From the runway in Lagos and the Afropunk festival in Johannesburg to the image makers? of
Marrakech and the influencers of Dakar or Accra a new generation of African fashion designers
photographers bloggers and artists are redefining the aesthetic contours of the continent.
Audacious humorous disruptive and innovative are the bywords of these young creatives who
while drawing upon and revalorizing their heritage offer an ultra-contemporary new
perspective. The revolutionary designers--from Senegal to Nigeria to South Africa--are
reinventing their textile and historical traditions: bazin fabrics blend with plastics stretch
gives body to woven cloth mesh beading inspires knitwear designs and the traditional adire
print--championed by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Michelle Obama--embellishes silk dresses and
pencil skirts. Body-artists transform their face or hair into an ambulant social manifesto and
photographers--using clothing and accessories--shed new light onto questions of identity
gender and color. This volume celebrates a creative effervescent generation which--by
breaking the rules and rewriting the narrative of the African continent--is inventing a new and
resolutely African chapter in the history of fashion that is now resonating across the globe.
