A New African Fashion Narrative Is Being Created, And Designers Think It’s About Time.
The exhibition is a reminder that more documentation on African fashion is needed. “There hasn’t been a lot of information documented on African fashion for people to utilise, and not many people have had the opportunity to learn about African fashion,” says Frederica Brooksworth, executive director at the Council for International African Fashion Education (CIAFE). “With this exhibition, I do believe a lot of people’s minds will be open and their perception of African fashion will change. And ...
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The Kenyan Fashion Label Ikeno Clothing Was Inspired By Life On Lamu Island
Ikeno relies on recycling items that capture the essence of the island because it uses its rhythms and echoes. According to Bornman, who sources the fabrics for her collections from India, "Ikat handwoven cloth from India has always been exported to East Africa and all the way to Lamu." It is impossible to avoid being inspired by the Swahili, Arabic, Persian, and Indian influences of the region's past given the confluence of art and trade that makes up the culture ...
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African Prints: A Celebration Of African Fashion
In the post-independence era, the pioneers' work matured to signify the political and cultural revolution that was underway. A picture of Kwame Nkrumah announcing Ghana's independence from British domination in 1957 while donning traditional kente robes rather than a Savile Row suit and the stylish youths shot by portrait photographers Seydou Keta, James Barnor, and others serve to highlight this period of pride and promise. The "modern creatives" take the stage upstairs, where the museum transforms into a sort of store, ...
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The largest exhibition of ‘African Fashion’ in the United Kingdom will open in London.
Global anti-racism movements, such as Black Lives Matter, have compelled the United Kingdom to reconsider its contentious colonial past, from museum collections and public monuments to history education in schools. The V&A was founded in 1852, as Britain expanded its global empire under Queen Victoria, including in Africa in the decades that followed. Checinska, on the other hand, claimed that African creativity had been "largely excluded or misrepresented in the museum, owing to the historic division between art and ethnographic ...
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Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Kigali Highlights
A fashion school has been advocated for in Rwanda. Chris Vitj, a Belgian fashion designer who was in Rwanda for the second edition of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, urged Rwandan designers and business leaders to establish at least one fashion school in the country. She was speaking at the Fashion Forum, which took place last week in Norrsken, Kigali, and brought together Africa's top designers and others to discuss the industry's evolution from a commercial standpoint. "I hope that eventually, starting ...
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