Oyinkan Braithwaite on Cursed Daughters: “I Want Readers to Feel Relief That Things Worked Out”

After the phenomenal success of My Sister, the Serial Killer, Nigerian-British author Oyinkan Braithwaite returns with Cursed Daughters—a haunting family saga that blends realism with the supernatural, exploring inheritance, identity, and the unshakable weight of generational curses. When Oyinkan Braithwaite’s debut novel My Sister, the Serial Killer hit shelves in 2018, it felt like lightning […]

Inside Ugo Mozie’s Eleven Sixteen Presentation at Casa Cipriani in New York

Named for his November 16 birthday, Eleven Sixteen marks celebrity stylist Ugo Mozie’s evolution into a full fashion collection, born from his Enugu roots and global journey. The Nigerian-American creative director, whose designs have adorned Blue Ivy’s Cowboy Carter tour and Diana Ross’s Met Gala appearance, presented his most comprehensive vision yet with the preview […]

Nike x Air Afrique Collaboration fuses Culture, Icons, and Hidden Morse Code

The story starts with a defunct airline and ends with a sneaker that demonstrates what happens when cultural authority drives corporate partnerships. Air Afrique ceased operations in 2002, but its ghost has been haunting the fashion world lately. Not in a melancholy way — more like the kind of haunting that demands attention. When four young […]

The History of African Designers at New York Fashion Week

When African designers began appearing on the New York Fashion Week stage, they brought with them more than collections—they introduced perspectives that expanded the conversation of global fashion. From Nigeria’s vibrant textiles to South Africa’s bold silhouettes, these creators have steadily woven cultural heritage and contemporary vision into one of the industry’s most visible platforms. […]

African Art and Creativity: What Inspires Artists Across the Continent

In a small Lagos studio, a painter dips her brush in red paint. Her canvas bursts with market colors: yellow mangoes, blue headscarves, green leaves. She grew up in a noisy neighborhood where money was scarce, but the buzz of traders and kids playing gave her ideas. In a London apartment, a musician strums his […]

How African Music Conquered the World (and Why It’s Just Getting Started)

Nigerian artist Burna Boy on stage at Untold Festival, August 2024, pointing to the crowd during a global performance.

From griots to Grammys, the rhythms of Africa have carried across centuries, reshaping how the world creates and listens to music. African music has always transcended mere sound. It is memory incarnate, ritual transformed into rhythm, protest given voice, and joy made manifest—a living pulse that carries history from one generation to the next. Over […]

Inside the Rise of Africa’s Skateboarding Culture

In Kampala, in a neighborhood called Kitintale, a half-pipe rises from the red earth. It is not polished concrete poured by a city planner or a glossy installation by a global sports brand. It is a handmade monument, built nearly twenty years ago by Jackson Mubiru, who believed Uganda’s children needed a place to roll, […]

Everyday Couture: Why Africa’s True Fashion Houses Sit on the Streets

Fashion Before Pinterest Growing up in Africa, you feel the streets’ pulse long before you ever hear of Paris runways. On crowded roads where roasted plantain and petrol fumes mingle, a tailor’s shop hums with life. It’s a tiny space, bursting with wax prints, bogolan, kente, and lace — colors popping like a festival. A […]

Cowrie Shells Carry Africa’s Past Into Fashion’s Future

Portrait of a woman wearing a headpiece made of rows of cowrie shells that drape over her face and shoulders. She gazes into the camera with a commanding expression, dressed in flowing fabric, against a backdrop of golden cloth and soft natural light.

When Beyoncé appeared in Black Is King, her face veiled in a mask of cowrie shells, the world saw ornament. Africans saw memory. These glossy shells once banned, once branded “demonic” had returned to the global stage, shimmering with pride. Behind them stood Lafalaise Dion, the Ivorian designer who has become the “Queen of Cowries,” […]

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