Hausa Beige Embroidered Boubou Shirt Nigeria

A superb shirt in amazing condition. This elaborate shirt was made by the Hausa of Nigeria using a cotton cloth made of several strips and embellished with beautiful embroidered designs typical of the Hausa, Nupe, and Yoruba. Such outfits were found among all these groups. Hausa is known as the great weavers in Nigeria and surrounding countries. They used to make outfits to sell to the Yoruba and their neighbors. This is a prestigious costume. Traditionally, the extent of the embroidery on a Riga identifies the wealth of the owner. also called "grand boubous Riga. The robe was worn bunched at the shoulders."

A boubou (or bubu, or grand boubou, or grand bubu) is an African garment worn by men and women in much of West Africa and parts of Central Africa. The boubou generally consists of up to three pieces: a long-sleeved shirt, a pair of tie-up trousers that narrow at the ankles, and an open-stitched overflowing wide-sleeveless gown worn over these two; all three are usually the same color and were historically made from silk, but nowadays are made up of cotton or sometimes synthetic fabric made to resemble silk. The whole ensemble is complete with a "chechia" or hat of any color. A woman's boubou differs from a man's boubou. It will consist of two pieces: a wrapper around the waist, a large overflowing gown to top it all off, and an intricate headscarf instead of a hat. "Boubou" comes from the word "mbubb" in the Wolof language, which translated into French, is "boubou".

The tradition of the boubou is old and can be traced back to the 8th Century. Its origin lies in the clothing worn by the Islamic people, Tukulor, of Senegal, Mandé, and Songhai peoples of the Takrur and Ghana empires. In West Africa, the noble people were already wearing a garment similar to the actual boubou. The different patterns in the embroidery had precise meanings which varied for different ethnic groups and regions. The rest of the population, craftsmen and farmers, wore garments similar to tunics for the upper body, and a wrapper or baggy trousers for the lower body.

Historically, only Islamic people of West and Central Africa used to wear boubous, while other ethnic groups wore their traditional garments. But over the years, with more trading among communities and nations, boubous have gained international popularity.

We do not recommend laundering textiles and do not accept returns of textiles that have been laundered in any manner. Even dry cleaning is too much for some of these antique textiles. For some of them, a very gentle HAND washing (NEVER MACHINE, on any setting) in cool water with a very gentle detergent works, but even then, dyes may not be colorfast, and fabric may be less strong than it appears.

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