Cowry Shell is a trend that seems to be stagnant in Africa but never seems to rise above it’s true worth. Somewhere in December 2015 we exposed the need to African creatives to embrace cowry shells within their designs. We exposed how the shell was once the official currency of Ghana as a text from the article below.
Little do we Ghanaians know, the word “cedi” of our very own currency comes from a local word meaning a cowry shell. Cowry shells (from sea snails) were once used as money in Ghana. And clothes with Cowry shells were once worn by the well-sorted Ghanaians of the community. When this traditional culture faded away in Ghana, well that’s a mystery. But in the growing world of African fashion, Ghanaian fashionistas could consider this great design accessory.
Read more below.
Sometime in 2016 more and more social media stars started embracing cowry shells in their hairstyles, shortly after that, Beyonce’s sister, Solange Knowles who was in her popular ‘hey days’ worked with a stylist Crowezilla who created fabulous artistic cowry shell looks for editorials late 2016/early 2017, with artists her self rocking it often.
Solange Knowles Hair Styler Crowezilla Goes Cowry In New Viral Fab Braids Look
As far as it was visible on social media this had the hairdo trending for a while until it died down sometime around 2018.
Then came Beyonce in 2019 with the Spirit video. We find Beyoncé donning a white gown adorned with cowrie shells. She stood before the tree of life (wrapped in white) in regalia, looking straight at all of us.
Recently there have been more and more editorials reigniting the trend of cowry shells in hairstyles. From photoshoots to style influencers and more, as seen below.
<img src=”https://www.fashionghana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cowry-pics-860×452.jpg” alt=”” width=”696″ height=”366″ aligncenter size-large wp-image-145148″ />
However, it seems new looks in Beyonce’s ‘BLACK IS KING’ movie might strengthen the trend more whilst adding of another cowry shell growing trend little more. And this is the cowry shell hat.
A closer look at the controversial image that had some mistaken her for emulating baphomet all whilst she was actually emulating the African goddess Het Heru also sees her with cowry shells hanging at the bottom end of her fringe. See below.
Uneducated Pastor Criticizes Beyonce For Devil Worshiping After She Mimicked This African Deity
In addition to this, she is also spotted wearing a cowry shell hat by Ivorian designer La Falaise Dionn, from Cote divoire. A fabulous creative Ivorian who has been stunning the world with cowry pieces for years. See it below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDUq-MpnRv7/
It seems cowry shells might be an everlasting trend in Africa desite whether Beyonce or her sister embraces it, however there is no doubt their love for the trend is definitely shedding a magnifying glass on it.
If you would love to decorate yourselve with some beautiful cowry shells and support FashionGHANA.com read below.
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