A Snapshot of African Diversity, Done in Style

Bright colors and tribal wear, stereotypically associated with African style, seem like an unlikely match for the drizzly shores of Britain, but in the UK’s first major exhibition of its kind, Fashion Cities Africa, explores contemporary African identity through fashion at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. The display features designers from four major African cities: Casablanca, Morocco; Lagos, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; and Johannesburg, South Africa.

“The scene is massive, so if anything, it’s about how you can’t generalize,” says exhibit co-curator Helen Mears. “It isn’t easy to find fashion stereotypes in any of these cities, let alone African fashion.” From street style to couture, Fashion Cities Africa presents these stylistically diverse cities by way of designers, brands, photographers, and fashion gurus, all unique in their approach to current trends in textiles and form. Some pieces are political, like that of Johannesburg-based collective The Sartists; or others, famously worn by First Lady Michele Obama. Three galleries are filled with garments that scream, "African cities are here, and here to stay."

“We were interested in looking at what’s happening now in terms of global art design practices,” Mears tells The Creators Project. “And there’s this incredible energy and creative practice happening.”

Mears, who usually works with historical African objects, explains that her museum currently has an archive of historic African textiles from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. “Our collection reflects places where Britain had strong colonial activity,” she says. “We have very little representing the huge changes sweeping the continent in the 1960s when so many countries achieved independence. We’re missing that whole story and I think that’s true of most UK museums.”

By building on their collection through the exhibit, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery hopes to build an up-to-date record of the developments in African fashion, providing a platform for fresh anthropological dialogue. “You don’t need to be interested in African style or African textiles or African dress,” says Mears. “It’s international fashion that is just really exciting, interesting and deserves more exposure in the UK.”

Fashion Cities Africa runs at Brighton Museums & Art Gallery until January 2017. Find out more here.  Accompanying the exhibit is a book under the same name, written by journalist and exhibition consultant Hannah Azieb Pool. You can buy it here.

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