Victoria and Albert Museum: African fashion

A look at London Museum exhibition on the work of the continent’s designers over the past few decades.

The V&A Museum in London is to stage it’s three major exhibitions as part of its 2022-2023 program. “Fashioning Masculinities ” The Art of Menswear, African Fashion honoring African fashion and innovation, along with The Korean Wave. Beginning on June 11, 2022, the Museum will feature an exhibition about African fashion. It will include 250 artifacts that tell the narrative of the continent via the work of the continent’s most renowned and important designers. The show, titled Africa Fashion, attempts to redefine the continent’s story after decades of incorrect preconceptions. “It will portray a story of boundless inventiveness and richness” Christine Checinska, curator of African and African diaspora fashion, said.

Africa Fashion is a two-year project aimed at “decolonizing” African fashion. It will include work by pioneering designers like Kofi Ansah, Folashade Thomas-Fahm, and Niger’s Alphadi. The exhibition covers the story of the fashion scene that emerged throughout the independence and liberation years. It also features home movies and family photos that demonstrate how fashion has evolved through time. The exhibition will include pictures, films, and artifacts from the years of independence and freedom, as well as home movies and family portraits depicting how trends have evolved.

The collection will not address the topic of the West’s cultural appropriation of African culture. Instead, it will examine how digital platforms have provided liberty and self-representation to emerging fashion designers. This will not be V&A’s first time focusing on African fashion. Carol Tulloch staged an acclaimed Black British Style exhibition in 2004.

The year 2020 heralded the beginning of a new age in which digital literacy and acquaintance with the digital world are required for social, economic, political, and, in many respects, creative existence. The interconnectivity of our globe, as well as the democratization of having a “platform” is helping to raise awareness of Africa’s wealth. We are finally witnessing Africa’s inventiveness in a meaningful way.

By : Keren B.