Student Advises Fashion Designers Against Revealing Dresses To Curb SGBV

As a way of curbing Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), Faridat Abdulganiyu, a student of the Department of Fashion Design and Clothing Technology, Kaduna State Polytechnic, has advised fashion designers against sewing revealing dresses.

Abdulganiyu gave the advice while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Tuesday.

She spoke on the “We for Them” project, being implemented by an NGO, Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative.

The project, being supported by Africa Women’s Development Fund, was designed to curb sexual harassment and abuse in public places.

The student pointed out that sometimes physical appearance provoked gender-based violence in communities, stressing the need to dress modestly to avoid the prying eyes of sexual predators.

“If a designer produces a dress that is revealing sensitive parts of the body, it is automatic that when a client wears it, that is what the world is going to see.

“When a woman dresses in a wrong way and her body becomes revealing, it evokes certain emotions from the man and attracts people to her admirably, but sometimes with negative intentions.

“However, the kind of garments fashion designers produce should play a huge role in modesty,” she said.

She further explained that fashion designers cloth the world, therefore, the creativity of a designer affects the way people appear.

She advised the designers to tailor their minds to believe that women could dress modestly and still be beautiful.

“This way, the designers would create modest garments and still make women look beautiful.

“This, in the long run, will go a long way in reducing the incidence of sexual and gender-based violence in our communities,” she said.