Walking into Africa Fashion in Montreal feels like arriving at the latest stop in a global conversation — one that began in London, traveled through Brooklyn, staged in Melbourne, and now lands here to shed new light on diasporic and local voices.
Originally mounted at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London from July 2, 2022 to April 16, 2023, the exhibition reframed African fashion as a self-defining art form. In London, curators paired mid-20th century icons (like Shade Thomas-Fahm, Chris Seydou, and Kofi Ansah) with contemporary names, organizing the show thematically — “Politics of Cloth,” “Visual Culture,” “Dress & Ritual” — rather than purely chronologically. Critics praised how the V&A allowed the garments, textiles, photography, and archival materials to “speak back” to dominant Eurocentric narratives.
From London, the exhibition journeyed to the Brooklyn Museum (June–October 2023), where it expanded in scale and experience. In New York, Africa Fashion was billed as the “largest-ever presentation” of the subject across garments, textiles, photography, and film. Brooklyn’s version leaned more into immersive elements — soundscapes, multimedia, and audio-visual interplay — inviting audiences to linger, interact, and reflect. Observers described it as a necessary departure from the conventional western fashion canon.
Then came Melbourne, at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), where the show was described as “the largest exhibition of fashion from the African continent ever mounted in Australia.” In Melbourne, the same juxtaposition of archival and contemporary works was preserved, but with a local flavor in how audiences interacted with themes of identity, globalization, and postcolonial legacies. The NGV edition emphasized that Africa Fashion is both part historical survey and part living, evolving showcase.
Now open at the McCord Stewart Museum through February 1, 2026, Montreal becomes a node where the thread of global curation meets local resonance. This city, with its vibrant Afro-Canadian communities and creative networks, offers the chance not just to receive the narratives but to re-author them through its own voices. The exhibition brings together nearly one hundred garments, accessories, textiles, photographs, and films spanning the early 1960s to today. It traces a story of independence and imagination, heritage and reinvention, illustrating how African fashion has emerged as a powerful, self-defining force on the global stage.
“Our guiding principle for Africa Fashion is the foregrounding of individual African voices and perspectives,” says Dr. Christine Checinska, Senior Curator of African and African Diaspora Textiles and Fashion at the Victoria & Albert Museum. “The exhibition presents African fashions as a self-defining art form that reveals the richness and diversity of African histories and cultures. To showcase all fashions across such a vast region would be impossible. Instead, Africa Fashion celebrates the vitality and innovation of a selection of fashion creatives.”
“We are thrilled to be collaborating for a fifth time with the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum. This is the first international exhibition to celebrate the emergence, influence, ingenuity, and unique energy of African fashion creatives,” adds Anne Eschapasse, President and CEO of the McCord Stewart Museum. “With its outstanding collection and commitment to intercultural dialogue, the McCord Stewart Museum is proud to host the exhibition’s sole Canadian showing. The exhibition also spotlights the talents of Afro-descendant creatives from our own community, through a partnership with the Montreal Afro-Canadian Cultural Centre (CCAM).”
The birth of pride and self-expression
In 1960, seventeen nations claimed independence. Across the continent, cloth and pattern became language. Pioneers like Naïma Bennis, Shade Thomas-Fahm, Chris Seydou, Kofi Ansah, and Alphadi transformed traditional textiles into statements of identity, garments into archives of culture, and patterns into poetry. Their work laid the foundations for a continent whose fashion communicates history, pride, and ambition.
From these foundations rise contemporary visionaries. Designers like Imane Ayissi, IAMISIGO, Moshions, Thebe Magugu, and Sindiso Khumalo chart new paths, blending tradition with experimentation. Their work is intimate yet revolutionary: architecture in fabric, minimalism as rebellion, heritage entwined with futurism. Every garment tells a story, every collection a manifesto.
Through the lens of freedom
Photography has been central to this narrative. Portraits capture communities dressed not merely to be seen, but to be recognized. From black-and-white images of 1960s Lagos to vibrant contemporary editorials from Johannesburg, Africa Fashion presents these visuals alongside garments and accessories, reminding us that fashion and identity are inseparable, and that representation is itself a form of power.
Montreal as a stage
The McCord Stewart Museum hosts the only Canadian stop on this international tour, situating Montreal as a stage where African fashion takes center. Through a collaboration with the Centre culturel afro-canadien de Montréal (CCAM), the exhibition culminates in Bal Afrikana, a showcase of local Afro-descendant talent, lifting Montreal designers alongside continental visionaries.
“True to its mission of promoting and uplifting creators from Black communities, the CCAM is proud to present this fashion show in partnership with the McCord Stewart Museum on the occasion of the launch of the Africa Fashion exhibition. This event continues the spirit of Bal Afrikana, which serves as an essential platform where Afro-descendant talents shine, inspire, and contribute to writing a collective future rooted in our multiple identities,” says Allen Alexandre, Executive Director of CCAM.
At the heart of this dialogue is Marième Mboup, stylist, textile artist, content creator, and the exhibition’s official spokesperson. She reflects on its significance:
“The Africa Fashion Exhibition is an impactful testament that fashion is a tool for storytelling, cultural preservation, and resistance. The intentional and heartfelt work of research done by Dr. Christine Checinska is an inspiring statement and example for all artists and researchers. This exhibit is a representative look on African cultural heritage through the history of cloth, African arts, and fashions in past generations and the present. It represents for me an ode to craftsmanship, the astonishing creativity in African minds, and their relationship with history and traditions,” says Mboup.
A living, breathing manifesto
Walking through the Montreal galleries, one feels decades of creativity, the pulse of post-colonial self-expression, and the invitation to see how Africa Fashion can speak uniquely here — draped in history, animated by present dialogue, and open to future reinvention. It is a celebration of artistry, intellect, and identity — personal and collective.
Montreal has opened its doors to this global conversation. The world is watching. Africa, through the vision of its designers and artists, continues to lead.
Featured Designers in Africa Fashion
Pioneers & Early Innovators: Naïma Bennis, Kofi Ansah, Chris Seydou, Shade Thomas-Fahm, Alphadi, Maison ARTC (Artsi Ifrach)
Contemporary Visionaries: Moshions (Moses Turahirwa), Katush (Katungulu Mwendwa), MMUSOMAXWELL (Maxwell Boko & Mmuso Potsane), Doreen Mashika, Lisa Folawiyo, IAMISIGO (Bubu Ogisi), Fruché Official (Frank Aghuno), MAXHOSA AFRICA (Laduma Ngxokolo), Hassan Hajjaj, Orange Culture (Adebayo Oke-Lawal), Nao Serati (Neo Serati), Sindiso Khumalo, Christie Brown (Aisha Ayensu), Torlowei (Patience Torlowei), Tongoro (Sarah Diouf), Amine Bendriouich: Couture & Bullshit, Thebe Magugu, Selly Raby Kane, Bull Doff (Laure Tarot & Baay Sooley), Loza Maléombho, Reform Studio (Hend Riad & Mariam Hazem), Okhtein (Aya & Mounaz Raouf), Adèle Dejak, K’Tsobe (Sarah LeGrand), Ami Doshi Shah, Theresia Kyalo, Lafalaise Dion, Inzuki (Teta Isibo), Lagos Space Programme (Adeju Thompson), NKWO (Nkwo Onwuka), Kenneth Ize, Awa Meité, Imane Ayissi, Khokho, AAKS (Akosua Afriyie-Kumi), Lukhanyo Mdingi, ATAFO (Mai Atafo), Carol Achieng & Joice Makokha Simiyu, ODI – Onder Die Invloe
Africa Fashion is currently on view at the McCord Stewart Museum through February 1, 2026.