SPORT AS AN INFLUENCE ON WOMEN TROUSER FASHION: A CASE OF IGBO IN SOUTH–EASTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

The Igbo are found in the South-Eastern Nigeria. Their women are known for their elaborate and colourful cultural dress. During the pre-colonial period, their formal clothing was the same as their modern-day clothing though made with less expensive materials. But after the westernization, their clothes became more modern, in that clothes like skirts, shirts, trousers, knickers, shorts, gowns of different sizes and styles, jackets, coats, and pieces of jewelry were found being utilized by the women in fashion. Although some modern females wear trousers for various purposes including sports, they are still frowned upon in some cases especially if worn when attending their towns’ meetings. Thus the usage of trousers in sports has forced its acceptance by some people due to the ease and decency it offers the wearer. From wearing trousers during sports activities, some females have now fully accepted wearing trousers as one of their garb by using different fabrics used by the Igbo women as cloth for constructing pairs of trousers worn to different occasions. This study is qualitative research. It employed the use of interviews, participant observations, and photography to collect some data. It hinged on the theories of social change and cultural diffusion for analysis and found out how trousers became accepted by some of the Igbo, and also the reasons why some are still rejecting them to date. It summarily suggests that the wearing of trousers should know no gender, it should not be seen as a taboo but rather a feminine way of protecting the body against some weather cues and for easy movement, especially on road travel considering the insecurity one faces on road travels in Nigeria.