VLISCO AND THE POLITICS OF AFRO-SARTORIAL GLAMOUR

A few days ago, the Dutch textile company Vlisco released its new themed collection of wax-print materials, entitled “THINK”, triggering an outpour of excitement on social media and lifestyle publications. For its first release of the year Vlisco created a motif of lines and geometrical figures whose minimalistic patterns are “inspired by the architectural world of Bauhaus”. The collection’s “clever colouring”, that includes newly-created …

THE BEAUTY POLITICS OF SELMA

A couple of weeks ago, The Root published an article by Prof. Tanisha Ford (University of Massachusetts Amherst) about the costume design of Ava DuVernay’s Selma. I only found out about it yesterday and rushed to read it. It is a valuable bibliographic reference, as well as an example of academic research applied to journalism. I loved to read it. As a historian of fashion and the …

THE POLITICS OF HAIR: J.D. ‘OKHAI OJEIKERE’S PORTRAITS OF NIGERIAN HAIRSTYLES

Today, The New York Times posted the article Hairstyles that Ascend, and Aspire, in Nigeria, about the photographic work of the late J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere. In the course of a career that spanned several decades, the Nigerian photographer, who died a in Febraury 2014 at 83, documented the hair culture of his country, taking portraits of women in elaborate styles and headgear. While most hairdos where popular, …