Phatbird
Styling the Phatbird Way
How to Style Aso Oke in the UK Without It Feeling Like a Costume
How to Style Aso Oke in the UK Without It Feeling Like a Costume
Some of us have a piece of aso oke we barely wear. It comes out for a wedding, gets photographed, goes back into the garment bag and waits another year. Not because we don't love it. Because we can't quite picture it on the school run.
And the worry underneath that is usually the same one: will I look like I'm in costume?
It's a fair thing to wonder, but it has less to do with the cloth than with how most of us learned to wear it. Full ceremonial set, head to toe, gele included. Wear it that way on a Tuesday and of course you'll feel overdressed for your own life. Wear it a different way and it simply looks like very good clothing.
A quick word on the cloth
Aso oke is woven by hand in narrow strips, then joined edge to edge, which is where that lovely seam running through a finished panel comes from. In Yoruba tradition it belongs to the big days: weddings, naming ceremonies, chieftaincy titles. That's exactly why wearing it casually can feel a little cheeky at first.
But cloth that leaves the house once a year isn't really being honoured. It's being stored. Silk made the same journey into everyday wardrobes, and so did cashmere, and nobody thinks less of either.
Start with one piece and let it be the loudest thing
Costume happens when everything is competing. Patterned cloth, patterned headwrap, statement bag, embellished shoe, and a full stack of gold. On their own they're all beautiful. Together they announce an event.
Pick one aso oke piece and build the rest of the outfit around it in the dullest colours you own. Black, ivory, chocolate, charcoal. There's usually a metallic thread already running through the weave, so let that be your accent and skip the second one. The Premium Aso Oke Patch Dress works this way. The patchwork does all the talking, and one pair of earrings finishes it.
Put it in a shape people already recognise
Traditional cloth reads as contemporary the moment it arrives in a silhouette from the high street. A kimono is still a kimono. This is why the Jubilee kimonos in blue, red and green are such an easy place to start. Thrown open over a black roll-neck and straight-leg jeans, the thing behaves like a coat that happens to be extraordinary. Nobody asks what the occasion is. They ask where you got it.
Your shoes decide what the outfit means
Same dress, two completely different messages. Heels, clutch and gele and you're a wedding guest. Clean white trainers and a structured tote and you're a woman with taste, going about her day.
For daytime, reach for loafers, flat leather sandals, low-profile trainers, or a block heel you can actually walk in. Save the pointed stiletto for when you do want the ceremony. That one swap will take you further than anything else here.
Dress for British weather, not Lagos weather
Half the costume problem is that we picture aso oke in Nigerian sunshine and then try to wear it in Manchester in February. It stops feeling natural because you're cold, and you look it.
• Underneath: a fine-knit roll-neck, a long-sleeved base layer, opaque tights.
• Over the top: a longline wool coat or trench left open, so a panel of the weave shows at the front. Aso oke peeking out from under a camel coat is one of the best looks available to anyone in this country.
• On your feet: proper boots. Ankle boots under a tasselled hem look deliberate, not like a compromise.
The Jubilee Afro Aso Oke with Mid Tassels layers especially well, because the tassels sit high enough to stay visible under outerwear.
The gele can stay home
A gele is a full statement with its own grammar, and worn with everyday clothes it pulls the whole look straight back towards ceremony. Leaving it off isn't a betrayal. It's a styling decision.
A sleek bun, a blowout, braids down, or a plain silk headwrap that picks up one colour from the weave will do. Then when you do bring out the proper gele, it lands twice as hard.
Fit does more work than fabric
Handwoven cloth has body. It holds its own shape instead of draping over yours, so a bad fit shows up faster here than it would in jersey. On a curvy frame, slightly too small doesn't read as tight, it reads as stiff, and stiff is the thing that looks like costume. Our aso oke runs in 12–16 and 18–22, cut with real ease rather than a straight size scaled up. If you're between the two, go with your widest measurement. Aso oke doesn't give.
Three ways to wear it this week
Tuesday. Jubilee Green Kimono open over a black roll-neck and black jeans. White trainers, small gold hoops, structured tote. A coat outfit, not an event outfit.
Dinner. Jubilee Colour Aso Oke Dress with Tassels, block-heel mules, one cuff, hair back. Nothing else. The tassels move when you do, which is the whole point.
The occasion. Premium Aso Oke Patch Dress, heeled sandal, matching jewellery, gele. This is the one time you turn everything up, because now the context matches.
Aso oke stops feeling like a costume the moment you stop saving it. The women who wear it best in London and Birmingham and Glasgow aren't styling it more cleverly than the rest of us. They're just wearing it more often. By the third time that kimono goes to the office it isn't a statement anymore. It's your coat.
Have a look through the Aso Oke edit, or the wider Afro Luxé Collection for Batik and Mikado pieces that work the same way.
Some of us have a piece of aso oke we barely wear. It comes out for a wedding, gets photographed, goes back into the garment bag and waits another year. Not because we don't love it. Because we can't quite picture it on the school run.
And the worry underneath that is usually the same one: will I look like I'm in costume?
It's a fair thing to wonder, but it has less to do with the cloth than with how most of us learned to wear it. Full ceremonial set, head to toe, gele included. Wear it that way on a Tuesday and of course you'll feel overdressed for your own life. Wear it a different way and it simply looks like very good clothing.
A quick word on the cloth
Aso oke is woven by hand in narrow strips, then joined edge to edge, which is where that lovely seam running through a finished panel comes from. In Yoruba tradition it belongs to the big days: weddings, naming ceremonies, chieftaincy titles. That's exactly why wearing it casually can feel a little cheeky at first.
But cloth that leaves the house once a year isn't really being honoured. It's being stored. Silk made the same journey into everyday wardrobes, and so did cashmere, and nobody thinks less of either.
Start with one piece and let it be the loudest thing
Costume happens when everything is competing. Patterned cloth, patterned headwrap, statement bag, embellished shoe, and a full stack of gold. On their own they're all beautiful. Together they announce an event.
Pick one aso oke piece and build the rest of the outfit around it in the dullest colours you own. Black, ivory, chocolate, charcoal. There's usually a metallic thread already running through the weave, so let that be your accent and skip the second one. The Premium Aso Oke Patch Dress works this way. The patchwork does all the talking, and one pair of earrings finishes it.
Put it in a shape people already recognise
Traditional cloth reads as contemporary the moment it arrives in a silhouette from the high street. A kimono is still a kimono. This is why the Jubilee kimonos in blue, red and green are such an easy place to start. Thrown open over a black roll-neck and straight-leg jeans, the thing behaves like a coat that happens to be extraordinary. Nobody asks what the occasion is. They ask where you got it.
Your shoes decide what the outfit means
Same dress, two completely different messages. Heels, clutch and gele and you're a wedding guest. Clean white trainers and a structured tote and you're a woman with taste, going about her day.
For daytime, reach for loafers, flat leather sandals, low-profile trainers, or a block heel you can actually walk in. Save the pointed stiletto for when you do want the ceremony. That one swap will take you further than anything else here.
Dress for British weather, not Lagos weather
Half the costume problem is that we picture aso oke in Nigerian sunshine and then try to wear it in Manchester in February. It stops feeling natural because you're cold, and you look it.
• Underneath: a fine-knit roll-neck, a long-sleeved base layer, opaque tights.
• Over the top: a longline wool coat or trench left open, so a panel of the weave shows at the front. Aso oke peeking out from under a camel coat is one of the best looks available to anyone in this country.
• On your feet: proper boots. Ankle boots under a tasselled hem look deliberate, not like a compromise.
The Jubilee Afro Aso Oke with Mid Tassels layers especially well, because the tassels sit high enough to stay visible under outerwear.
The gele can stay home
A gele is a full statement with its own grammar, and worn with everyday clothes it pulls the whole look straight back towards ceremony. Leaving it off isn't a betrayal. It's a styling decision.
A sleek bun, a blowout, braids down, or a plain silk headwrap that picks up one colour from the weave will do. Then when you do bring out the proper gele, it lands twice as hard.
Fit does more work than fabric
Handwoven cloth has body. It holds its own shape instead of draping over yours, so a bad fit shows up faster here than it would in jersey. On a curvy frame, slightly too small doesn't read as tight, it reads as stiff, and stiff is the thing that looks like costume. Our aso oke runs in 12–16 and 18–22, cut with real ease rather than a straight size scaled up. If you're between the two, go with your widest measurement. Aso oke doesn't give.
Three ways to wear it this week
Tuesday. Jubilee Green Kimono open over a black roll-neck and black jeans. White trainers, small gold hoops, structured tote. A coat outfit, not an event outfit.
Dinner. Jubilee Colour Aso Oke Dress with Tassels, block-heel mules, one cuff, hair back. Nothing else. The tassels move when you do, which is the whole point.
The occasion. Premium Aso Oke Patch Dress, heeled sandal, matching jewellery, gele. This is the one time you turn everything up, because now the context matches.
Aso oke stops feeling like a costume the moment you stop saving it. The women who wear it best in London and Birmingham and Glasgow aren't styling it more cleverly than the rest of us. They're just wearing it more often. By the third time that kimono goes to the office it isn't a statement anymore. It's your coat.
Have a look through the Aso Oke edit, or the wider Afro Luxé Collection for Batik and Mikado pieces that work the same way.