London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A Musuem) has announced that its next major exhibition will showcase contemporary African fashion.
The exhibition, Africa Fashion, which is due to open in June 2022, will celebrate the global impact of fashion from the continent, displaying over 250 objects from the personal archives of mid-20th century and contemporary fashion creatives, including designers, stylists and photographers.
It will mark the first time that the work of 20th century designers Shade Thomas-Fahm, from Nigeria, Chris Seydou, from Mali, and Kofi Ansah, from Ghana, and contemporary Nigerian designer Alphadi has been displayed in a London museum.
Alphadi is the only living designer amongst the 4
Watch Kofi Ansah’s funeral here.
These four creators were some of the first African designers to attract international attention, and the exhibition will chart the impact they’ve had on fashion around the world.
The V&A Musuem’s Curator of African and African Diaspora Fashion Dr Christine Checinska said the museum is seeking to foreground “individual African voices and perspectives”.
Dr Checinska accepts that to try to display all the fashions from across the continent in one exhibition would be “impossible”.
She said: “Instead, Africa Fashion will celebrate the vitality and innovation of a selection of fashion creatives, exploring the work of the vanguard in the twentieth century and the creatives at the heart of this eclectic and cosmopolitan scene today.
V&A Musuem Seeks For A Game-Change
“We hope this exhibition will spark a renegotiation of the geography of fashion and become a game-changer for the field.”
The museum said its new blockbuster exhibition is part of a wider commitment to growing its permanent collection by African and African Diaspora designers. This means “using fashion as a catalyst” for telling stories about the diversity of African culture and history.
The Legend: Kofi Ansah
The founding directors of the Kofi Ansah Foundation said that the designer, who died in 2014, “laid a roadmap for successive generations of African fashion designers”.
His last official showcase was at the Accra International Film Festival in 2013.
A National Historical Icon
Ansah designed the official anniversary cloth when Ghana celebrated 50 years of independence in 2007, and also created the costumes for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 African Cup of Nations, held in Ghana.
“At the time of his passing he was a man still in the prime of his career, bringing his designs to the catwalks and boutiques of Rome, New York and Johannesburg, in addition to his significant contributions to growing Ghana’s textile industry and his partnership work with contemporaries across the African continent,” Ryan Ansah, Joey Ansah & Tanoa Sasraku-Ansah said of the upcoming exhibition.”
Original Story: Independent.co.uk
Ghana Events
UPCOMING TOP EVENTS!
Hub of Africa Addis Fashion Week will highlight the growing talent of African designers and brands to the international market. It is committed to being a part of the growth of the industry in Ethiopia and the region by making Addis the HUB, encouraging designers, making links between buyers, manufacturers, and international media.
It will bring local and regional key industry individuals with seasoned international industry figures to discuss and share ideas and experiences on how to grow and develop the fashion and garment industry to compete in the global market.
Lagos Fashion Week (LagosFW) is a fashion platform that drives the Nigerian and ultimately, the African fashion industry; by bringing together buyers, consumers and the media to view the current collections of designers at a four (4) day event in the fashion capital of Lagos, Nigeria.
FashionGHANA Honors & Awards are also known as #FGHA began in 2018 as a fixated awarding process in between Accra Fashion Week runway shows. The award was heavily appreciated in 2019 is had a whole day dedicated to the awards night during Accra Fashion Week. After skipping a year during the pandemic in 2020, the event returned in 2021 holding the biggest fashion awards during the year.
This edition will explore the frontiers where the growth of the sustainability movement in Africa is stunted, and entice more eco-friendly brands to shift their focus to the growing African population. Will feature spectacular collections and creative designs from different designers from Ghana and beyond who will light up the runway.
Will be the biggest combined dish of thrilling music and exciting fashion with this new opportunity that will be given to young aspiring designers.
Will feature an ALL STAR cast of crowd-pulling models, prominent politicians from the major parties (to exhibit national cohesion), and professional models.
Ghana’s leading fashion event Accra Fashion Week is scheduled for 7-11 December 2022 following their 5th-year celebration last year in 2021. Accra Fashion Week is a platform for African designers that can be compared to fashion weeks across the major capitals. It aims to fill the void which sees tremendous creativity and culture across the continent with the absence of an operating fashion infrastructure.
The epic event took place at Ghana Dubai in Accra, and saw models march down the steps from the Kwame Nkrumah Monument whilst being followed by a spotlight, before circulating the central fountains. Memories of the exciting night still give chills as guests revisit the experience on youtube.
However, rest assured that 2022 is going to be even more exciting with greater performances and an upgraded designer collection. FashionGHANA.com is sure to bring you the exclusives we did on www.FashionGHANA.com/TV. All last year’s shows are available to watch on youtube. Designer’s registration is ongoing on the AccraFashionWeek.org website.
DIRECTION COLLECTION: OUT NOW!
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