In 2015, Angolans were shocked by the airing of an episode of the American reality television show Say Yes to the Dress. 1 The show generally follows a set script where an enthusiastic, but nervous, bride, accomÞanied by close friends and relatives, frequents an upscale bridal store in order to find her dream dress. The ultimate aim, of course, is to ‘say yes to the dress’, a moment that is usually accompanied by gasps, tears and smiles from the bride and her party as they see her in ‘the dress’ for the first time and imagine her perfect wedding and happy future. Everything seemed to be going perfectly to script when Say Yes to the Dress fòllowed the wedding party of Naulila Diogo, daughter of the then Angolan Minister of Territorial Administration, Bornito de Sousa,2 as she arrived at the exclusive New York City-based bridal boutique Kleinfeld, accompanied bv her mother and bridal party to purchase nine Pnina Tornai dresses. Two were for her, each decorated with hand-stitched Swarovski crystal details and additional luxuries, such as French lace and a tulle skirt that took 300 hours to make. Her mother had a hand-dyed pink dress, also with hand-stitched crystal details.
DW Angola
Development Workshop Angola