{{short description|Traditional Ugandan garment}} [[File:Gomesi.jpg|thumb|300px|Women wearing Gomesi at a wedding in Kampala, Uganda.]]
A '''gomesi''', also known as a '''Busuuti''' or '''Bodingi''', is a colorful floor-length dress. It is the most commonly used costume for women in Buganda and Busoga.<ref name="UG Pulse">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/Heritage.asp?ID=544.html|title=Tracing the Origin of Gomesi|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070126111608/http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/Heritage.asp|archive-date=26 January 2007|last=Mutabaazi|first=Enoch|date=5 December 2006|website=ugpulse.com Heritage|access-date=25 June 2009}}</ref> The Gomesi is considered the traditional dress of Baganda and Basoga women. Traditional male attire is the kanzu.<ref name="UG Pulse" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Kanzu: The Arab dress that became Ugandan|url=http://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1302916/kanzu-arab-dress-ugandan|website=www.newvision.co.ug|access-date=2020-05-30}}</ref> The gomesi has had many changes in its uses and design since its origination.
== Origins ==
The best scholarship traces the origins of the Gomesi to 1905. The dress was introduced by a Goan designer, Caetano Gomes, then resident in Uganda which was a British Protectorate at the time. The dress did not gain wide use until the wife of Daudi Cwa II of Buganda, the Kabaka, or king over Buganda, wore it at her 18-year-old husband's official coronation (he had been kabaka since age 1) in 1914.<ref>Richard J. Reid. ''A History of Modern Uganda''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. p. 40 {{isbn|978-1107671126}}</ref>
The gomesi can also be traced back to the former, traditional style of clothing in Uganda called Lubugo, originating in 600 AD. <ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Luyiga |first=Angela |date=2022-04-24 |title=History of the Gomesi-Busuuti – Nnabagereka Development Foundation |url=https://www.nnabagereka.org/history-of-the-gomesi-busuuti/ |access-date=2023-10-21 |language=en-GB |archive-date=2025-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250208053423/https://www.nnabagereka.org/history-of-the-gomesi-busuuti/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The women of Uganda adopted the gomesi once in was introduced by Europeans.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Stairs |first=David |title=Okuwangaala:The Persistent Vitality of the Vernacular |publisher=MIT Press |year=2002 |pages=78 |language=English}}</ref> The implementation of the gomesi can now serve as traditional, formal, and everyday clothing.<ref name=":1" /> When the gomesi is worn as causal clothing, it is usually one made of lighter weight and less formal fabrics.<ref name=":4" />
This article of clothing has gone through four main stages of evolution, with changes in material and decorative style, starting in the 1960s. <ref name=":2">{{Cite thesis |title=Evolution of Buganda traditional Gomesi |url=http://dissertations.mak.ac.ug/handle/20.500.12281/15089 |publisher=Makerere University |date=2023-01-30 |degree=Thesis |language=en |first=Mercy Gloria |last=Nabateregga}}</ref> The gomesi originated as bark-cloth, and then developed into a cotton gomesi in the 1960s. By the 1970's it transformed into a Khadi gomesi, and most recently a kikooyi gomesi. <ref name=":2" />
== Design == thumb|Ugandan women wearing the gomesi. The gomesi is a floor-length, brightly colored cloth dress with a square neckline and short, puffed sleeves. The dress is tied with a sash ('''Kitambaala''' in Luganda) placed below the waist over the hips. The gomesi has two buttons on the left side of the neckline. Most gomesi are made of silk, cotton, satin, polyester, or linen fabric, with silk being the most expensive.<ref name="UG Pulse2">{{Cite web |title=Tracing the Origin of Gomesi |url=http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/Heritage.asp?ID=544.html}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> The gomesi is often made of bright, colorful fabrics with the addition of shoulder pads.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Otiso |first=Kefa M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G7HOEAAAQBAJ&dq=When+the+Ugandan+gomesi+is+more+than+a+busuti.&pg=PR7 |title=Culture and Customs of Uganda |date=2006-05-30 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-0-313-01530-4 |language=en}}</ref> A kikooyi or kanga is tied underneath the linen gomesi to ensure that the fabric does not stick to the body.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="UG Pulse" /> This fabric sash is typically 3 to 4 meters long, and it helps hold the outfit together while defining the women's feminine shape.<ref name=":1" /> A well-made Gomesi can require up to six metres of cloth.<ref name="UG Pulse" />
The gomesi can be worn for any occasion, and in the rural areas it's the form of daily dress. Residents of cities and urban areas tend to wear it on special occasions such as funerals, and weddings. The gomesi is worn at wedding ceremonies during the introduction, also known as the ''Kwanjula''. During the Kwanjula, all female members of the groom's family are required to appear dressed in Gomesi. Other times a gomesi may be worn include church functions, marriage betrothals, national formal events, and events where dignitaries are present.<ref name=":3" />
== See also == *Kanzu *Folk costume
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Uganda topics}}
Category:1940s fashion Category:1950s fashion Category:20th-century fashion Category:African clothing Category:Swahili culture Category:Dresses Category:Folk costumes Category:Culture of Uganda