Aje’emapita zwhonyahwe (An egg can not tell the hen a story) Ebira proverb.
Raliat Ahuoiza Bello – dressmaker
Raliat makes clothes for women in Okenne, Kogi State. She makes clothes for women who have a lot and she makes clothes for women who have not so much. What endears her to her growing clientele is that she is able to celebrate the ordinary. By ordinary we mean the many unsung heroines that uphold womanhood with stoicism and grace. Women of virtue, strength and courage otherwise know as Mum, Sister, Aunty, Mama and Wife. Titles often taken for granted and yet laden with significance when uttered. Where would we be without them?
Dressmaking is a bastion of womanhood and like the fish sellers found in every municipality is still a strong preserve of women. Just as a visit to the hairdressing salon is more than a styling exercise, equally so, a visit to one’s seamstress provides the opportunity to mingle, indulge in gentle weight gain and weight loss banter, risqué exchanges and narration of the ordinary. There is no high falutin conversation, pretentious incisive expositions or deep critical analysis of the rise in the value of overseas stocks. Not needed, not required. The aim is to begin the preparations to look good for the Church, the Masjid, a wedding, a special occasion or just another ordinary day.
Raliat is a walking advert for her craft. Many times she is approached by women unknown who inquire of her who her seamstress is. The answer more often than not is Me, and a commission follows. Her relaxed and unhurried approach to dressmaking ensures calm in her studio, and amidst the convivial conversation, designs are agreed and measurements are taken or reconfirmed. After the client departs the real process of pattern cutting and assembly begins. Largely self-taught, Raliat uses creative instinct and experience to craft the desired shapes. She snips, tucks, pins with precision, developing and refining her ideas as she sews. They are finished, pressed, packed and await delivery or collection. Up until this point they are still clothes. However, when adorned they become symbols of aspirations fulfilled, conversation pieces, show stoppers, admired or just plain new. Whatever the case, Raliat’s creations transcend the ordinary and beyond the rhetoric, decidedly convey a sense of the super-ordinary, on what are already super-ordinary women.
Koku Konu
Beautiful dresses!
I have always known tailors as bringers of beauty to our appearance. Not only do they master the shape of our body in making clothes, they also follow it with marvellous designs that fit every angle with beauty. Fantastic designs.
Well styled fabrics. Loving it……
She makes a very nice clothes and also very good in stone and beads design. One thing for sure that I really like in her, is her good relationship with her customers, always trying her best to satisfy her them. Raliat Ahuoiza Bello is someone you can look up to when it comes to good quality dressmaking.
That’s impressive!!! I trust Raliat to deliver on her goods. She is hardworking and very inquisitive about things around her. No wonder she can seamlessly produce some of the best garments and dresses in town. I wish her all the best on her way to stardom.
I wear my sort of clothes to save me the trouble of deciding which clothes to wear – Katherine Hepburn