Africa Fashion

Sep 13

The folks following me on Instagram know I just returned from New York.

I worked and studied with the New York Fashion Tour at the New York Fashion Week. One of our many New York Fashion Tour activities was visiting the Brooklyn Museum for an exhibit. It’s called Africa Fashion, and it blew me away!

Exhibit description:

During the mid-twentieth century, a new wave of creative expression swept across Africa as much of the continent began to gain independence from European colonial powers - largely the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
A revitalized consciousness and energy shaped by Pan-Africanism permeated all corners of creativity. Artists and designers from multiple disciplines began reimagining and redefining a new African identity through fashion, music, literature, photography, and visual art.
Celebrating the outstanding ingenuity and global impact of African fashions from the 1950s to the present, Africa Fashion tells the story of style as a self-defining art form that encompasses attitude, gesture, and movement. Showcasing vanguard designers alongside a new generation of makers, collectives, and fashion photographers working in Africa today, this presentation illuminates the continent's diverse histories, cultures, textile traditions, and artistic expressions.
Contemporary African creatives are expanding the global fashion landscape through luxury fashion, ready-to-wear and made-to-order styles, handerafted adornments, and more. Drawing from rich sartorial and artistic legacies, this generation is pushing new boundaries, reexamining identity, agency, and abundance from myriad perspectives and shaping a future full of possibility.

I had to hold my tears to be able to see the entire exhibition.

Here is some of the artwork I loved the most: