Any essence in dressing?

Photo Credit: Elder Of Ziyon

By Duke Ikedi

Tinoman: These engine students think say dem sabi book pass us,  we go teach dem somtin

Jackson : They’re only trying to show off in order to draw the attention of our girls.

Stanlislaux : You know say dem no get girls and the few dem manage get no get beta face  Their face be like say nah only dem mama fit like am

Obiora: As in eh, girls wey get muscle 💪,  and legs like Benue yam.

Jackson: But,  there are still some fine ones among them shaa

Obiora: Hmm, nah true you talk shaah.

Daniel: But,  lets be honest with ourselves, they have better presenters than we have.

Stanlislaux: I don’t think that’s the case,  we also have wonderful presenters.  It’s just that we are not good at cheering our own

Obiora: We have girls here who should be good at cheer-leading, but don’t know their problem.

Jackson: They’re busy admiring the engine boys.

Dilibe: No,  it’s not that, don’t blame the innocent ladies.

Daniel: Let’s just face it., We’re good,  they are equally good, but the dissimilitude lies in the  dressing. Petrus: Mehn, those guys have a plush style of dressing. Can’t you see that,  it’s in our face.

Tinoman: Undoubtedly bro, when it comes to  outfit,, they’re the big guns  while we are just like the gun powder.

Daniel: We are not schmoes in the crux of dressing . Some of us here are putting on more luxury wears than they are.  It’s just that we lack that finishing touch,  and it seems they have the answer to it. And that makes them better presenters than we are.

Duke : Petrus, I think I should be going now. You know about that debate I told you.

Petrus: Yeah,  I remember.  Best of luck Bro. Make sure you nail it.

Duke: I’ll try my best. And make sure guys bombard these engine boys with questions. Tell Everest, he must ask questions oh. Counting on you for that.

Petrus: No p bro.

Immediately after our discussion I made my way to the departmental block. It’s already some minutes before the long hand and the short hand of the clock signals 5pm. That means I’m already late.  for the time of the debate was slated for 4pm. This will be my first time of participating in, not just the word war 1 debate, but any debate at all since my primary school. Feeling banged away I sluggishly reached the arena.  The environment was a beehive of activities, It seemed like everybody was busy with one thing or the other. I saw faces,  faces that I respect so much. I felt like a dwarf surrounded by plateaus. The debate has already started, brainstormings were going on here and there. I can’t just quit now,  I assured myself. I have to do this,  it’s my first time. Who knows if I’ll….  This little assurance was like a glowing light of a match stick in a flora and fauna of darkness; It managed to give me hope.

When it was my time to present it had already gone beyond the ‘mise-en-scene’ of seven o’clock. The condition of my solar plexus was then at the verge of nose-diving; mehn I was mad in hunger. But I’ve already signed that death warrant in mind, just like Esther, “if I perish I perish “.

Then I began to speak,  don’t even know how to explain it. It was as if my tongue was gagged around  the teeth of a bulldozer, it was as if the hemispheres of my brain have been walloped in a deep pit of forgetfulness. At that moment stammering was like my modus operandi of speaking,  and forgetfulness my best way of remembering. It was  a two minutes performance from me filled with flops, and I was done, standing before the panel of judges and waiting to be pronounced guilty.  My expectations were right,  it was an abysmal performance from me,  the judges said. But,  there is one thing which they capitalized on that I aced, that is,  my posture and my sense of dressing. Bright (Brightology cares 🍷), a friend in the same discipline with me,  was among the panel of judges. He was one of those who gave me that accolade.

My performance was abyssal, it was like a flora and fauna of darkness. Notwithstanding, there is this glowing light in the midst of the darkness,  though faint,  but still led me out of that obfuscated environment, that’s my dressing. It wasn’t high test, just a bit corporate, but it was appropriate with regard to the event.

Most of us are conversant with the name ‘Ebuka ’ If there is anything that must have brought him to the front burner, it should be his unprecedented outfits.  He comperes the #BBNaija 2018, those of us who watch the show will testify to what I am saying. Ebuka rose to the catbird sit of being a connoisseur in the field of fashion when he flooded the famous wedding of #Banky and #Adesua with his out- of- the- hood Agbada. Those of us who missed out on it can check it out below.

I was listening to a talk by Steve Harris,  a sensational speaker. (Please don’t even mind the name, the guy is a Nigerian). He made a statement that tickled my fancy, he said,  “Life doesn’t give you what you want,  rather what you stand up to get”

I don’t like using clichés but the truth is that for any statement to become a cliché it must have stood the test of time to be truthful.

The way you dress is the way you’ll be addressed

That’s the cliché, but the truth cannot be beaten out from it.  I remember when I was much younger, that was in my primary four. I just got enrolled into a new school, this means that our class teacher was yet to be familiar with me. One Saturday afternoon I was going on a happy ride with my ‘wheel’,. My body was innocently cladded with a boxer and a singlet. While along the road I heard a voice mentioned my name ‘Duke’, looking upwards it was my class teacher, Mr Okey, whom we normally call Uncle. The next statement he made was one that my memory is yet to jettison,  he said, “Duke so this is you” I looked at myself in pity, my eyeballs gawping at my singlet and boxer, consoling myself with the statement, “At least they are better than Adam and Eve’s leaves ” Though it only took my performance in class to prove Uncle Okey’s  statement wrong, but that very moment I was petered out.

That particular event affected my psyche, I don’t know if it is positive or negative.  But the truth is I find it difficult as a young man now exiting the gate of our compound with only boxer and singlet or the likes. Who knows, my would be client or employer might be watching…chuckles…The same thing applies to us, who knows?

And lest I forget, I didn’t make it to the next round of the world war 1 debate, but at least I can hold my head high up  for having been applauded for one thing, my dressing.

And lest I forget, I didn’t make it to the next round of the world war 1 debate, but at least I can hold my head high up  for having been applauded for one thing, my dressing.