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Who Makes Luxury?

Vivienne Westwood x Made in Kenya AW 2022 campaign featuring artisanal handcrafted bags.

When news circulated that Nigeria had quietly supplied leather to some of the world’s most prestigious fashion

The Betting Generation

The Betting Generation Marvellous Durowaiye PDP23 EXH 12

The Betting Generation Inside Africa’s billion-dollar sports wagering boom and the young people driving it. Photo © Marvellous Durowaiye This is part of our ongoing coverage of African digital life—the platforms, systems, and behaviors shaping how the continent’s next generation earns, spends, and connects. Across the vibrant streets and markets of Africa’s cities from Lagos […]

Best of Culture 2025

Best of Culture 2025 IMG 4583 2

2025 was the year African culture stopped explaining itself. The shift was visible

Nyambo Masa Mara on Border Politics, Sustainability, and Building Masa Mara

Nyambo Masa Mara on Border Politics, Sustainability, and Building Masa Mara GOA FS CL 2025 1001160

Nyambo Masa Mara on Border Politics, Sustainability, and Building Masa Mara Portrait of Nyambo Masa Mara, Founder of the brand Masa Mara. Nyambo Masa Mara’s two freeform dreadlocks hang down his back, thick and heavy. He estimates they weigh about 15 kilograms total. “People always ask if they’re heavy,” he says. “Of course they are. […]

How Colonial Morality Still Polices African Fashion

How Colonial Morality Still Polices African Fashion FLY02238

How Colonial Morality Still Polices African Fashion Akamba Warrior (Kenya): Image No. 10768. Courtesy of Penn Museum Archives. Before colonial rule, most communities wore practical, hand-made garments: woven cotton wrappers in West Africa; smocks and robes for traders and farmers; leather and beadwork in parts of the Sahel and southern Africa; wool and barkcloth where […]

Beyond the White Lines. Africa, Fashion, and the U.S. Open

Beyond the White Lines. Africa, Fashion, and the U.S. Open IMG 8506

  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 […]

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

Everyday Couture: Why Africa's True Fashion Houses Sit on the Streets Fundi wa nguo mwanamke

  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 sewing machine […]