By Pretty Manyewe
Independence Day celebrations kicked off today with the National Dress Competitions at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) in Harare.
The event was a showcase of national pride and cultural diversity as symbolised by the national fabric.
The event is the culmination of hard work and initiative by the First Lady of Zimbabwe, Her Excellency Amai Auxilia Mnangagwa and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
This year’s dress design competition is a follow-up to the National Fabric launch which took place in December 2020 where provincial competitions were held across the country with designers coming up with designs for all Zimbabweans to wear and style the national dress fabric.
Today’s event saw the provincial winners battling it out for the award of the best National Design.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was guest of honour outlined the symbolic importance of the National Dress as an expression of our social and cultural identity as citizens of Zimbabwe.
“Our valuable traditional and cultural heritage must be preserved and developed in order to foster a sense of national identity, pride and unity. It is necessary to reformulate cultural values and valuing processes in order to move with the current trends by merging culture and its meaning found in material objects.
The National Dress will be recognized as a valuable material culture essential for signifying and expressing subtle cultural values and social relationships. It details the intimate link that exists between people and their tradition and this lies at the core of our national identity,” President Mnangagwa said.
He went on to thank the First lady for the profound interest and energy she placed in coming up with the national fabric.
“Let me say, thank you Amai because the National Dress carries the entire framework of values by which we as individuals or societies identify ourselves and our status in the world. Having a National Dress is therefore of great value to Zimbabwe as a nation,” President Mnangagwa said.
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