The Commercial Life of African Culture
Ownership, rights and distribution shape who profits from the African creative economy, from wax print and photography to Afrobeats.
NAANIYA: The New Language of Modest Fashion
Fashion entered Madina Tangara’s life long before NAANIYA existed. Her father was a sapeur, a man who understood the quiet power of dressing with intention, and her mother carried an effortless elegance and a deep appreciation for style. “I understood early on that clothing could carry meaning beyond appearance,” she says. That conviction became the […]
Kente and the Politics of Being Read
On June 8, 2020, a group of Democratic lawmakers knelt on the floor of the United States Capitol for eight minutes and forty-six seconds, the duration then believed to mark how long a Minneapolis officer had knelt on George Floyd’s neck, later revised at trial to nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds. Several of them wore […]
La Vie Est Belle
Makhan Sakho is twenty-six, Guinean and Malian and Congolese by heritage, Parisian by address. He has worked as a model, stylist, producer, and creative director, but the camera is where his vision sits most fully. “I like when the photos speak for themselves,” he says. “The compositions, the colors, the textures — they allow us […]
Understanding Bògòlanfini: The Malian Textile Written in Mud and Cotton
Bògòlanfini, the mud cloth of Mali, is one of Africa’s oldest living textile traditions. Ugonna-Ora Owoh traces its science, symbolism, and migration — from Bamana villages and the Mali Empire to Chris Seydou’s Paris ateliers and Awa Meïté’s contemporary Bamako-based practice.
Woven Stories: 9 African Artists Shaping Contemporary Narratives Through Textiles
Textiles are more than material. They hold stories, histories and languages shaped through time. I think of them
Bal d’Afrique, on African Ground
Byredo’s new campaign was shot in Accra with a West African cast, a Burkinabè choreographer and a creative team spanning the continent and its diaspora. It may be the most structurally ambitious fragrance campaign of the year. Photography by Philip-Daniel Ducasse for Byredo Byredo’s new Bal d’Afrique campaign was shot in Accra, Ghana, and built […]
The Blues That Never Left Africa
When Ali Farka Touré first heard John Lee Hooker’s records in the 1960s, the
Dakar Fashion Week 2025: Day 2
Eight designers showed on Day 2, spanning Senegal, Mali, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville, and Cameroon. The range
The Sustainability Checklist: African Fashion in the Age of Green Demands
While African fashion practices have long been inherently sustainable, designers are now navigating a global system where sustainability means compliance