Africa Fashion at The Brooklyn Museum

Africa Fashion is now showing at the Brooklyn Museum until October 22, 2023. As you walk towars the museum to purchase tickets you are surrounded by vendors customizing handwoven baskets, which are called “Zulu,” which are used for convenience and organization. For example, “Iquthu," which are small in size, are used to store herbs and medicines. There is also a spectacular array of garments, music, and art in the style of a flea market, and it is fun to shop.

Africa Fashion opens with a timeline of each country and how and when they obtained their independence in the 20th century. The African independence and liberation the mid-late 1950s –1994, which sparked the African Cultural Renaissance. At this time, fashion, music, the visual arts, protest posters, publications and records represented a radical change in these art forms.

Africa Fashion celebrates works by iconic designers and artists and illuminates fashion’s pivotal role in Africa’s cultural renaissance, which laid the foundation for an ongoing fashion revolution. In the exhibit there are around forty designers and artists from twenty African countries.

The exhibit starts with pieces of ceremonial clothing such as Rwandan royalty. The menswear look of the show references the traditional Umwitero, a sash draped over the shoulder, and features beadwork and embroidery that take inspiration from Imigongo aesthetics. Towards the end of the exhibit, we see the current style with groundbreaking designers. As you exit, there is more shopping and you can’t help but buy something as a memory of this event.

Article + Images by Alison Hernon, Editor-In-Chief, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Alexa Dyer, Graphic Designer, PhotoBook Magazine

RELATED STORIES

ArtAlison Hernon#Africa Fashion, #Brooklyn Museum, #fashion, #garments, #music, #art, #flea market, #Africa, #cultural renaissance, #exhibit, #shop