₦airaland Forum

Mancala:
Ekaso y'all? That's straight up gangsta dude . JK, kudos on making an effort to speak the lingo.
If your intent is to please/ make your wife happy, only you can answer the question. But I can give you some practical tips to help you figure this out. First, the full native wear comprising of the buba (shirt), sokoto (trousers) and agbada (flowing wide sleeved robe) is equivalent in formality to wearing a three piece suit (if you're old school) or just a regular 2 piece suit. But there's a further twist to it. The type of material the native wear is made of also determines the degree of formality. In general (old school thinking), the "Ankara" material would be at the lower end of the formalilty spectrum whilst "aso oke" would be at the higher end of it. But these days, there are real fancy Ankara materials that could pass for formal.

My questions for you are thus: How did your wife react to your wearing a suit to pick her up at the airport and going directly to a fancy restaurant? Do you think she may have felt underdressed or wanted to change out of her travel clothes to match you? Did she enjoy the experience? If she did, then go for it with the Nigerian clothes. But this time, bring her a change of clothes, perhaps bring her matching Nigerian outfit so y'all are both dressed up. You may also up the ante and research a good Nigerian restaurant in your neck of the woods. Call ahead and have them prepare her favorite Nigerian dishes. I am yet to meet a Nigerian in the diaspora who does not miss Nigerian food! Lastly, if you've had any experience wearing an agbada, you know that it takes a certain level of Pizzaz to pull it off effectively. It's really not suited for the tasks of fetching luggage and rolling or carrying any distance through the airport, especially if its of the "aso oke" variety. Feel free to leave the agbada in the car and wear only the buba and sokoto if that makes it easier to go get her. Good luck and let us know how it went. We're rooting for ya

One last thing. Some folks have strong sentimental feelings about their wedding outfits and may not want them worn anyhow. Figure this out first that your wife will not go nuts if you wore your wedding attire out to pick her up from the airport. Maybe go with the non wedding attire?

Eshe fun this advice o! The first and the best. I really appreciate your insight on buba/sokoto/agbada formality and the additional impact of the fabric type.

I love Nigerian food too. We have a wonderful auntie here who owns a food truck and makes amazing jollof, and there's one pan-African restaurant in our area that does a good amala, but that's pretty much it. This time, I'm going for fancy over Lagos food we've always got dodo, rice, and stew at home.

]@thedarkfuzz,
You can go on something informal like the below images.......[/quote][quote author=wittyt98:
u could try these options & Look Sharp

Awesome, I know what to look for in the future

proudly9ja:
Just to add one more note of advice: I will not recommend eating Nigerian food (especially if it's 'swallow') when you have your agbada on. You can take it off as mentioned by Mancala when it's time to eat. Failure to heed to this advice will cost you some money with your dry cleaners

Solatium:
Turn up at the dinner with your Buba And Sókótó with Gobi (cap) to complement
Don't wear the Àgbàdá,It is meant for bigger occasions like the one's you mentioned earlier.
Your Buba And Sókótó with the cap is apt for the dinner occasion.

Very useful! Just what I was looking for after reading all this. I'll be heading out in a little bit with my buba/sokoto/fila on.

Thanks for all the good words everyone. Oluwa bukun e.

By the way that's not us in the title post, I guess someone just put that there for illustration....we're better looking in our wedding picture though.

Ekaso y'all. I'm an American white guy married to a wonderful Yoruba lady. We live in America.

My wife is travelling for work 4 days out of 7 the last two weeks. When she came home last week, I put on a suit and took her out to a fancy restaurant to let her know how incredibly happy I was to have her home.

This week, I want to surprise her again - she's expecting the suit, so I thought I might go with my buba and agbada instead. I have one from our wedding and another that she bought me for general fancy occasion wear.

I've only ever worn this kind of dress to local events with lots of Nigerians (birthday party, wedding) and once to a friend's wedding. I haven't ever used it for something like a dinner date. I have a general sense (from growing up here) of when it's right and not right to put on a suit, but I have no clear idea of what occasions are ok/not ok for a buba and agbada.

Should I pick up my wife at the airport tomorrow for a dinner date in Nigerian formal dress?

Photo used for illustration