Beyoncé Amplifies The Diversity Of Cultures Throughout The African Diaspora

In this op-ed, fashion historian and curator Darnell-Jamal Lisby breaks down the fashion from Black Is King and their connections to specific African regions, cultures, and traditions.

Throughout the years, fashion has been an essential element to the way Beyoncé communicates, specifically Black empowerment. As an extension of her 2019 Lion King: The Gift studio album, her latest musical film Black is King reimagines the Disney classic The Lion King through the eyes of people instead of digitally animated animals.

In this way, Beyoncé, who acts as the film’s narrator, is able to help push society away from conditioned tropes of African peoples while using clothing to overtly and subtly subvert the 1994 narrative into a tastefully executed ode to the true beauty of Africa and its people. Through the fashion in Black Is King, it introduces us to new perspectives through design that amplifies the collective elegance of Black bodies and the diversity of African diasporic cultures.

Beyoncé’s long-time stylist Zerina Akers served as the film’s costume designer, commissioning custom designs from a bountiful selection of designers from and outside of the African Diaspora. Although Beyoncé worked with many fashion houses like Burberry, Valentino, and Mugler, there was a concerted effort to present a range of work by Black and other designers of color on par with their heavyweight fashion peers.

Designers like Jerome LaMaar, Loza Maléombhoa, and Alon Livné and labels like Tongoro Studio interpreted traditional symbols from various African cultures to pay homage to the continent’s artistic richness. Setting name recognition aside and looking at pure materiality and narrative, the styles throughout Black is King are cohesive and electrifying, allowing the inspirational perspective of each designer to add to the captivating story and highlight the multitudes of African people and cultural traditions

There are nods to specific accouterments that help tie into the plot of Black is King while maintaining a consistent level of admiration for these cultures. One uniform representation in Beyoncé’s artistry is the Yoruba goddess of rivers and fertility, Oshun. Whether ushering the film’s beginning wearing a white Wendy Nichol gown pieced in white Japanese organza and white silk habotai walking in the rolling waves or wearing the Balmain marigold dress with a pleated off the shoulder bodice towards the end of the film, these designs conveyed a connection to Oshun and spirituality.

As celebrated in Lemonade, Oshun signifies renewal and life. Additional fashions in Black Is King that showed the essence of Oshun include Senegalese designer Adama Ndiaye’s sprawling dress and halo-like gele. There is also, of course, the beaded gown by Brazilian designer Alexandrine that we saw in shots in the 2019 release of “Spirit” and styled with the stunning cowrie mask by “Queen of the Cowries” Lafalaise Dion.

When it comes to African textiles and dress traditions, particularly West Africa, the costumes in the film create a dialogue between respected customs and contemporary fashion. The history of wax print in the region, which has Dutch origins, and its reclamation by African communities is very vital to the continent. During the Dutch colonization of Indonesia, wax prints did not penetrate the local market as a profitable good; turning their sites on a new consumer, West African communities adopted the textile as a way to assimilate into the Eurocentric colonial landscape.

The subversion of this textile by contemporary African designers to direct a new empowering course of wax print is incredible. Pieces such as the printed Mugler jumpsuit (in “My Power”), the Vrettos Vrettakos crystal-encrusted multicolored dress (in “Find Your Way Back”), the Venny Etienne cinched floral printed jacket (in “Already”), or the Erdem floral printed gown (in “Mood 4 Eva’) unwittingly directed attention to the essence of the decorative nuances of wax print.

Another textile tradition delineated throughout the film is the intricate textile practice of Bògòlanfini, which is an integral practice in Mali. The unique arrangement of symbols and shapes created by undyed spaces on the Bògòlanfini textile is undeniably felt through the Loza Maléombho broad-shouldered black and white geometric patterned bodysuit with figural mask buttons in the “Already” scene.

The repetitive pattern in its black and white colorway in the bodysuit is almost an abstract extrapolation of the traditional textile’s geometric patterns, creating continuity with the West African setting of that portion of the film – the Ghanian flag was swung by backup dancers, giving away that portion of the narrative. Additionally, the buttons on the Maléombho bodysuit also speak to a similar adornment of gold seen on the crowns worn by rulers of Akan people in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. There are also references to the geometrical spirit of the Bògòlanfini in the billowing NGOR and BIRMA dresses by Tongoro Studio Beyoncé wore in “Brown Skin Girl.”

With dance being a cornerstone of Beyoncé’s visual experiences, in addition to being functional, her costumes and fashions are constructed to add drama to the performance and specific movements. Dance has always been integral to many African cultures, religiously and for entertainment. In the more religious vein of dance and ceremony, the Mossi people, native to modern-day Burkina Faso, are known for their Ouangos dance costume consisting of elongated stylized masks and layered fibrous cloaks.

From longtime Beyoncé collaborator Timothy White’s voluminous fringed dress and fringed fedora in “Water,” the crystal poncho by Area in “Find Your Way Back,” and the crystal cape-dress designed by Lace by Tanaya also in “Find Your Way Back” create this romantic connection to Mossi art form through their excessively layered fringed constructions like the Mossi’s beautiful coarse dance costume, creating additional and accessible points for viewers to approach the education of African communities.

Headwraps are another glorious symbol of the legacy of the African diaspora because of their crown-like attributes. The sumptuous characteristics of headwraps signify a sense of pride for many African people. Identified as the gele in Nigeria and duku in Ghana, headwraps are the vocal points to each of Beyoncé’s ensembles to complement her non-verbal celebration of Blackness.

Notable illustrations of the headwrap are present in the custom turban by Sarah Soko Millinery styled with a matching hand-beaded Nigerian lace trench-jumper by Jerome LaMaar in “Already;” the pink structured gele styled with a chiffon gown by Molly Goddard in “Water;” as well as the Laurel DeWitt and Alon Livné turbans as seen in “Find Your Way Back” and throughout the entire film.

Moving away from West African connections, the fashionable imagery in Black is King also has powerful signals to cultures native to central and southern Africa. During the Lemonade era, fashion pointing to the peoples of these regions was essential to conveying her appreciation of them.

The Mangbetu practiced Lipombo head-elongation, which in “Brown Skin Girl,” Beyoncé reinterprets with the arrangement of her braided hairstyle in a scene wearing a black Timothy White mermaid tiered tulle gown. Briefly, the braided ties woven onto the bodice of the lace dress designed by Déviant La Vie in “Nile” brings about a question of whether the tradition of crochet hats and masks popular amongst Bamileke people native to Cameroon was the inspiration.

When thinking about the culture of southern African indigenous groups, the fashions in the film illuminate delineations of Herero dress. The Herero are native to Namibia; after the country’s colonization by the Germans in the early twentieth century, Herero women integrated Edwardian style into their daily lives. During the end of the nineteenth-century into the first decade of the twentieth, women’s fashion continued to perpetuate the broad-shouldered Gibson-girl-like silhouette, cinching the waist and having voluminous sleeves and skirts which created an hour glass like shape.

When the Germans gave up control of the region, Herero women reclaimed this style as a form of solidarity and keeping memories of the Herero genocide alive. Between the leg-of-mutton sleeve gown by the Alejandro Collection in “Mood 4 Eva” as well as the floral printed with grey ground headpiece styled with a matching wrapped and draped dress designed by Mia Vesper in “Water” while dancing with a calabash bowl on her head highlight the power of Herero dress and culture.

There was also a significant presence of using fashion to draw links to the Zulu, who are native to South Africa. The cowhide Burberry ensembles in “Already” speak to the use of this material for Nguni shields. The custom leopard printed and crystal-embellished jumpsuit and matching cape by Valentino worn in “Mood 4 Eva” elicits thoughts of the Zulu’s widely known history of leopard skins in ceremonial dress.

Building on the leopard connotations, the Kujta & Meri off-the-shoulder dress with a deep slit and hat in the same scene exudes more abstract interpretations of the animal skin, especially being surrounded and walking regally amidst the extras wearing leopard printed ensembles. Again, Black is King represents how the designers in the film interpret, connect, and celebrate African diasporic cultures.

In a time when we are unlearning conditioned history that supported white Eurocentrism, Black is King simultaneously addresses the fact that Black people are not monoliths but possess cultural nuances that bind them together through art, music, dance, and dress, among others.

Even though Beyoncé was the central figure of the film, she selflessly elicited the colorful and brilliant character of the African continent and all of its peoples. In addition to continuing to create, assumedly, a deep spiritual connection to the continent and its people, this film continues the collective work to dissipate disastrously historical perceptions in favor for illuminating the exquisite cultural abundance of African and Afro-Diasporic cultures.

In a time when we are unlearning conditioned history that supported white Eurocentrism, Black is King simultaneously addresses the fact that Black people are not monoliths but possess cultural nuances that bind them together through art, music, dance, and dress, among others.

Even though Beyoncé was the central figure of the film, she selflessly elicited the colorful and brilliant character of the African continent and all of its peoples. In addition to continuing to create, assumedly, a deep spiritual connection to the continent and its people, this film continues the collective work to dissipate disastrously historical perceptions in favor for illuminating the exquisite cultural abundance of African and Afro-Diasporic cultures.

Content courtesy of Teen Vogue & Nairobi fashion hub