As the world finally begins to embrace the idea of Africa as a thrilling and vibrant continent of powerful, individualized creativity, rather than as a collection of recycled assumptions and stereotypes, the stage feels perfectly set for an exhibition that celebrates an entire constellation of African fashion ideas, in all its joyful diversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow feels like the right time, because as far as we\u2019re concerned, we can see that African fashion creators are absolutely shifting the geography,\u201d says Dr Christine Checinska, the museum\u2019s Curator of African and African Diaspora Fashion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those moments where everything aligns. We want to give a platform for these creatives to speak about their work in their way: it is this idea of many, multiple voices.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Africa Fashion exhibition, which will run through to April 2023, will trace an effervescent path from \u201ciconic mid-20th century to contemporary creatives through photographs, textiles, music and the visual arts\u201d. In ten sections \u2013 African Cultural Renaissance, The Politics and Poetics of Cloth, Vanguard, Capturing Change, Minimalism, Mixology, Artisanal, Afrotopia, Sartorialists and Adornment, the show will be more than just a feast for the eyes; it will be a living, breathing conversation about eight decades of cultural dynamism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe theorist Stuart Hall said that African diasporic cultural expression often evolves around music, movement and the body, where style becomes the thing that\u2019s really going on,\u201d says Checinska. \u201cThe body is a canvas for expressing identity, for expressing one\u2019s culture. And this is often the way in which we enter into the African fashion scene \u2013 through photography, or film, or digital platforms, and the body is central to those kinds of arenas. It\u2019s about \u2018movement culture\u2019, where it\u2019s not just the garment; it\u2019s the gesture, it\u2019s the walk, it\u2019s the performed identity through fashion. One of the reasons the exhibition jumps off from the mid-20th century is that, yes, it\u2019s that galvanization of creativity that is centuries old, and it\u2019s that moment of agency. It still has political relevance, I think, and artistic relevance, and I feel that contemporary designers are almost taking it back and reclaiming it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The show will cover a broad portfolio of topics with both Africa-specific and global relevance; from LGBTQ+ issues, to sustainability, to women\u2019s empowerment, to cultural appropriation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always felt that this exhibition needed to give a glimpse of the glamour and politics of the African fashion scene, and so you\u2019ll be able to read, hear and see the creatives voice themselves,\u201d says Checinska. \u201cWe felt it was important to tell a story of agency, abundance and unbounded creativity, but tell it from the creators\u2019 point of view.\u201d This shift in perspective can also be seen as the beginning of a fresh era for the museum; the V&A has just recruited new curators within the Africa focus. \u201cWe see it as the start of a deeper and sustained engagement with African creative<\/p>\n
excellence,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd what we learned through the conversations we\u2019ve had with the creatives on the continent will absolutely shape the work I do in coordinating with the three new curators in rippling the African fashion events throughout the museum. This change is non-negotiable. We\u2019re in it for the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the creatives whose work is featured in the exhibition is Nigerian designer Adebayo Oke-Lawal, founder of Orange Culture, a brand very much aligned with the exhibition\u2019s appreciation for the differentiated voice. \u201cI really wanted my brand to be about representation,\u201d he says. \u201cOrange for me felt like more than a color; it\u2019s the idea of this secret, this thing that is misunderstood. It personifies the idea of individuality. Orange Culture is basically a culture of safe spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oke-Lawal is proud of the brand\u2019s 11-year growth, and the statement it makes about Nigerian entrepreneurship and resiliency. \u201cFrom a third world country with an industry that is so young, that doesn\u2019t even have the support of our government, we\u2019re still able to create something beautiful from nothing,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd so it\u2019s allowed us to celebrate our culture and our backgrounds, and the beauty of our individuals. Your brand is who you are. It should be the things you feel passionate about. Anyone who is building something needs to contribute to change; everybody should contribute to where they\u2019ve come from.\u201d<\/p>\n
His brand \u201ccovers universal silhouettes with an African touch\u201d, and \u201canswers to just about anyone who\u2019s interested in telling a story with the way they present themselves.\u201d These stories often address preconceptions about masculine identity, and the role of fashion in gender identity, sexuality and individuality. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been a brand that has challenged or opposed this idea of toxic masculinity,\u201d says Oke-Lawal. \u201cIt\u2019s about telling African men that they can be different, that they can have different expressions of themselves. It\u2019s about expressing the richness of my culture through non-shaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
This defiance has a broader objective: an articulation of the desire for a re-calibration of external attitudes towards African fashion, which have tended to demand a specific visual narrative rather than demonstrating an openness to idiosyncrasy and innovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s basically just teaching people our own stories, rather than allowing them to tell us what those stories are,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I think we\u2019ve allowed that for too long. I don\u2019t go to China and say, \u2018Why don\u2019t you put chopsticks in your designs?\u2019 You know? I think that that\u2019s one of my favorite things about this exhibition \u2013 it\u2019s really just allowing us to finally say, \u2018Hey, this is who we are. This is finally ours, and this is what we\u2019re telling you. So now you need to listen\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AFRICA FASHION MEANS THE past, the future and the present at the same time\u201d is the apposite sentiment by Moroccan designer Artsi, fronting the publicity for a major new exhibition launching in July this year at London\u2019s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":8903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36],"tags":[7,37,38],"class_list":{"0":"post-8906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fashion","8":"category-lifestyle","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-fashion","11":"tag-lifestyle"},"yoast_head":"\n