Africa Fashion, The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

from 31/05/2024 to 06/10/2024

A landmark exhibition, Africa Fashion celebrates the creativity, ingenuity, and global impact of contemporary African fashions from the mid-twentieth century to the present day.  Featuring over 200 works – spanning fashion, textiles, adornment, photography, music and film – the exhibition illuminates a thriving fashion scene as dynamic and varied as the continent itself. Developed by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and presented in Melbourne in partnership with the NGV, Africa Fashion is the largest exhibition of fashions from this region in an Australian art institution to date. More than 50 designers and artists from 20 African countries are represented, from the vanguards who first gained worldwide attention, such as Kofi Ansah, Chris Seydou and Shade Thomas-Fahm – to the newest generation of cutting-edge creatives, including Thebe Magugu, Imane Ayissi, IAMISIGO, and Lisa Folawiyo. Organised chronologically and thematically, Africa Fashion foregrounds individual African voices and perspectives, as well as the richness of African histories and cultures. Beginning with the African independence movement and the liberation years, the exhibition illuminates the important role of fashion – alongside art, film, literature and music – in the cultural renaissance of the 1950s and 1960s. Photographic portraiture, past and present, also plays a central role, illustrating the relationship between fashion, agency and self-representation.
Link to the exhibition website