Exhibitions

A landmark exhibition, Africa Fashion celebrates the creativity, ingenuity, and global impact of contemporary African fashions from the mid-twentieth century to the present day.  Featuring over 200 works – spanning fashion, textiles, adornment, photography, music and film – the exhibition illuminates a thriving fashion scene as dynamic and varied as the continent itself.

Developed by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and presented in Melbourne in partnership with the NGV, Africa Fashion is the largest exhibition of fashions from this region in an Australian art institution to date. More than 50 designers and artists from 20 African countries are represented, from the vanguards who first gained worldwide attention, such as Kofi Ansah, Chris Seydou and Shade Thomas-Fahm – to the newest generation of cutting-edge creatives, including Thebe Magugu, Imane Ayissi, IAMISIGO, and Lisa Folawiyo.

Organised chronologically and thematically, Africa Fashion foregrounds individual African voices and perspectives, as well as the richness of African histories and cultures. Beginning with the African independence movement and the liberation years, the exhibition illuminates the important role of fashion – alongside art, film, literature and music – in the cultural renaissance of the 1950s and 1960s.Photographic portraiture, past and present, also plays a central role, illustrating the relationship between fashion, agency and self-representation.The diversity and ingenuity of the continent’s contemporary fashion industry is explored in a visually arresting display of contemporary couture, ready-to-wear and made-to-order from the many ground-breaking designers, collectives and stylists working in Africa today. From the minimal to the artisanal to the maximalist to the narrative, Africa Fashion offers a glimpse of the glamour and the politics of this globally influential scene.

Exhibition organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where it was presented from 2 July 2022 to 16 April 2023. Curated by the V&A’s Dr Christine Checinska, Senior Curator of African and Diaspora Textiles and Fashion, with Project Curator Elisabeth Murray.

Image: IAMISIGO (brand) Bubu Ogisi (designer) 'Dress' from the 'Chasing Evil' collection, autumn-winter 2020, Kenya. Courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London © IAMISIGO. Photography © Maganga Mwagogo