The English South African, His History, Culture and Achievements
There is English dress.
The dress of the English South African is still predominantly European: on formal occasions the men still often wear suits, although this is changing and a more casual dress code is being adopted in many places; for casual purposes, they wear open-necked shirts or T-shirts, and jeans or shorts. In these things they are hardly distinguishable from people of European descent the world over.
But in this they are essentially no different from the Afrikaner, the other “white tribe” in South Africa. The Afrikaner prides himself on his distinctive dress of khaki clothes and velskoens. But how many Afrikaner men actually wear such clothes today? Very few. Such clothes are generally favoured only by Afrikaners in rural areas and occupations; farmers, for example, and game rangers. In the urban centres, Afrikaners generally wear suits, ties, etc., for formal occasions (although this is changing), and T-shirts, open-necked shirts, jeans and shorts for informal occasions, just like their English counterparts and indeed just like people of European descent all over the world. And besides, English, Zulus, and other South Africans at times wear the khaki which the Afrikaner considers his own. So as regards this aspect of culture, the Afrikaner is pretty much the same as the English South African. It is in fact very hard to tell them apart, for the most part.
Of course, there are adaptations. Both “white” South African “tribes” have adapted the traditional English attire (or, speaking more broadly, the European) and made it more South African. My wife and I, when we have travelled in America or Europe, have enjoyed playing a game: we play “Spot the South Africans” at airports. As South Africans, we are often able to guess correctly when we see a South African. And yet to the untrained eye, they would look pretty much like any other “white”. But what we cannot do as easily, is distinguish the English South African from the Afrikaner. They are virtually identical.
For in dress as well as in other matters, the world has become English. The British Empire covered a quarter of the globe, and set the standard which subject peoples the world over sought to emulate. Many peoples of the world even emulated the English military uniform: plumed helmets on cavalrymen, swords and other trappings worn by officers. Some African countries loved to retain the English wigs worn by judges, even after independence.
English dress is now the dress of much of the world! Indian South Africans may wear their Indian saris to certain distinctively Indian functions, such as weddings, cultural events, etc., and they may be very proud of their traditional dress; but for casual day to day wear and for going to work, the majority of Indians today have adopted European dress. The same is true of millions upon millions of Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho and Venda South Africans, etc., who are not going about their everyday business in the animal skins which their ancestors wore! The vast majority of them only wear such attire on certain special occasions. Even the Afrikaners may wear their folk costumes to distinctively Afrikaner cultural events, but for day to day casual wear and for going to work, most wear precisely what the English wear.
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Filed under: History without the humbug