One thing that we at Afro Indie believe in is encouragement, it always has been, and always will be important to hype up those around you, including inanimate objects (lol!). The thing that literally makes Afro Indie is our products, the feeling of leaving women of color satisfied and happy connecting to their roots is a truly satisfying one. Whilst each of the products has its own personality and deserves to be celebrated, we can’t resist shining a well-earned spotlight on some of the more whimsical designs. Also, we can’t deny that we have a soft spot for the pieces with the richest historical roots, something about learning the cultural significance behind a fashionable item just does it for us! As we always say, there's nothing like a gorgeous statement necklace to help spruce up your wardrobe. Of course we’re sure that pretty much all of our Afro-Indie neck adornments will give your outfit the extra oomph we all so desperately chase. But today we’ve chosen to shine a light on the 'Serwa' Luxe Bib. She is an absolute beauty. It's no secret why we chose her to be our product spotlight for the day.

THE TRUE MEANING BEHIND ‘SERWA’

If you have been rocking with the Afro-Indie brand for a while, then you know that a huge part of our main aim is to make you feel connected to your roots through fashion. We love celebrating a multitude of African and Indian cultures, and try our best to not only provide you with quality accessories that will make you look and feel special, but create a space whereby our supporters become more knowledgeable about the heritage of women of color, making them feel more at one with themselves. As a step towards attaining this goal, each of our products is named using words from multiple African and Asian cultures. ‘Serwa’ is no exception to this, it means ‘a noblewoman’ in the Arabic, but is largely used in North-Western Africa. The idea of a noblewoman relates to a woman who is honored and highly respected. Our desire is for our neck adornments to make you feel like royalty because, whether you believe it or not, that is who you are. 

HOW IS IT MADE?

As with most beaded jewelry items, the creation of the ‘Serwa’ takes concentration, meticulous hands, and passion. It is embellished with an array of multicolored fabric beads. The necklace begins with Ankara-style neck ropes, which are layered to form an already fabulous bib style necklace, but as with most Afro Indie designs, the necklace takes things a step further, with an array of Ankara beads dangling from the original structure making the ‘Serwa’ the ‘Serwa’. This tassel-like structure ties the whole necklace together and takes it from a ‘nice chain’ to a head-turning masterpiece that you simply cannot go wrong with. The beading works with daisy chain-style structuring, with each Ankara bead being separated by a smaller, clear bead, and secured at the end of each tassel. Though the ‘Serwa’ measures in at a whopping 46 inches in, and looks like it’ll leave your neck in bits after one wear, the Ankara beads, paired with the lightweight composition of the necklace make this about 10x lighter than it seems. 

STYLING

Now this is definitely the fun part! Without a doubt, the ‘Serwa’ comes with endless styling opportunities, which is only to be expected from such a unique piece, but we couldn’t resist putting together a few looks for you. Despite what you might think, ‘Serwa’ can be dressed up and down, that’s right, you can pull off the strutting into a casual brunch in your Serwa if you follow these tips! Firstly, you have to make sure that you’re wearing a singular colored top, there are no negotiations on this one ladies, wearing a patterned top under a piece as intricately designed as the Serwa can cause clashing, which we are totally not here for! We recommend picking a muted color for your top, so that’s a white, nude, black, grey, or brown, to keep things simple on your bottom half, it’s best to go for black jeans. The reason to go for black rather than blue denim is to minimize the interaction between colors in your outfit, a blue will complement your colors nicely, but a black will offset any sign of your fit becoming too busy, which is what we really want to make sure of with this piece. Plus, we all know that black is the Beyoncé of all colors, so it just makes sense…  

As for dressing the ‘Serwa’ up, this side of things becomes a lot easier when you factor in the fact that you’ll probably be wearing one solid color. Although we all love a little black dress, we can’t run from the reality that it can sometimes get a little played out. Well, the ‘Serwa’ provides the perfect tool to combat that horrible feeling of fading away into the crowd, because your outfit is a little vanilla. Not a dress person? The Serwa works with a blouse and trousers too! It might seem a little casual, but all you gotta do is throw on some heels, and you’ll certainly steal the show with these looks!

Well, there we have it folks, everything you need to know about the ‘Serwa’! As you adorn yourself with this marvelous necklace, you will be sure to attract a higher level of respect, not only are you wearing a gorgeous piece of jewelry, in many ways, you’re wearing a work of art. The ‘Serwa’ is very special to us, and hopefully, now that you know it like the back of your hand, it is to you too. We hope you enjoyed this product spotlight! We always love going into depth about the many inspirations behind our beloved designs. Stay tuned for more product highlights and follow us on social media so that you can stay connected to your roots through fashion.