Whether you want to wear full African dress or incorporate African elements into your “Traditional” gown, you can do so. Today there are more and more Black designers who specialize in Afrocentric clothing and whose work is available to you both custom-made and retail.

June Terry of Fernandun (Ghanian for “love and sweet”) Fashions in New York, has been designing African-style wedding attire since 1965. Inspired to wear African garments herself by a co-worker from Liberia, June was eventually asked by a woman who became her first client if she could make a wedding dress in the same style. “I didn’t know at first what she wanted. Then she described the type of outfits she saw me wear -- wrapped skirts with loose, flowing tops (boubahs) and head wraps. `Sure,’ I said. `What color would you like?’ That was the beginning.”

Ever since, June’s line has had an Afrocentric emphasis. She uses African fabrics -- both solids and prints -- and African colors -- the tones of the earth and the sky, rich browns, yellows, blues and gold. Weddings in Africa have always been more colorful events than the “Traditional” European-style and much less “uniform” in dress. The flexibility of African style can also be shaped to any figure.

June draws on many sources for her designs: “I have researched the fabrics and customary garments. I have seen many outfits at the United Nations from both East and West Africa and asked about their construction. I’ve talked to people of various African religions about how their ceremonies are performed and what garments they wear.”

If you are considering wearing Afrocentric or African-inspired attire, you must first decide how African you want your clothing and ceremony to be. Do you just want to wear an African garment in a Christian ceremony or do you want all the accessories and rituals to be African, too? Will your