Fashion documentary 'African Style' comes with passionate underscore

July 09, 2023

In the metropolises of Africa, a young avant-garde fashion design movement is setting trends with visionary creations and changing the world's perception of Africa. Finally, fashion 'Made in Africa' is becoming visible. Through avant-garde designs, fashion designers are reviving old African fabrics and textile techniques, representing a new, modern, and self-confident Africa.

For a long time, designers from Africa or with African roots were rarely present on the catwalks of the Western fashion world. Now, they are achieving success in Paris, London, and New York. The echoes of demands for equal rights for People of Colour, which have been growing louder around the world, not only since the Black Lives Matter movement, are also reverberating in the fashion industry. Finally, fashion 'Made in Africa' is becoming visible.

In Lagos, Adebayo Oke-Lawal challenges gender roles with his label 'Orange Culture,' while Senegalese designer Selly Raby Kane blurs the boundaries between fashion and art. In Cape Town, South Africa, Lukhanyo Mdingi's brand focuses on social responsibility.

These designers aim to create local, economically sustainable structures. They prioritize job creation and education. In Dakar, fashion designer Sophie Nzinga opened the first fashion design school in West Africa because most creatives in the region are self-taught.

Raising awareness of their own identity, their African heritage, is the goal not only for fashion designers in Africa but also for those in the diaspora. In Berlin, the young label Emeka emphasizes upcycling, while Kenneth Ize returned to Nigeria from Austria and creates avant-garde designs using handwoven fabrics, conquering the world's catwalks. In Paris, Imane Ayissi became the first and only designer from sub-Saharan Africa to make it to the stage of haute couture.

The original music score was arranged by Mark Barrott, Steffen Neuert, Rossano Snel & Stefan Eichinger.

You can watch the full documentary here.

We represent these songs worldwide.

Follow SMV: 
Instagram | Facebook | Spotify