Africa in Fashion: Luxury, Craft and Textile Heritage

by Ken Kweku Nimo

Africa in Fashion explores the kaleidoscope of craft cultures that have shaped African fashion for centuries and captures the intriguing stories of contemporary and avant-garde African brands.

Part One looks at Africa's rich cultural heritage and place in the network of global fashion. The first chapter retells the history of African fashion, exploring Africa's textile traditions, artisanship and role as a global resource. The second chapter presents a New Africa and examines the promise and potential of Africa's markets, while challenging stereotypes and the concept of European hegemony particularly in the realm of luxury fashion. It also spotlights Africa's unique position as the global industry shifts towards a more sustainable future.

Part Two ushers the reader into the spectacular world of African fashion today. It showcases a carefully curated set of the continent's most dynamic brands and, through interviews with prominent and inspiring designers, offers rare insight into their ethos and design practice. Covering unisex fashion, menswear, womenswear, accessories and jewelry the brands are each purposefully selected to contribute uniquely to the mosaic of Africa evolving creative landscape.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Fashion

200 pages, Paperback

Published May 24, 2022

Reviews

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is gorgeous. This beautiful introduction to African past and present fashion begins with chapters about African textile heritage, trade, and relationship with sustainability and modern luxury. The second half of the book is interviews with contemporary African fashion designers. The highlighted designers offer amazing insight into their perspective on luxury, sustainability, Africa's position in the global economy, and the place of craft in fashion. The book itself is also beautiful, with brilliantly colorful photos of striking garments, textiles, and accessories. I checked this book out for the pictures but stayed for the interviews. After reading this, I look forward to seeing how African designers continue to influence global trends and culture.

[Edie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book opened with various textile traditions from Africa. I greatly enjoyed that. There is a world beyond kente cloth! We met the designers who were either from Africa, or were born in Africa and lived elsewhere. Many of them incorporated aspects of African artistry into their work. Each were interviewed and some samples of their work were shown.

[H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book, but terrible binding. The back seam of the spine (just a line of glue) came apart almost immediately. Otherwise it'd be 5*.