Beyonce, Jay Z and their daughter Blue Ivy are currently on vacation in the Hawaiin Island. Beyonce shared cute photos of Jay Z dancing with Blue Ivy while on vacation in Hawaii. The family was hiking down to the beach and the couple kissing and frolicking along the water. Blue is also pictured in a cute little Dashiki strolling around with her dotting Dad. Check out the pictures below. This was just before Queen B, released a standalone music video for the infamous “Becky with the good hair” Lemonade song ‘Sorry’, which features a twerking cameo from tennis champion Serena Williams.
Dashikis are traditionally loose fitting pull-over shirts for men with a ornate v shaped collar. They range from casual to formal with an easy to wear look.
While the more casual kind are usually cotton shirts with little or no embroidery, higher end dress shirts will often be made of a silk brocade. More formal African Dashikis can have intricate embroidery along the neck or collar and at the sleeve ends.
Dashikis are worn in movies, mentioned in print, and worn by famous people all over the world. Wilt Chamberlain, Sammy Davis Jr., Stevie Wonder, even Washington DC mayor Marion Barry were known to make many press appearances in Dashikis. This dashiki is even worn in a very famous musical number in the Disney film Enchanted!
Dashikis are also often worn during modern Kwanzaa celebrations and become very popular each February for Black History Month when people become mindful of getting back in touch with their heritage.
While the common dashikis found in the US today are comfortable and cheap clothes, the dashiki has a long history that originated in West Africa and was originally a shirt covering the entire chest as well as in a much longer version called the grand boubou. Dashikis were loose fitting and light enough to offer protection for the sun and heat, very important with the West African climate!
The dashiki has made a huge breakthrough from Africa since the African American culture struggles of the 1960’s where it became a symbol of affirmation, it stood for “black is beautiful,” and signaled a return to African roots. Dashiki’s first started being made in Harlem around the summer of 1960 and now find a home all over the US.
