Nigeria Content Online

The latest development in men’s trousers in the United States is
a cut that shapes the male hip. In an article titled New Angle on Trousers by
David Coleman in the New York Times of February 26, last year the author
explains that American men in the past were “terrified’ of wearing pants that
looked tight.

But a new wave of fitness and body consciousness has changed
that and led to a couple of manufacturers adjusting to meet the demand for
pants cut to “flatter not flatten.” All of which takes one back to the queen of
soul, Ms Aretha Franklin and that resurgent album of hers with the song Freeway
of love, and makes you wonder who was her muse?

“Knew you’d be a vision in white How d’you get those pants so
tight ” Of course down here in the tropics we might say, “it’s not the cut of
the pants ma bru!” When I was 11, my father explained to me the science behind
the agbada, long, flowing robes that allowed the air to move around your body.
Loose, breathable cotton surrounding you, made into boubous, bubas, gbariyes
and wrappas, provided a barrier against the direct heat of the sun, protecting
the skin and absorbing the sweat. Call it African sense, as opposed to a
Western concept of cool being wearing as little as possible as tight as
possible.

It turns out that what was ‘missing” in American style pants was
what is known as European cut, closer to the body and more precise fit in
pattern drafting and construction.

One man who knew about fit was the late jazz musician Miles
Davis. In a memorable piece published in September of 2001 Elvis Mitchell wrote
about Davis’ attention to detail in the cut, cloth, look and feel of his
clothes. When Davis met Joe Eula, he was struck by the way he dressed. Eula
designed his own clothes with the help of his tailor Joe Emsley.

When Emsley subsequently fulfilled Davis’ request that he make
him a suit he could wear on stage, the jacket had to be constructed so that
when Davis bent his arms to play the shirtsleeve would be exposed, one inch and
no more, to show off his custom made shirt and cuff links. Likewise, the pants
had to brush the tips of his handmade shoes.

Mr. Davis was something of a showman. Everything had to be tight
literally and musically. At his tailor’s, Miles would assume the position he
would on stage with his instrument so that the measurements would be exact, the
effect precise. The suit designed by Emsley was the basis of the linear drawing
of Miles with his trumpet for the album Sketches of Spain.

Just as an exercise I googled Asian Cut and found references to
an edition of the American television cop show, Miami Vice and a complaint from
a gentleman irritated by the fact that black and white barbers did not learn
how to cut Asian hair.

African Cut yielded a slew of websites on the South African
diamond industry and Chinese companies selling something called African Cut
Lace to you can guess whom.

Looking to hone down my search I typed African Cut Clothes and
discovered that in 2002 the value of second hand American clothes exported to
Africa was $ 59.3 million according to the International Trade Commission. Out
of this total, Ugandans bought $2.3 millions worth, which was 81% of clothes
purchased in that country. The manufacturers complained that this was killing
the Ugandan clothes industry.

The response of an official from US Trade was, “the reason this
market is so huge is because most people live on a dollar a day”. You could
describe this as a case of different measurements for different worlds.

There is an African cut to pants even if Google has no access to
it and there are variations and styles that combine different elements in
length, width, pocket placement and style. The shape of the “African” hip,
which is key here, is multidimensional in men and women, necessitating a fuller
cut and deeper rise.

There are tailors who make masterfully cut African style men’s
clothes and have learnt to handle a variety of suiting fabrics. By and large
there are fewer examples of “Aba” cut men’s pants with that highflying crotch
and asymmetrically leaning hems that look as if a carpenter had a go at them.
These are trousers that aped the medium rise construction of European Cut for
bodies that had nothing to do with Europe.

But no more, it’s time to come home, even in America, change is
taking all kinds of shapes.