On wearing sandals and purple lipstick to work

The question that taunts every traveller prior to departure is: what should I pack? Thankfully, FSD had thought about that too and in the pre-departure packet, that each intern receives, there was an entire page dedicated to clothing FAQs. Under the ‘what should I wear’ section for work, it read as follows:

“Bring neat, presentable clothes for your work at the host organization. For women, knee-length or longer skirts or dressy trousers are appropriate. Acceptable tops for an internship should be business- casual or collared, not skin-tight or low cut. For men, slacks and dress shirts (short- or long-sleeved) are the most suitable for wearing to a host organization. For both genders, comfortable, sturdy, closed-toe shoes or dress sandals are appropriate for work.”

Image credit: FSD international

This was the accompanying picture to the above text

Well, that made my job much easier. I threw in half a dozen shirts and blouses along with four skirts and some ballet flats into my suitcase and called it a day. It has been almost 2 months and it has been very interesting to note that even though I had packed according to the guide, my interpretation of ‘presentable clothing’ was markedly different from what people actually wore to work here.

Whereas, I would wear my black flats, blouse and pencil skirt combo religiously to work everyday, I would see that other women seemed to be more liberal with their interpretation of presentable clothing by wearing beaded sandals, flowing patterned sundresses. What struck me as odd one day was that these women were not in any way less ‘presentable’, but rather, what they wore did not ascribe to what is considered ‘presentable’ by Western standards. Therefore, these differences which I find intriguing says more about me, my background and my upbringing in Italy, than anything else.

After all, clothing like other aspects of a person’s physical appearance carries a social significance and different societies and cultures will have their own dress norms. The fact that I even had to come to this seemingly obvious realization perhaps indicates just how my worldview is steeped in that of a domineering Western perspective. This is also apparent on Wikipedia as it has a page for dress code and an entire separate page dedicated specifically for a Western dress code.  For those who think “shopping … or even putting together outfits is fluff” clinical psychologist Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner, author of ‘You are what you wear: what your clothes reveal about you’ replies that “any behavior is rooted in something deeper”.

That said, below I have complied a list of these differences. The observations below have been compiled through observing my colleagues and the people I see when walking to and from work. It must be noted that this obviously does not apply to all occupations and professions and may not be applicable for different parts of Kenya.

Women

• Colored suits are acceptable. Women are not restricted to the traditional black, blue or gray suits
• Flat sandals
• Open toed high heels
• Strappy high heeled sandals
• Colorful wedges
• Basically, any pair of shoes is considered acceptable, so long as they are not stilettoed, scruffy or extremely dirty
• Pencil skirts should fall below the knee, but if the hem hits just at the knee, that is alright
• Maxi skirts
• Maxi dresses
• Big costume jewelry; big and colorful earrings and necklaces
• Head scarves and head wraps
• Abayas - called buibuis in Kiswahili
• Dresses made from lessos*
• Bold makeup i.e. bright pink/ purple lipstick, colorful eye makeup

Men

• Black or brown leather shoes. In some cases, leather sandals are considered acceptable
• So long as you are wearing a collared, button-down shirt, anything goes. It doesn't matter whether the shirt has crazy patterns or is neon pink/lime green
• A tie can be forgone
• Same goes for a full suit

Other interesting observations

• Women generally don't wear trousers to work
• Almost all women belt their dresses, skirts and shirts at the waist, even if the belt is no more than a piece of fabric
• It is an unsaid rule that on Fridays it is acceptable to dress casually if one so wishes i.e. t-shirts, tops or jeans
• Very few people wear watches, and if they do, you turn the face of the watch to the inner side of the wrist

Like so

• Important documents are carried around in a brown paper bag that you walk around with in your hand - Or sometimes in a document file

*Lesso - pieces of colorful patterned fabric that you can find in the marketplace. They can be worn wrapped around the hips as a sarong, or they can be taken to the tailors and made into a dress. Here I’m referring to the latter case

Lessos in Kongowea