Let me be honest.. If the Ladies of Hive community ever organised a lavish masquerade meetup, I wouldn't want to enter that place looking like somebody who came to collect food and disappear.
If I'm attending an event like that, I want a costume that tells a story before I even open my mouth and after giving it some thought, I think I would dress as Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
Yes, the legendary Nigerian musician himself!... Now, before anybody asks, I'm not choosing Fela simply because he was famous or because I want to wear oversized sunglasses and look important... Although, let me not lie, the sunglasses would definitely help.
I'm choosing him because there was something about the way Fela lived that made him impossible to ignore... He had his own style, his own sound, his own beliefs and his own way of looking at the world, Whether people agreed with him or not.. he wasn't particularly interested in becoming a version of himself that everybody would find comfortable and honestly, I respected that..
Imagine me walking into this imaginary masquerade wearing Fela's signature style... colourful African-print trousers, an open shirt, beads around my neck, oversized sunglasses and perhaps a little extra confidence borrowed from the man himself.... The entrance alone would be something to remember!..
Of course, I would need the right music playing in the background. If there's no Afrobeat playing when I enter, please, somebody should stop the DJ. We need to discuss their employment...
But beyond the fashion and entertainment, there's a reason this character appeals to me... Fela reminds me that being yourself is sometimes more important than being liked by everybody.
We live in a world where people can spend so much time trying to fit into expectations that they eventually forget what makes them different... We adjust our opinions because we don't want to offend anybody.. We hide our interests because we're afraid people might laugh. Sometimes, we even pretend to understand things simply because admitting that we don't know something makes us uncomfortable and social media can make this even worse... Everybody seems to be building a particular image.. Somebody is trying to look successful, another is trying to look intelligent, and then someone else is trying to convince the internet that their life is permanently beautiful... Meanwhile, some of us are just trying to figure things out one day at a time.
That's why I find Fela's individuality interesting.. He was not a perfect man and I wouldn't pretend to agree with every decision he made but his willingness to express himself, challenge authority, and stand by his convictions is something worth reflecting on and for me, the costume would represent that spirit of individuality...
Interestingly, a masquerade is also about appearances... You wear a mask, step into another identity and allow people to experience a different version of you but there's a funny contradiction here... Sometimes, wearing a mask allows us to express parts of ourselves that we normally hide... Maybe we become bolder.. Maybe we become more playful or Maybe we finally do something we've always wanted to do because nobody is looking at us in the usual way and that makes me wonder.. so, are we always more authentic when we show our faces, or can we sometimes be more honest when we're hiding behind a mask?..
If I attended this event as Fela, I would probably spend the evening enjoying the music, engaging in conversations and asking people about the stories behind their costumes... I would want to meet the person dressed as Cleopatra and hear why she chose her.. I'd want to know what inspired somebody to come as Chinua Achebe, Frida Kahlo, or even a fictional character like Sherlock Holmes Because the most interesting part of such an event wouldn't necessarily be who had the most expensive costume, It would be discovering the reasons people chose the identities they were wearing.
Some people might choose a character because they admire their courage. Others might choose someone whose life resembles their own. And some might simply want an excuse to dress dramatically and enjoy themselves... All those reasons are valid.
As for me, I would leave that event hoping people remembered more than the man wearing sunglasses and colourful trousers.
I'd hope they remembered the conversation, the laughter, and perhaps the reminder that we don't always have to become what other people expect us to be.
Besides, if I'm going to attend a lavish masquerade, I might as well make an entrance worth talking about the following morning!
One final thing... if somebody arrives dressed as a Nigerian masquerade spirit itself, I am respectfully giving that person the best costume award. I'm not competing with anything that can potentially chase me around the hall..
Image Generated with Chatgpt
