African Fashion Show Opens at the Brooklyn Museum now 2023

That African Fashion an exhibition opened at the Brooklyn Museum this week offering incredible works from the continent from the past 70 years. When many African countries gained independence in the mid-20th century, the liberated artistic expression took it by storm and has only strengthened since then. African Fashion celebrates the global influence of designers and artists from the beginning of the independence era in the 1950s to the present day.

The show, which started last summer at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, has been adapted for the Brooklyn Museum by Ernestine White-Mifetu, curator of African Art at the Sills Foundation, and Annissa Malvoisin, Bard Graduate Center/Brooklyn Museum postdoctoral fellow in African Art. It features more than 180 works, including immersive displays of haute couture and ready-to-wear, film, textiles, and jewelry, much of which is on loan from the Brooklyn Museum itself.

The exhibition is an important presentation of African creativity highlighting not only fashion but also the dynamic diversity of talent originating from the continent, said White-Mifetu. I am excited that our New York visitors will have the opportunity to engage in African creative production in new ways.

The exhibition highlights a new generation of fashion designers and creatives, including Tokyo James, South Africa-based Thebe Magugu, and Nigerian label Adebayo Oke-Lawals, Orange Culture. It also features New York-based designer Christopher John Rogers, Brother Vellies Aurora James, and Oppong Whalewho recently won the Fashion Trust US Graduate Award.

Also debuting is a first-of-its-kind retail experience curated at the Brooklyn Museum in partnership with award-winning Lagos concept store Alra. The exhibition shop will feature exclusive collaborations, thriving trunk shows, and work by artists across the continent. Many designers are highlighted African Fashion, including Christie Brown, Tongoro, and Lafalaise Dion. Reni Folawiyo, founder of Alras, told Oprah Daily, It’s important for me to bring in designers that I really like. There is a personal connection to the brand: knowing the work done and respecting it. The shop is truly a curation dedicated to artisans.

The store will have different collabs and drops over the next few months. Some of the participating designers include Nigerian skateboard brand Wafflesncream, Paris-based Air Afrique, and the Lagos Space Program by Nigerian designer Adeju Thompson. Thompson, who also won this year’s International Woolmark Prize, will host a capsule celebrating Nigerian indigo art.

Folawiyo and his team worked with museum entrepreneur Rachel Shechtman and retail director Kate Foley to bring the Alra concept to an American audience for the first time.

I’m excited about this collaboration and the fact that we have the opportunity to bring Africa to New York. The Brooklyn Museum represents many things we believe in. Community based. It has a meaningful project, said Folawiyo. I love being able to connect with our diaspora. We also have several designers based in New York. We try to make those relationships not be too far from each other, and we have a place where we can connect the things we like.

Select items are available for sale at Alra on the Brooklyn Museum micrositewhich will also have new offers during the exhibition.

Alra x BkM Lagos Brooklyn T-shirt

Lafalaise Dion Queen of Cowries, Version One

The Brooklyn Museum’s African Fashion Catalog Book

Brother Vellies Kenyan Handmade Home Fan

AAKS Bika Yellow Handbag

Tickets for African Fashion can be purchased through the museum Here. The exhibition will be shown at the Brooklyn Museum now through October 22nd, and is made possible by major sponsor Bank of America with the generous support provided by Alra.

Sara Klausing covers all things fashion and style Oprah’s Daily.