{"id":5114,"global_id":"portlandartmuseum.org?id=5114","global_id_lineage":["portlandartmuseum.org?id=5114"],"author":"15","status":"publish","date":"2023-06-08 11:30:54","date_utc":"2023-06-08 18:30:54","modified":"2024-10-08 11:12:19","modified_utc":"2024-10-08 18:12:19","url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/event\/africa-fashion\/","rest_url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/events\/5114","title":"Africa Fashion","description":"

Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Africa Fashion<\/em> opens at the Portland Art Museum after acclaimed runs at London\u2019s Victoria and Albert Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. This first-of-its-kind exhibition, making its only West Coast stop at PAM, honors the irresistible creativity, ingenuity, and unstoppable global impact of contemporary African fashions. Garments and textiles dating from the mid-twentieth century to the present day, contextualized by a range of cultural touchstones such as Drum<\/em> magazines, Fela Kuti record albums, and studio photography from Sanl\u00e9 Sory, celebrate the transformative and liberatory power of self-fashioning. The New Yorker<\/em><\/a>\u2019s art critic Hilton Als called Africa Fashion<\/em> a \u201cvital and necessary exhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mbeuk
Mbeuk Idourrou collection, Imane Ayissi, Paris, France, Autumn\/Winter 2019. Photo: Fabrice Malard \/ Courtesy of Imane Ayissi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The exuberance and cosmopolitan nature of the contemporary African fashion scene unfolds through more than 50 outfits designed by over 40 designers hailing from 21 countries, who are shifting the geography of the global fashion world. Elegant minimalist garments by Mmusomaxwell, Katush, and Moshions push back on stereotypes that African fashions are exclusively colorful and brightly patterned; knitwear by Maxhosa echoes traditional Xhosa beadwork patterns; shimmering silk and layers of raffia combine in a fuchsia pink couture outfit by Imane Ayissi; and striking ensembles by Selly Raby Kane and Bull Doff reference Afro Futurism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\u201cWith fashion at its center, this exhibition explores the diversity of creativity on the African continent with garments, personal testimonies and catwalk footage.\u201d\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tLauren Messman, New York Times<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/cite>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfrica Fashion means the past, the future and the present at the same time,\u201d said fashion designer Artsi, founder of Moroccan design house Maison ArtC. \u201cThe joy of life and the joy of colour is completely different and very particular to the continent. It\u2019s a language of heritage, it\u2019s a language of DNA, it\u2019s a language of memories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u2018Chasing
\u2018Chasing Evil\u2019 collection, IAMISIGO, Kenya, Autumn\/Winter 2020, Courtesy IAMISIGO. Photo: Maganga Mwagogo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Africa Fashion<\/em><\/a> employs a cross-cultural and cross-continental approach throughout the exhibition galleries, centering multiple and varied African voices and perspectives. Starting with the African independence and the liberation years that sparked a radical political and social reordering across the continent, the exhibition explores how fashion, alongside music and the visual arts, formed a key part of Africa\u2019s cultural renaissance, laying the foundation for today\u2019s fashion revolution. A section on textiles presents vintage woven kente cloth alongside printed kanga cloths and Dutch Wax cottons, showing how the making and wearing of traditional textiles in the moment of independence became a strategic political act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this period, groundbreaking designers worked fluidly both on the continent and internationally. Garments included in the exhibition by vanguard creatives Alphadi (b.1957), Kofi Ansah (1951-2014), Na\u00efma Bennis (1940-2008), Shade Thomas-Fahm (b.1933), and Chris Seydou (1949-1994), embody the artistic expression of the cultural renaissance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kofi
Kofi Ansah, \u2018Indigo\u2019 Couture 1997, Narh &\nLinda, Photo \u00a9 1997 Eric Don-Arthur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like there\u2019s so many facets of what we\u2019ve been through as a continent that people don\u2019t actually understand,\u201d said South African designer Thebe Magugu. \u201cNow more than ever, African designers are taking charge of their own narrative and telling people authentic stories, not the imagined utopias.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sophisticated fashions at the heart of Africa Fashion<\/em><\/a> simultaneously celebrate long-held traditions of cultural self-expression through clothing and the significant contributions of contemporary designers of African descent to the international fashion scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa Fashion<\/em> is accompanied by a catalogue published by V&A Publishing, which will be available in the Museum Store. In conjunction with Africa Fashion<\/em>, the Museum will also offer a range of public programs to build on and deepen visitors\u2019 experiences. For the latest updates, sign up for our email newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibition organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Curated by the V&A\u2019s Christine Checinska, Ph.D., Senior Curator of African and Diaspora Textiles and Fashion, with Project Curator Elisabeth Murray. Curated for Portland by Julia Dolan, Ph.D., The Portland Art Museum\u2019s Minor White Senior Curator of Photography.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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