Traditional African Bridal Attire

This Rhodolite beaded necklace is a beautiful choice for African bridal attire ©2018 EraGem Jewelry  

Kente Cloth for African Bridal Attire

African bridal attire is colorful, elaborate, and culturally rich. An African bride might wear a gown made from Kente cloth. This type of fabric dates back more than 3,000 years to the Asante people of Ghana. The fabric is handwoven on special looms in over 300 different designs. The designs are wrought in strips about 4 inches wide. Kente strips are made of cotton, silk, or rayon yarn. Each color and pattern is a symbolic representation of some part of African history, religion, lore, literature, ethics, philosophy, and more. For many centuries, only royalty wore kente. Since an African bride is royalty on her happy day, she can incorporate these elaborate designs into her bridal attire.

African Bridal Jewelry

African brides often wears copious amounts of jewelry. In days past, a bride wore all the jewelry she owned. This served as a way to demonstrate the wealth she offered to her groom's family upon her marriage. As a nod to this past custom, a contemporary African bride might choose heavy beaded collars, long earrings, multiple bangles and bracelets, or elaborate antique African jewel sets. Many African brides wear large beaded necklaces set in rich yellow gold. They might also wear more traditional collars made from colored fabrics, glass beads, colored metals, or a mixture of many different materials. Preferred colors might include red, gold, midnight blue, orange, royal purple, and yellow. The bride's headpiece is another elaborate portion of African bridal attire. An African bride might have her hair braided in small tight braids across her entire scalp. These braids might be twisted up into a crowning headpiece which she might further accent with jewels. She might also choose to wear an African-style crown, a head wrap, or a hat with a veil. Again, she might adorn her head wrap or hat with jeweled brooches or hat pins.