Latest Aso-Oke Styles, Designs & Colours for Nigerian Weddings (2020)

In this post, we are bringing you our wedding ASO-OKE LOOKBOOK.  This is our curation of the latest and best aso-oke styles, designs, colour combinations and fabrics worn by stylish brides and grooms at top Yoruba traditional engagement introduction and weddings in Nigeria. You’ll also get to know some interesting facts about aso-oke types, the origin and production of aso-oke and more. As you know, there’s no Yoruba wedding without the couple slaying in gorgeous aso-oke outfits. In this article, we also listed some places where you can buy aso-oke, plus interesting aso-oke historical facts. Play the video below to see pictures of trendy, exotic aso-oke designs and their beautiful colour combinations (see them below).

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Aso-Oke Lookbook for Yoruba Brides and Grooms

Aso-oke is the most popular Yoruba traditional wedding attire. While every woman gets excited at the thought of buying a new outfit, for most Yoruba brides, choosing a colour combination and designs of aso-oke for traditional engagement is one of the most confusing and challenging times during wedding planning. That’s because aso-oke fabrics are available in a wide array of sweet colours and designs that you’ll almost want every aso-oke you set your eyes on. After hours of analysis-paralysis of many different aso-oke colours and designs, some brides get confused and pick just any aso-oke for themselves and their husband-to-be. Hopefully, our aso-oke pictures lookbook in the video above will inspire you as you choose the best colours, pattern design and style of your wedding aso-oke.

Origin and History of Aso-Oke Fabric

Aso oke (pronounced: AH-SHOR-OKAY) is a patterned cloth, hand-woven by the Yoruba people of South-West Nigeria. Literally, aso-oke means ‘top cloth’ or ‘high cloth’ or “clothing for prestige’ / ‘prestigious cloth’(translated to English), and is a ceremonial clothing worn on special occasions during special such as chieftaincy ceremonies, parties, weddings, christening/ naming ceremony, traditional festivals, and other important occasions. The aso-oke is also the cloth for royalty, worn by the Obas (Kings).

One of our Yoruba readers,  Tolulope, was kind enough to let us know that the Yoruba word “Aso oke” was derived from the early name of this fabric, “Aso ilu oke”, which when translated, meant clothing from the highland.  The Yoruba word “oke” in Aso-Oke refers to highland (by topography) and not social status because the fabric was sourced from the highland part of Yorubaland (precisely, the source was Iseyin in Oyo state of Nigeria). The parts of Yorubaland referred to as lowlands (areas with low topography) include Lagos, ijebu, badagry, etc.

Today, the word, “aso-oke” has gone to also mean ‘top cloth’ or ‘clothing for prestige’ – incidentally, the Yoruba word “oke” also means TOP, and today, aside from being a clothing attire, the aso-oke was worn as a symbol, or to showcase prestige and wealth.

Here’s how cloth weaving started with the Yoruba people. Back in the days, the Yoruba people had very big cotton farms, and processing of cotton to cloth was a source of livelihood for most cotton-farming families, as they were self-contained mini-textile industries. Then, almost every family member was involved in the production line – the women and children spinned the harvested cotton into threads, and also dyed the threads into various colours. Some men and women were skilled in the craft of weaving the threads into cloth – the aso-oke cloth.

The aso-oke industry and demand have since grown so big that it is no longer dependent on cotton produced within the families. Today, the production of aso-oke has changed significantly – the big cotton farms have disappeared, along with the cotton spinners and thread dyers. The aso-oke weavers now source for imported ready-made threads with which to weave their aso-oke, and they are no longer confined to weaving aso-oke cloth with cotton; they now use other types of threads including silk, rayon and shiny metallic lurex (from Japan).

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