From customer to fashion designer. How I Unlocked my CREATIVITY.

I am a northern girl in Nigeria. We have a special style of fashion that is called “Arewa”. Aarewa means “North”. For the ladies, our outfits are made from Ankara fabrics, also called African prints. These fabrics usually carry bold, beautiful and unique prints on them.

Gallery_1739917790054.jpg

IMG-20250218-WA0012.jpg

IMG-20250218-WA0013.jpg

Gallery_1739917865626.jpg

You don't only get to select a type of design print that you like, you can also give it to your designer to sew your outfit based on your preference. You can add your own twist on a fashion trend. That way it is hard to find two styles that look exactly the same. and

That being said, the cost of getting these amazing designs and styles can be outrageous sometimes. For instance I had a dress done by a fashion designer and it cost me NGN 9,000 for sewing alone.

Gallery_1739913750405.jpg

Meanwhile this dress was a very simple gown. The tougher the style is, the higher the charges would be.

For instance, this gown cost more because of the style. I paid NGN20,000 for it.

It took time before I realized that these designers don't charge this high because of the items they use in sewing, most of it is their gain.

This made me consider learning how to sew, so I registered in a fashion school and within months, I understood the concept of fashion designing.

Gallery_1739918606685.jpg

Gallery_1739918574450.jpg

Fashion designing as a business is really gainful. It is also less expensive when you're able to make your own designs. You get to own them and customize them to your taste at a lesser amount.

Let me break it down a little.
First dress required an addition of
36 inches of lace which costs NGN2,500.
72 inches of lining costs NGN1,000
Thread used NGN200. And of course the style didn't consume the entire thread. Cost of production summed up to a total of NGN3,700.

Although I understand that fashion designers need to include other costs like shop rents and of course, find daily bread. I do not condemn anyone for their charges in any way, but the minimalist in me thought “why on earth should I pay such outrageous prices when I am very capable of doing the same thing in my own taste and style for a far lesser amount of money?”

Also, I get to make designs for my family and friends at lower prices as well.

Gallery_1739918917679.jpg

All images are mine

Thanks for stopping by. 💖

1.21225612 BEE
3 comments

Congratulations @zeechatt! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)

You received more than 10 upvotes.
Your next target is to reach 50 upvotes.

You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

0.00000000 BEE

Way to go! Knowing how to do these things yourself saves cost . You get to be fashionable at minimum cost...

Congratulations on having a skill. You can also use that to put food on your table.

0.00000000 BEE

⚠️ What does this have to do with minimalism?

We see that you are new to Hive. This community is NOT a general lifestyle community. It is a niche community where we welcome authentic posts about minimalism. Please read about the community and we've attached the standard welcome post given to newbies.

Hey there!

1.jpg


We are delighted that you have discovered our community, and we look forward to seeing you around:)
We trust that you have seen our Introduction, Content Ideas & Posting Guidelines, which could be a great tool for the inspiration of content.

There's always some activity in the community, namely, our weekly publication called #KISS (an acronym for our community motto, Keep It Simple & Smart), presents you with blog ideas for the week, to boost community activities.
A #KISS publication is always pinned on the community's feed.

Secondly, we have our Daily/Weekly Theme topics, where you can find the active week, however, you are free to present any minimalist-focused post at any time, as long as it is original content.

We do prefer original photos over sourced photos from the internet, and we find relevant photos to conceptualise your stories more interesting.

Welcome again, and see you around the community.

c


0.00000000 BEE