cloth+tailor=outfit!!

In Nigeria, people can go to American like department stores to buy clothes , but it is still VERY common for people to buy fabric and take it to a tailor.  To start, Nigerians do not like to dress like one another.  They  take pride in picking out their own cloth which will eventually be sewn into an outfit.  It is very rare to see two people fashioning a similar design; it is even more rare to see two people wearing the same cloth. The picture of the various fabrics is just a sliver of all that is offered.  Not only are there different patterns and designs, there are various types of cloth.  They wear “ankara” which is similar to the fabric used to make a quilt, but they also wear lace, batique, and tie-dye.  Tailors are generally men, however, women also work as tailors.  The tailors here are diligent and extremely talented .  I drew a picture of the dress and skirt that I wanted.  In 5 days, what I had drawn on paper had come to life.  When converted to US dollars, I paid approximately $25 for both my dress and my skirt…even after the tailor altered a few things that I didn’t like.