The Real Meaning Behind Waist Beads
Aicha co-owns Top Diversified Fashions with her husband Bass Lo in the Downtown Inglewood Fashion District.
Top Diversified Fashions has been bringing African culture to Inglewood on Market Street for nearly nine years now. "Our shop, we do African clothes, men and women and children, and we make them," Bass said. "We design them and make them here."
Waist beads can serve many purposes, they're said to help with weight awareness and help posture.
Aicha says mothers in Africa even adorn their babies with them for protection.
They're also used to express a woman's sensuality.
Even the different colors of beads can have different meanings.
"Royalty, the purple. The yellow, meaning, you know, the gold, the richness. Wearing your waist beads has a lot in terms of who a woman is," Beasnael said. "It actually is a close connection, reminder, of who I am, where I'm from."
Top Diversified Fashions is located at 238 S. Market St. Inglewood, CA 90301.
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