African designers are subverting the stereotypical ideologies of what it means to run a fashion business and are creating brands that have made it into the mainstream with full force. Adebayo Oke-Lawal of Orangeculture Nigeria, Kenneth Ize, Thebe Magugu, Lukhanyo Mdingi, Sindiso Khumalo, Mmuso Maxwell and Thompson Adeju of Lagos Space Program are a few of the household names in the African fashion industry whose ethos are unmatched and hard to miss.
Although it gained mainstream attention during the pandemic, sustainable fashion and ethical production aren’t new phenomena in the African fashion industry. “One important thing to note [is that] sustainability has always been an inherent part of African culture partially due to necessity,” Sana Ahmed, wrote on Causeartist.
At the centre of her SS/22 collection, Places We Have Lived, Nigeria’s foremost sustainable designer, Nkwo Onwuka takes a deep dive into the never-ending political mishaps the country continues to experience. For her, sustainable fashion has surpassed how we previously understood it to be. It’s now about politicization and the empowerment of local artisans, with a focus on building a community of people who are adamant against being defined by previous ill-experiences.
London is also much in the business of subverting Western concepts in fashion, so much so that their collections aren’t termed ‘SS’ or ‘AW’, but ‘Projects’, as this feels more personal to them. “My biggest anxiety is embodying a persona that feeds into how the West expects me to present myself. I am not one-sided. I appreciate and am inspired by cultures from all around. That is my reality,” Adeju tells Vogue.
“I live in a particular way that’s based on community and building human relationships, and for me, the best moment was seeing how we can come together,” Mdingi tells OkayAfrica, “We want to create something very modern, but most importantly, bring visibility to the [craftspeople]. I love the human networks that are involved around the clothes.”