Cover, Don’t Conceal: Marième Mboup and the New Shape of African Modesty
Once considered the domain of religious and conservative values, modest fashion has undergone a dramatic transformation — becoming one of the most expressive and innovative style movements among African youths today. It is evident across major cultural capitals like Lagos, Dakar, and Addis Ababa, young Africans are reimagining what it means to dress modestly. Though […]
Memories Sculpted in Bronze: A Mother’s Legacy, A Daughter’s Light — The Story of IFTIIN
Mariam Racine didn’t plan to become a jewelry designer. Her path to founding IFTIIN—a studio crafting bold, artisan-made bronze jewelry rooted in African heritage—wasn’t a straight line, but a series of reflections, reckonings, and rediscoveries. “It really started with an unexpected job loss,” she says. “That economic dismissal turned out to be a blessing in […]
Kilubukila: Crafting a New Congolese Narrative Through Heritage, Design, and Women’s Empowerment
In the heart of Kinshasa, where the pulse of the city meets the echo of ancestral memory, a quiet revolution is unfolding — not with fanfare, but with fiber. In a modest workshop humming with laughter, looms, and purpose, Congolese women are weaving more than raffia. They are weaving futures. Identity. Power. And pride. This […]
From Artifact to Agency: Inside The Met’s New Chapter for African Art
On May 31, 2025, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) reopened its Arts of Africa galleries with a celebration that felt less like a formal unveiling and more like a long-awaited homecoming. The newly redesigned space, part of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, brought together artists, curators, collectors, and cultural leaders from across […]
Waste Not, Wear More: African Designers and Artists Upcycle the Future
As the global fashion industry reckons with its massive environmental impact, Africa is quietly leading a creative revolution — one where waste is not discarded but reborn. On this World Environment Day, we turn the spotlight to a growing community of African designers and artists transforming textile scraps, plastic, and secondhand clothing into vibrant works […]
Inside the Cannes Premiere of ‘My Father’s Shadow’—And What It Means for Nigerian Cinema
There are moments when history happens quietly. Not with fireworks, but with the hush of anticipation and the swell of a violin score in a darkened theater. When My Father’s Shadow premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, it felt like one of those moments. Months earlier, Guzangs ran […]
A Decade of Design: Roselyn Silva on Intentional Elegance and Her São Tomé Roots
Amber Is the New Bold: When the Glow Is Ours to Command
The body has always been a canvas—and melanin, a masterpiece. Not in the way galleries hold paintings behind velvet ropes, but in the way a woman, bare-shouldered and sun-kissed, walks into a room and does not apologize for taking up space. Melanin is not just pigment. It is memory, it is resistance, it is grace […]
In Dubai, African Designers Set the Tone for a Global Conversation on Luxury
Last month, the opulent halls of the Mandarin Oriental Jumeirah in Dubai pulsed with creativity as the AFRA World Fashion Confluence 2025 brought together designers from across the globe under the evocative theme Echoes of the Oasis. At the heart of it all was a landmark partnership between AFRA World and the Lulubell Group, led […]
Africa Day 2025: The Legacy and Future of African Unity
Every May 25th, the African continent unites to commemorate Africa Day—a celebration of independence and a long and complex journey toward unity and sovereignty. At its heart lies the African Union (AU), a continental body born from the vision of a self-determined Africa, free from colonial dominance, economic subjugation, and foreign political interference. Understanding the […]