I had to think very deep before finally deciding to pick this character I chose, and she is not just a random person. She was a force on her own. And I always respect her for that.
So, if I have to walk into a room full of artists, queens, and fictional characters, I would want my costume to tell a story even before a word comes out of my mouth. I would enter as Queen Anima of Zazzau, the Nigerian queen who is also a warrior, and her name always reminds me that having courage had never belonged to one gender.
While I was growing up, I had different stories and read about people whose name survived long after their time. Yet among all these people, a name stood out for me because I always wondered how many women had to fight twice. At first, it is something that is very remarkable, and again, for people to still be talking about them long after they are no more. This is why I would choose Amina among many options that I have.
For the masquerade, I imagine and picture a black outfit with some touches of gold or silver around it, leather details carefully selected Hausa inspired accessories and a powerful symbolic sword at her side. From her appearance, I will want it to command attention without turning her history and her legacy into a soft or custom joke. And all the details on her dressing would honor the dignity, care, love, strength, andly charisma associated with her and her legacy.
But in the room filled with a lot of different characters of the Ladies of Hive community, one of them asked me why a young Nigerian man like myself decided to dress as a woman from way back in history. I will not need to give them a clever response. I will just tell the person that I cherish and admire people who refuse to let others's demands and expectations decide the magnitude and size of their lives.
And I guess that is one of the purposes of Halloween and the imaginary gathering, which makes it exciting to me. We all will come around dressed as someone else, but underneath that costume is the real me, and real others are choosing what deserves their admiration.
I will not attend the lavish Masquerade meetup of the Ladies of Hive community because I believe women must prove they are as strong as men. But I will be attending because the strength of all women should never have any need for comparison in first place.
And when the meetup is over, I would hope people remember not only the appearance but also who the woman whose costume I wore represents and the story behind it.
Thank you for reading.
