Traditional Sudanese Outfits as Fashionable Trends

Alaa Babiker
citizenoutlet2022@gmail.com

Fashion in Sudan is expressed in different contexts and lifestyles, and at some great parts of the country it even represents the population’s identities. And although all the people of Sudan are Sudanese but they live completely different lives, speak different languages, and even have different outfits that every group is known with. Taking deeper look at the outfitting of Sudanese, we see tremendous variations of colors, fabrics, and design that represented fashionable trends over the years and through generations, but all still unite at one outfit, that is the Tobe and Jalabia.
Tracking the fashionable outfits of Tobe and Jalabia, our grandparents in the past used to wear slightly different fabrics as they used to wear thick and dark or plain colors as general, but looking now we see that more colors and designs were added to these outfits, and that is because of the modern technology we are witnessing today, the presence of televisions and internet had great impact on the styles of Sudanese outfits, and that is one of the positive effects of technology at our daily lives. Also the presence of open international trades made it easier for women to know about and receive recent trends of clothing and manufactured dresses.
The traditional outfit in Sudan is the dominant presence of Tobe for women, and Jalabia for men, which were our ancestors clothing. While Jalabia is still the same, a long white dress with long sleeves, it can be worn with Tagia on the head and Shall over the shoulders, the only different is that today we have more colors for Jalabia, mainly plain ones like Brown, Blue, Beige, or Black. But Tobe had many additions, starting with the newly different and colorful fabrics designs, and coming to the hand making accessories of different crystals and colored beads sewed on it’s surface by hands or machines, and the beautiful drawings made specially to make it look more fashionable and catching up with the hot international trends. It is beautiful how these fashions have developed, and it is amazing that young girls still admire their ancestors’ Tobe fashion and work hard to make it look even more stylish. As for the colors of the Tobe, we see older women tend to wear plain, as they think colorful Tobes are for younger women, who wear different colors, shiny and glittering, florescent and matt, and from White to Black you can find any colors at Tobe, but the most loved color is Red specially at wedding ceremonies as the photo shows.
The way that Tobe and Jalabia are worn is slightly different from one region to another. At the West of the country, men – in addition to the Jalabia – wear big sized Turban over their heads, while women – in addition to Tobe – wear large and heavy accessories over their heads and shoulders specially at important occasions.
Women dressing at the East of Sudan is associated with covering the entire body even the face with the Tobe. While men wear an additional black Jacket over the Jalabia called (Sideiri), and at special occasions they take swords to embody their strength.
Today’s fashionable technology revolutions made great improvements on the designs of Sudanese traditional outfits, and even fashion shows and runways have found their ways to the Sudan, as recently we have witness great fashion shows for the Tobe to present the resent designs and colors available. Stay tuned for the latest fashion trends, as we will be hosting some of the famous Sudanese fashion designers very soon.