The Kaunda Suit: Exploring a Legacy of Sartorial Resistance and Self Determination

As a signifying practice, fashion is a mechanism through which social
meanings and positions are negotiated. Indeed, the power and utility of
fashion in enabling the embodiment of individual and communal identities
is evidenced by the multitude of ever evolving and emerging personal and
collective dress practices and cultures across the globe. In addition to
delineating the bounds of group membership and maintaining established
social order, clothing has and continues to be used as a means of
manifesting resistance and (re)negotiating social and physical boundaries.
As such, many ideological and political movements have leveraged the
visual language of garments as a tool for communication, as well as selfdefinition and self-determination. This is particularly evident in the African
context where the sartorial choices of political leaders (especially during
the African independence movements of the 1960s), have played an
important role both in decrying colonial rule and piecing together national
identities from a range of signifiers and sources. Therefore, this paper is
an exploration of how the ‘Kaunda Suit’, a single-breasted, often shortsleeved suit with four front pockets has been instrumental in weaving
together and shaping political and cultural narratives within and beyond
Zambian borders. From its popularisation by Zambia’s first president,
the late Kenneth Kaunda in the 1960s, to its sustained and sometimes
contested legacy as a symbol of pan-Africanist ideals and identities across
the African continent, this paper charts both the historic and present-day
significance of the Kaunda Suit as an ensemble that continues to (re)define
and cross conceptual and physical bounds.