[vc_row njt-role=”people-in-the-roles” njt-role-user-roles=”administrator,armember”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
The fashion industry has been inspired by African cultural heritage for centuries, but today, African designers are getting more and more visibility on international catwalks.
In recent years, African design has been in the spotlight in the luxury industry. In 2015, the Cartier Foundation presented the exhibition “Beauté Congo,” a tribute to Congolese art and the country’s cultural heritage. In 2017, Galeries Lafayette unveiled “Africa Now,” a season dedicated to African fashion.
Virgil Abloh, a Ghanaian-born designer, became artistic director of the French fashion house Louis Vuitton that same year. For its 2019 Cruise collection, the house of Dior produced some of the pieces in Côte d’Ivoire. For the first time, that same year, the winner of the LVMH Prize was an African designer, Thebe Magugu, born in Kimberley, South Africa.
In February 2020, African designers were more represented than ever at Paris Fashion Week, with Nigeria’s Kenneth Ize, Cameroon’s Imane Ayissi, and South Africa’s Thebe Magugu, winner of the LVMH Prize, walking the runway alongside some of Paris’ top houses. In July 2020, on the occasion of her Black is King musical film, Beyoncé wore an outfit by Ivorian designer Loza Maléombho, generating worldwide interest.
In 2022, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London will present “Africa Fashion,” a retrospective of African fashion from the end of World War II to the present. “We will celebrate the vitality and innovation of this vibrant scene, which is as dynamic and diverse as the continent itself,” enthuses Christine Checinska, the museum’s curator of fashion and African diasporas.
For designer Thebe Magugu, this phenomenon can be explained as follows: “We have all been influenced by Africa today, which merges our heritage with our globalized worldview. This creates an incredibly modern, yet authentic aesthetic, which I believe explains the current interest in Africa”.
This breakthrough of African fashion is also explained by the multiplication of local Fashion Weeks, such as in Dakar in Senegal, Johannesburg in South Africa, or Accra in Ghana. The supermodel of the 90s, Naomi Campbell, is notably the ambassador of the Lagos Fashion Week in Nigeria.
On the European catwalks, Thebe Magugu is one of the figures of African fashion. Known to the general public since he won the LVMH Prize, at only 26 years old, the South African artist offers feminist and committed collections, available in one of his 26 outlets. According to him, his creations are like a “library of cultures from Africa and South Africa, seen and read through fashion“.
Nigerian designer Kenneth Ize was also a finalist for the coveted LVMH Prize in 2019. A year later, the 29-year-old designer entered the official Paris Fashion Week calendar and declared: “This collection is about my religion, love, who I am, the people I believe in, and about sharing”. For his creations, Kenneth Ize reinterprets Western fashion with traditional techniques.
Cameroonian Imane Ayissi is also making a name for himself on the international scene and recently joined the fashion week calendar. He distributes his collections in Paris, but also in Cameroon, Nigeria and Morocco. Although this fabric is much associated with Africa, Imane Ayissi and Kenneth Ize do not use wax, believing that Africa has “better things to show“.
When asked what emerging African designers have in common, Imane Ayissi says, “They come from an environment where the fashion and textile industry is in its infancy. So they have more difficulties existing than Americans or Europeans. But each one cultivates its own style. Perhaps they have in common a freer approach to color”.
Read also > AFRICAN FASHION (1/2) : TRADITIONAL FABRICS FOR A CONTEMPORARY FASHION
Featured photo : © Press[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row njt-role=”not-logged-in”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
The fashion industry has been inspired by African cultural heritage for centuries, but today, African designers are getting more and more visibility on international catwalks.
In recent years, African design has been in the spotlight in the luxury industry. In 2015, the Cartier Foundation presented the exhibition “Beauté Congo,” a tribute to Congolese art and the country’s cultural heritage. In 2017, Galeries Lafayette unveiled “Africa Now,” a season dedicated to African fashion.
Virgil Abloh, a Ghanaian-born designer, became artistic director of the French fashion house Louis Vuitton that same year. For its 2019 Cruise collection, the house of Dior produced some of the pieces in Côte d’Ivoire. For the first time, that same year, the winner of the LVMH Prize was an African designer, Thebe Magugu, born in Kimberley, South Africa.
In February 2020, African designers were more represented than ever at Paris Fashion Week, with Nigeria’s Kenneth Ize, Cameroon’s Imane Ayissi, and South Africa’s Thebe Magugu, winner of the LVMH Prize, walking the runway alongside some of Paris’ top houses. In July 2020, on the occasion of her Black is King musical film, Beyoncé wore an outfit by Ivorian designer Loza Maléombho, generating worldwide interest.
[…][/vc_column_text][vc_cta h2=”This article is for subscribers only.” h2_font_container=”font_size:16″ h2_use_theme_fonts=”yes” h4=”Subscribe now!” h4_font_container=”font_size:32|line_height:bas” h4_use_theme_fonts=”yes” txt_align=”center” color=”black” add_button=”right” btn_title=”I SUBSCRIBE!” btn_color=”danger” btn_size=”lg” btn_align=”center” use_custom_fonts_h2=”true” use_custom_fonts_h4=”true” btn_button_block=”true” btn_custom_onclick=”true” btn_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Ftest2023.luxus-plus.com%2Fen%2Fsubscriptions-and-newsletter-special-offer-valid-until-september-30-2020-2-2%2F|||”]Unlimited access to all the articles and live a new reading experience, preview contents, exclusive newsletters…
Already have an account? Log in.[/vc_cta][vc_column_text]Featured photo: © Press[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row njt-role=”people-in-the-roles” njt-role-user-roles=”subscriber,customer”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
The fashion industry has been inspired by African cultural heritage for centuries, but today, African designers are getting more and more visibility on international catwalks.
In recent years, African design has been in the spotlight in the luxury industry. In 2015, the Cartier Foundation presented the exhibition “Beauté Congo,” a tribute to Congolese art and the country’s cultural heritage. In 2017, Galeries Lafayette unveiled “Africa Now,” a season dedicated to African fashion.
Virgil Abloh, a Ghanaian-born designer, became artistic director of the French fashion house Louis Vuitton that same year. For its 2019 Cruise collection, the house of Dior produced some of the pieces in Côte d’Ivoire. For the first time, that same year, the winner of the LVMH Prize was an African designer, Thebe Magugu, born in Kimberley, South Africa.
In February 2020, African designers were more represented than ever at Paris Fashion Week, with Nigeria’s Kenneth Ize, Cameroon’s Imane Ayissi, and South Africa’s Thebe Magugu, winner of the LVMH Prize, walking the runway alongside some of Paris’ top houses. In July 2020, on the occasion of her Black is King musical film, Beyoncé wore an outfit by Ivorian designer Loza Maléombho, generating worldwide interest.
[…][/vc_column_text][vc_cta h2=”This article is for subscribers only.” h2_font_container=”font_size:16″ h2_use_theme_fonts=”yes” h4=”Subscribe now!” h4_font_container=”font_size:32|line_height:bas” h4_use_theme_fonts=”yes” txt_align=”center” color=”black” add_button=”right” btn_title=”I SUBSCRIBE!” btn_color=”danger” btn_size=”lg” btn_align=”center” use_custom_fonts_h2=”true” use_custom_fonts_h4=”true” btn_button_block=”true” btn_custom_onclick=”true” btn_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Ftest2023.luxus-plus.com%2Fen%2Fsubscriptions-and-newsletter-special-offer-valid-until-september-30-2020-2-2%2F|||”]Unlimited access to all the articles and live a new reading experience, preview contents, exclusive newsletters…
Already have an account? Log in.[/vc_cta][vc_column_text]Featured photo: © Press[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
