What really is African fashion?

For some odd reason, most people almost always translate it as print or in Kenya’s case, Masaai shuka. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Maybe African fashion is about coverage. Yet that would rubbish the contributions of brilliant fashion journalist and author Helen Jennings who is British and very much white.

  • This woman gets African fashion with such an unparalleled, incomparable instinct and even wrote the book - New African Fashion.

The invite read ‘Elegant African wear.’ The event was the red carpet Riverwood Awards. Beyond the who-wore-what lies a bigger discussion. What, really, does African fashion mean? Visually speaking it seems to be that which is big, loud, colourful, vibrant, unapologetic, bold. If elegant is old money African is nouveau riche.

What African is, is an ongoing debate currently shaping not just the fashion world, but the literary and music industry. Who is an African writer or what is an African sound depends on who you ask. We should by definition then claim the late Yves Saint Laurent born in Algeria or Oswald Boateng born of immigrant Ghanaian parents and Liye Kebede, Alek Wek, Oluchi, Ajuma and other models of African descent as automatic African fashion ambassadors.

But then, if you identify yourself as African does that make you one? Say you are Ann McCreath; Scottish but based in Kenya over the last 20 years and changing the face of African fashion with a brand that is very much African. Perhaps African fashion is retail outlet Woolworths originating in Australia but stamping its way across the continent.

Masaai shuka

African, for some odd reason, is almost always translated as print or in Kenya’s case, Masaai shuka. When Louis Vuitton did a collection three years ago with Masaai fabric we jerked to attention. The crux being we had the fabric for as long as the mind can wander but we only pounced on its wonder when the West okayed it. That applies to African print too as worn by fashion-forward Gwen Stefani, earthy Solange and her superstar sister Beyonce.

The rejection of African fashion is maybe because it isn’t be sleek or sophisticated.

Here is the part that is true. African fashion lacks the practicality of day to day wear. It beautifully embraces family and community-oriented social gatherings as opportunities to dress up. It speaks to rounded bottoms, mullet crotches and  respect for tradition. But it also needs to make room for today’s generation who have a far more casual approach to fashion.

African fashion is not just the tangible either. It is more than that which is worn by an African in Africa made for Africa by an African. The latter would not make a strong case for Vlisco, the legendary fabric that has come to epitomise West African style and is in fact Dutch and originally created to cater to Indonesian consumers.

Maybe African fashion is about coverage. Yet that would rubbish the contributions of brilliant fashion journalist and author Helen Jennings who is British and very much white. This woman gets African fashion with such an unparalleled, incomparable instinct and even wrote the book - New African Fashion.

Blends and fusion

Over the last decade, the definition of African fashion has had to expand necessitated by its appropriation. This is curious considering the gamut. It is women in the marketplace buying and selling. It is kangas, batik and wax. It is cotton and print. It is new faces and a spectrum of generations. It is mergers, blends and fusion. It is culling influence.

It is as cosmopolitan and rural as it is individual and communal. It is the attempt to capture that unpredictable, heated pulse of Africa in a fabric. It is all these things heaped and cooked in an African pot serving both the wafting aroma and the meal.

The power structure in the international fashion industry locks out African talent and people of colour. But the one thing that defines African fashion is the African, guilty of great consumer sins. We steal, pirate, want cheap things and won’t buy authentic stuff.

Hip hop artistes sing about kipusa the pretty girl, never the fashion brand. No one name drops African fashion legends in their tracks or brags about them in their videos. We don’t lionize creative talent. We would rather be American than African with our consumer habits.

Our culture is a great source of inspiration to those observing us yet we remain oblivious to our own cultural value. We dismiss our history, heritage and storytelling aspect of those who came before us. This robs us of inspiration, lessons and knowledge.

We buy without understanding. It is why African fashion has to boomerang the globe. I know if I wore a bespoke black leather dress it would be perceived less African than a pencil skirt of African print.