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From time immemorial, the pride and honour of an African woman has been her doek. However, with the introduction of wigs and weaves, many women across the globe have shunned wrapping their beautiful African hair.
Now a Randburg mother of three, Janet Modupeola Taiwo-Alabi, is returning to the roots by designing fashionable headgear for women.
As South African women commemorate national women’s month, Taiwo-Alabi tells City Press about her artistic and fashionable headwear, saying she wants to remind women of their culture and African roots, that their beauty and glory is in their doek.
Through her elegant designs, she gives ordinary women the status and appearance of dignitaries.
This is because her doeks and hats are similar to those that female parliamentarians, church leaders, and presidents' wives wear.
Taiwo-Alabi's current clients are ordinary women and women in the church, and she hopes to design hats and doeks for the first ladies in different countries on the African continent and overseas.
Taiwo-Alabi said: “The doeks and hats that I make for women provide protection for the beautiful crown of African women. They complement their outfit which brings out the beauty in them.”
Taiwo-Alabi said:
Taiwo-Alabi started designing doeks when she was 20, and since then people have marveled at her designs.
Her first hat that she designed was for her 22nd birthday and she wore it to church
“I was in my early 20s when I made my first hat which is called a Sinamy hat, and I also made a fascinator. I was so happy to have made a hat. But when I look at it now, I laugh because you cannot compare it with what I am doing now. But I really appreciate my humble beginnings," said Taiwo-Alabi.
She offers women training on how to sew hats and doeks. Taiwo-Alabi also coaches women on how to tie headwear.
It is not difficult to tie a doek or to sew them and the hats she said, especially for a woman who is passionate about the work. Taiwo-Alabi said it becomes easier for a creative woman who is a fast learner and knows how to operate a sewing machine to complete the training in less than two months. But it can take three months for a woman who is not familiar with the sewing machine to complete the training.
She said her trainees pay for lessons because if they do not pay, they will not take the work seriously.
Taiwo-Alabi also does interior and exterior decor for events, saying she is simply a creative person:
Taiwo-Alabi is not the only one who is inspiring other women to wear doeks. Though not a designer, Nomthandazo Thandi Mavata from Durban shares the vision.
Mavata's encouragement for women to cover their head has seen her calling women from different countries to attend her popular event, called annual Doek on Fleek all White National Picnic.
Her love for doeks and encouraging women to wear doeks through her event has earned the name Doek on Fleek Queen. Through her events, women from different parts of Africa such as South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland as well as from the UK who were strangers before become friends. The events which move from one city to another, bring together thousands of women from different countries in the African continent and UK.
READ: Doek on fleek has more meaning than ever before
Part of the purpose of the events is to do away with the notion that women are not united. The event is strictly for women and it's the most talked about movement in Africa and the UK and women are encouraged to wear doeks on their heads.
The purpose is to encourage “networking and time-out for the ladies” and also to unite, celebrate, support, and empower women from all walks of life “and dismiss the notion that women don't support each other," said Mavata.
Mavata added:
The event is also a time for women to pray, get motivated and empowered through uplifting words from different speakers and to promote their businesses.
