Guide
Aso-oke, iro and buba: what to wear to a Nigerian wedding
Bazin · 14 November 2026
Aso-oke is a hand-woven Yoruba cloth: narrow strips of cotton, sometimes with a lurex thread running through the pattern, sewn together into a garment. You will see it spelled asố, aso ofi and sanyan on an invitation — those are weaves within the same family, sanyan the oldest and plainest of them, etu the one with the glossy stripe.
The outfit has parts, not one item
What a woman wears is called iro and buba: a wrapper tied at the waist, a blouse with puffed sleeves, a gele — the head tie, which is the part everyone photographs — and, for a formal host, an ipele draped over one shoulder. A man wears a buba and sokoto under an agbada, the wide flowing robe, with a fila cap. Buy the pieces and you have the outfit; buy only the wrapper and you still need three more things on the day.
When the invitation names a colour
Aasan, ebo, the couple's chosen shade — the family usually picks one colour for the guests and the aso-oke is dyed to it. That is not a suggestion. Ask whoever issued the invitation before you order anything, and read the listing's declared fabric and colour rather than trusting the photograph on your screen: a wrapper shot in daylight reads as a different dye than the same cloth under a reception light.
Buying it pre-owned
- Label size is not your size. A wrapper is tied, so it forgives; a buba does not. Read the flat measurements the seller publishes, in centimetres.
- Condition is declared in words, not in a number out of five. On Bazin a piece says new with tags, like new, good or fair, and anything worn — a mark, a missing bead, a repaired seam — has to be listed as an exclusion.
- Gele and ipele are the parts a seller most often does not include. They are listed under what is in the box, so check that line before paying.
- A complete set — wrapper, blouse, head tie, shawl — is tagged as one piece and costs less than four separately.