AFRICAN FASHION FILMS

The universe of African fashion films is diverse and under-investigated. Most of the times they are left out of discussions of African fashion in spite of an uptick in their production and the positive reception on the continent. Given fashion’s heavy reliance and emphasis on storytelling for branding and marketing purposes, this lack of attention is hard to explain. In my …

TALENTS – CLINT MALIK PUTS NAIROBI ON THE BLACK FUTURIST MAP (interview)

Clinton Malik is a creative, style blogger and fashion model from Kenya with a visionary style that mixes afrofuturism and nostalgia. Since starting “Be your own creation” (BYOC) in May 2015, a brand promoting originality, creativity and self-worth through fashion, travel, art and music, he has built a solid reputation as a community-focused stylist and a big following on social …

TALENTS – PETER IRUNGU: HERITAGE AND KENYAN MODERNITY

Peter Irungu is a Kenyan creative focusing on digital art. He specialises in landscape and cityscape photography, creating exciting timelapse shots of Nairobi, where he is based. I caught up with Peter via email to discuss his recent switch to fashion photography and what the future has in store for him.   Here is our exchange: *** You are primarily …

FASHION BECOMES CHARACTER: KEPHA MAINA

I’m proud to share that I have started yet another exciting collaboration. The platform I will be writing for is IAM – Intense Art Magazine, a digital and paper publication focusing on visual arts, fashion, and design from Africa and the diaspora. My first article on the Kenyan designer Kepha Maina has just been published. Read the article here or on IAM. …

SEARCH FOR #OWNYOURCULTURE ON INSTAGRAM AND BROWSE THROUGH THE VISUAL HISTORY OF AFRICAN ORNAMENTS

#OwnYourCulture is a social media movement that seeks to “decolonize fashion, one necklace at a time”. It showcases ‘traditional’ ornaments as fashionable pieces, in a bid to show the fashionable-ity  of traditional jewelry and reconnect to what fashion was and looked like in Africa before European colonization. Fashion consultant Chepkemboi Mang’ira of the blog MissVavavum launched #OwnYourCulture on Instagram  in 2015, asking users to style a traditional cultural piece with contemporary clothes.   Since …

STYLE DIGEST: NEWS FROM THE AFROSARTORIALIST UNIVERSE

Designers Africa Fashion Guide covers Adele Dejak’s latest collection of accessories named after the least valuable currency of Nigeria, Kobo. The accessories come in black and gold, respectively Dejak’s brand colour and a symbol of happiness, and are affordable, from $10 to 50. “Kobo represents urban culture and is for edgy people everywhere who want to stand out, who are …

THE FUTURE OF KENYA BETWEEN CONSUMERISM, FAST INDUSTRIALIZATION AND EXTREME POVERTY

AlJazeera posted a video report on the prospects for Kenya’s economy entitled “Counting the costs? Kenya: the new factory of the world”. The video shows a country polarized between fast industrialization, consumerism, and the extreme poverty of more than 40% of its population. Kenya expects to have an annual growth of 10% by 2017, thus becoming one of the world’s biggest economies. …

FASHION FILMS, KENYAN HERITAGE, AND PROMOTIONAL AUDIOVISUAL HYBRIDS

Recently, I have had the pleasure to get back in touch with some wonderful colleagues from my previous research project (conducted at the Centre for Digital Cultures of Leuphana University) on audiovisual paratexts. They invited me to contribute to their blog Watching the Trailer that investigates the viewing/consuming context of trailers (what place, what media, what else is occurring and what comes after), and …