The first tennis clubs in Africa were built like fortresses. Behind their gates in Lagos, Johannesburg, Nairobi, and Casablanca, colonists played in pressed whites while Africans raked clay, carried balls, or stood outside the fence. The game was there but not for them. That shadow framed a remark by South African designer Wanda Lephoto at […]
Yesterday’s Continental Swagger panel, presented by The Met’s Costume Institute, brought together three uncompromising voices — Adeju Thompson (Lagos Space Programme, Nigeria), Wanda Lephoto (South Africa), and Imane Ayissi (Cameroon/France) for an unflinching, deeply personal conversation on heritage, innovation, and the politics of where a designer chooses to stand. Moderated by Monica L. Miller, Guest […]
How do African dress traditions shape and inspire the possibilities of contemporary fashion and Black identity? In conjunction with the exhibition Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, Idelle Taye, founder of Guzangs, reflects and expands upon the rich relationship between sartorial expression and ancestral legacies across the African continent through the work of seven trailblazing contemporary designers. The Costume […]
We’ve spent the last four weeks digging into the roots of regalia, resistance, and everything stitched in between. Threads of Influence wasn’t about nostalgia. It was about showing how Black style has always been a strategy. And how tailoring, in particular, has carried history on its back. So when the 2025 Met Gala chose Superfine: […]
7 African creatives who are reshaping design on their own terms On April 21, the UN observed World Creativity and Innovation Day. But for many African designers, artists, and architects, that kind of thinking isn’t tied to a calendar. It’s just how the work gets done. Across the continent, new ideas are taking shape. Quietly. […]