Woven Threads positions African fashion as a blueprint for the future
Talks, exhibitions and presentations at the annual Lagos event explored African fashion as a regenerative alternative to extractive global systems
Tag: African Fashion
African craftsmanship is shaping a caring and circular fashion future
Speaking at Woven Threads VII, Omoyemi Akerele positions African craft as infrastructure for a regenerative fashion system built on care, equity and community.
Decolonising the lens at Fashion_The Image
Across two Johannesburg venues, a new exhibition reveals African fashion imagery as a collaborative language of identity, heritage and future-making.
Q&A with founders of new African luxury fashion rental platform R’Frique
Luxury redefined: R’Frique is making high-end African fashion more accessible and sustainable—one rental at a time. In this Q&A, founders Ceejay Ndlovu and Lebi Barfour-Osei share how their platform champions slow fashion, celebrates African design, and challenges the norms of...
Q&A: Abasiekeme Ukanireh of Éki Kéré reimagines sustainable fashion with raffia
Meet Abasiekeme Ukanireh, founder and creative director of Éki Kéré. The Nigerian brand was founded in 2020 to challenge, transform and redefine fashion stereotypes while embracing African heritage and traditions. Éki Kéré founder Abasiekeme Ukanireh Tell us about yourself and...
Ilkhe du Toit connects fashion with its origin
Ilkhe du Toit grew up on a Merino sheep farm in Karoo, central South Africa. The fashion and textile designer’s childhood helped her develop an early connection to natural fibres and a deep respect for the resources involved in textile...
The Fold reveals and preserves fashion heritages
African textile heritages hold clues to how we can change fashion and disrupt stereotypes. “African fashion is interwoven with values of ancient principles such as sustainability, respect, culture, and knowledge that couldn’t be more crucial in modern times,” says Durban-based...
Kwetu Kwanza celebrates and educates fashion in Uganda
The annual Ugandan sustainable fashion event, Kwetu Kwanza, acts as a platform to motivate, educate, and empower designers to embrace sustainable fashion and offer the rest of us a glimpse into the fashion industry, both good and bad. This year,...
6 Takeaways from Africa Textile Talks 2023
African textiles are woven pathways to a more sustainable world. With the shared acknowledgment that the production of textiles can contribute to transforming the material conditions of livelihoods across the continent, about 200 people gathered for the first-of-its-kind Africa Textile...
The Or Foundation shows us who carries the burden of fast fashion’s failings
Waste colonialism is wreaking havoc in Accra, Ghana. A fashion designer and activist working with The Or Foundation speaks about the crisis
Three designers showcase collections that fuse fashion with their cultural heritage
Culture is not stagnant. It is dynamic, ever-evolving, and with deep roots. As culture evolves, mediums through which it is expressed and remembered evolve too. Fashion is one of these mediums. On 8 June 2023, local fashion designers, Thabo Makhetha,...
Africa Textile Talks 2023 prepares to explore the future of sustainable textile ecosystems
The global textile industry has become one of the most socially and environmentally harmful industries in the world. Challenging these impacts begins with sharing ideas and inspiration for sustainable material worlds.Taking place on 17 August at the V&A Waterfront, in...
Q&A: House of AKACHI designer Nneji Akunne says fashion can drive sustainable development
At House of Akachi, sustainability is a way of life. Founder Nneji Akunne’s passion and determination for sustainable development is as clear as it is for fashion. She sees fashion as a pathway toward sustainable development. It’s no wonder then...
Q&A: Designer Awa Meité pays homage to Mali’s design traditions
Awa Meité is a recognised multi-talented fashion and textile designer, filmmaker, stylist, and painter. Based in Mali’s capital city Bamako, Awa’s label spotlights local artisans who are responsible for some of the country’s most thoughtful garments and accessories. We caught...
How decolonised African fashion is inhabiting the V&A Museum
The Africa Fashion exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, seeks to reconsider and reflect the rich makings and functioning of Africa’s recent fashion history and industry. Since countries across the African continent gained independence from colonial rule, African creatives have used...