely hand weave unlike in the olden days. These days, the cotton is harvested, spun into threads, and colored and processed into the Aso Oke fabric industrially helping in the fast production of the fabric in quantum.

Despite the technological advancement in the fashion industry, the hand weaving of the beautiful dress fabric is still being done today. This is common among local weavers.

Amazing Aso Oke Designs and Styles for Men and Ladies

In our modern times, there are a lot of different types and designs of the Aso Oke dress fabric.

This was not so in the olden days, where the Aso Oke dress fabric had only three different types, which were almost the same apart from their difference in color.

The three different types and styles if the Aso Oke dresses fabric which was available includes:

Alaari Baba Aso Oke

This type is striped and has a color of dark blue.

This type is also striped, just like the Etu Aso Oke fabric, but is brown in color. This type can still be seen today as the classic, traditional Aso Oke dress fabric.

Today, there are numerous different types and designs of the Aso Oke dress fabric when compared to past times. These different types of Aso Oke dress fabric which are produced in these modern times are more beautiful, more colorful, and more attractive than those that were made in the past.

These different modern types and styles of the Aso Oke dress fabric are classified according to their thread types, pattern, and weave designs.

These different modern designs and styles include:

• Metallic Aso Oke
• Cotton Aso Oke
• Cotton-weave Aso Oke design
• Iridescent Aso Oke
• Embellished, Sequined, and Beaded Aso Oke
• Lace Aso Oke (ordinary lace or net lace)
• Normal net design
• Super-net Aso Oke
• Silk Aso Oke
• Aso Oke with the Print artwork design
• Kente Aso Oke (Kente-oke)
• Laser Cut Aso Oke and Hand-cut Aso Oke design (very similar to the lace Aso Oke dress fabric)
• Damask Aso Oke
• Aso Oke with Monogramming
• Double weave Aso Oke dress fabric design
• ETC

The list for the different types, styles, and designs of the Aso Oke dress fabric today is unending as different skilled weavers and fashion designers are producing new and better types of beautiful dress fabric.

Unlike in the olden days, the Aso Oke dress can be worn to almost any and every gathering today. The list of the places where the amazing dress can be worn is very extensive and long. Here are a few of the places which the Aso Oke dress can be rocked to:

Formal gatherings: Nowadays, the Aso Oke dress fabric can be worn to formal gatherings such as business meetings, work, and so on. The Aso Oke dress awards its wearer with prestige and recognition in public places.

Ceremonies: The amazing dress fabric can be rocked to different ceremonies. It can be worn to ceremonies like Marriage ceremonies (both traditional and Western marriage ceremonies), Burial ceremonies, and so on.

Religious gatherings: People can choose to wear the Aso Oke dress to churches and to any other religious gatherings. Its beauty and prestige have the ability to make its wearer stand out from the crowd.

The Aso Oke fabric has a lot of advantages over a lot of other dress fabrics (especially Western ones). Some of these advantages include:

The Aso Oke dress fabric is exceptionally beautiful and helps its wearer to stand out from the crowd in fashion and appearance.

Unlike in past times when the Aso Oke dress fabric was meant for only the rich, the dress fabric has become relatively affordable for both the rich and poor.

The Aso Oke dress fabric acts as a source of employment to weavers in past and recent times. The clothing industry has the ability to employ thousands of people yearly.

The Aso Oke dress which has been long associated with the Yoruba is an important part of their African dressing, culture, and identity.

See more pictures of the beautiful Aso Oke dress here:

Aso Oke Designs and Styles for Couples