Africa Fashion─A Retrospective Exhibition Of Design & Couture At The Victoria And Albert Museum Until March 2023
Spanning iconic mid-20th century to contemporary creatives through photographs, textiles, music and the visual arts, Africa Fashion explores the vitality and global impact of a fashion scene as dynamic and varied as the continent itself.
Africa Fashion means the past, the future and the present at the same time.
The joy of life and the joy of colour is completely different and very particular to the continent.
It's a language of heritage, it's a language of DNA, it's a language of memories.
The irresistible creativity, ingenuity and unstoppable global impact of contemporary African fashions are celebrated in an extensive display of garments, textiles, personal testimonies, photographs, sketches, film and catwalk footage in this exhibition.
Many of the garments on show hail from the archives of iconic mid-twentieth century African designers – Shade Thomas-Fahm, Chris Seydou, Kofi Ansah and Alphadi.
Alongside these are personal insights from influential contemporary African fashion creatives, including Imane Ayissi, IAMISIGO, Moshions, Thebe Magugu and Sindiso Khumalo, as well as highlights from fashion trends of the day, which are on display for the first time.
Foregrounding individual African voices and perspectives, the exhibition presents African fashions as a self-defining art form that reveals the richness and diversity of African histories and cultures.
Africa Fashion celebrates the vitality and innovation of a selection of fashion creatives from over 20 countries, exploring the work of the vanguard in the twentieth century and the creatives at the heart of this eclectic and cosmopolitan scene today.
Across contemporary couture, ready-to-wear, made-to-order and adornment, the exhibition seeks to offer a close-up look at the new generation of ground-breaking designers, collectives, stylists and fashion photographers working in Africa today.
It explores how the digital world accelerated the expansion of the industry, irreversibly transforming global fashions as we know them.
Starting with the African independence and liberation years from the mid-late 1950s – 1994 that sparked a radical political and social reordering across the continent, the African Cultural Renaissance section looks at the long period of unbounded creativity.
Spanning fashion, music, the visual arts, protest posters, publications and records, we see objects that embody this era of radical change.
Early publications from members of the Mbari Club, established for African writers, artists, and musicians, sit alongside the cover artwork for Beasts of No Nation by Fela Kuti – a call-to-arms album which embodied the communal feeling of frustration with the politics of the time, but also the energy of Africa's creativity and its artists' drive to create beautiful things.
