Nataal is pleased to announce that we are collaborating with London’s Victoria & Albert Museum for its upcoming exhibition, Africa Fashion, opening 2 July 2022. The landmark show will follow the journey that fashion from the continent has taken since the Independence era, celebrate its impact on global style and dive into some of the themes examined in the work of designers working today.

On display will be over 250 looks spanning influential designers from the 1950s to the 1990s such as Shade Thomas-Fahm, Chris Seydou, Kofi Ansah and Alphadi alongside newer names including Imane Ayissi, Nkwo, IAMISIGO, Moshions, Thebe Magugu, Lagos Space Programme and Sindiso Khumalo. These key pieces, many of which are new acquisitions, will be surrounded by personal testimonials, photography, textiles, music, editorials and catwalk footage that tell wider and contextual stories. A stunning array of portraiture on view comes from Sanlé Sory, Michel Papami Kameni and Rachidi Bissiriou as well as James Barnor and Gouled Ahmed.

Dr Christine Checinska, senior curator African and African Diaspora: Textile and Fashion, joined the V&A to spearhead its broadening focus on contemporary African style. Through the curation of this exhibition, her intention is to champion the multi-layered nuances of a scene that has always led the way, from the vanguard who shaped Africa’s cultural renaissance through to the new tastemakers working in the digital space.

“Our guiding principle for Africa Fashion is the foregrounding of individual African voices and perspectives. The exhibition will present African fashions as a self-defining art form that reveals the richness and diversity of African histories and cultures,” she asserts. “To showcase all fashions across such a vast region would be to attempt the impossible. Instead, Africa Fashion will celebrate the vitality and innovation of a selection of fashion creatives, exploring the work of the vanguard in the 20th century and the creatives at the heart of this eclectic and cosmopolitan scene today. We hope this exhibition will spark a renegotiation of the geography of fashion and become a game-changer for the field.”

Marrakech-based Atsi Ifrach of Maison ArtC, has contributed a specially commissioned piece for the show entitled A Dialogue Between Cultures. Of his approach, he says: “Africa Fashion means the past, the future and the present at the same time. The joy of life and the joy of colour is completely different and very particular to the continent. It’s a language of heritage, it’s a language of DNA, it’s a language of memories.” Chiming with that, Joburg-based LVHM winner Thebe Magugu adds: “I feel like there’s so many facets of what we’ve been through as a continent, that people don’t actually understand. Now more than ever African designers are taking charge of their own narrative and telling people authentic stories, not the imagined utopias.”

As for Nataal’s contribution, we have created a short film that explores how movement and dance cultures can speak to the uplifting sophistication of African fashion. In addition, a dedicated section of our next print magazine will highlight some of the conversations of the show through the work of the next generation of talent. More details to be revealed soon…

Africa Fashion opens 2 July 2022 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London

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Published on 13/02/2022