AFRICAN STYLES
The future of fashion is made in Africa. African designers are winning awards and appearing at fashion shows throughout the western world. A diverse and confident scene focused on new codes and social change.
For a long time, designers from Africa or with African roots were rarely presented on the catwalks of the western fashion world. But today, they are enjoying considerable critical acclaim in Paris, London and New York. Whether streetwear or haute couture, they are redefining traditional African fabrics and textile techniques with avantgarde designs, using socially and ecologically sustainable production techniques and representing a modern, confident Africa. Politically, they are attuned to the spirit of our times. Demands for equal rights for people of colour, which have grown louder all over the world not just since the Black Lives Matter movement, are also echoed in fashion. Lagos-based Adebayo Oke-Lawal challenges gender roles with his Orange Culture label, Senegalese designer Selly Raby Kane blurs borders between fashion and art, while in Cape Town, Lukhanyo Mdingi's fashion brand focuses on social responsibility. The designers want to create local, economically sustainable structures. It's all about jobs and education. In Dakar, fashion designer Sophie Nzinga has opened West Africa's first school for fashion design. Until recently, most creative people have been self-taught.