FASHION | AFRICA | NOW

Dialogues about Black aesthetics are necessary, according to Dr. Natasha A. Kelly. Dedicated to empowering and educating the Black community in Germany, the diaspora and strengthening the bond to Africa. Kelly is an academic, an author, a critical thinker, a visionary and an arts and culture shaker. You’ll hear her blunt perspective on institutional and structural racism, Black women and the Eurocentric gaze, digital racism, vector capitalism and tokenism - just some of the themes touched in this episode. “Colourism is a white aesthetic... Black is Black and Black is beautiful.” While Germany is one of the most progressive European countries, this does not apply when promoting the diversity of BIPoC in academia, fashion and media. However there are those whose work, voice and writings have been around for years and are worth engaging with, particularly after the reignited Black Lives Matter movement.

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Enjoy the flow that Senegalese-born New York-based international known photographer, Delphine Diallo, releases as she liberally shares her journey of enlightenment; working as a talented graphic designer in the Parisian creative scene yet not able to get past the glass ceiling in the corporate art world. A climactic epiphany for change and a divinely orchestrated connection with the legendary Peter Beard saw her to collaborate on the Pirelli calendar shoot in Botswana. This turning point led to an awakening that saw her begin her own vision quest. Delphine describes herself as predominantly a student before a photographer, exploring realms of spirituality, science, anthropology and martial arts and shifting through the third, fourth, fifth and sixth dimensions, creating her own realities. Proud of her African origin and drawing from the power of her heritage, we hear how she engages with the energies of empowering black females and aims to accelerate levels of consciousness through her work. Known for portraiture and her focus on the black female body, Delphine is passionate about the reconstruction of the African woman and capturing the truth that is covered by the patriarchal white male gaze smokescreen that dominates the global visual language.

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Skander Negasi, CEO of Trade and Fairs GmbH, introduces us to the developing fashion and textile hub in East Africa. With manufacturing costs increasing in Europe and Asia, buyers are looking for new destinations. Following the successful launch of the Origin Africa trade show in 2012 in Ethiopia alongside US Aid, since then many international trade fairs, events & conferences within different industries, including textile, apparel and fashion have been organised. He is responsible for the biggest exhibition of this nature in Africa, the Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week (ASFW) in Addis Ababa. The ASFW hosts over 4000 exhibitors and 6000 trade buyers. This includes H&M, Hugo Boss, Mango, Zara and more; and of course smaller local boutique designers and craftsmen are included, as well as huge industrial factory equipment. The main trends Skander highlights are the digitalisation of goods, sustainable production of fabric, and the practice of African Continental Free Trade (Africans doing business with Africans). For many African designers keen to expand their retail horizons, we encourage listening to Skander’s global insights from a business and trade perspective, “Without investment you don’t get anything...this is the homework for African designers... to promote their brand and work with shops... if they always depend on supporters, then it’s going to be very very tough.”

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For our 19th Episode, we met with Seju Alero Mike, creative entrepreneur from Nigeria. She’s a hybrid of emerging talent of combined passion for the creative space and methodological expertise. In Seju’s case, it is rooted in finance. Seju is the founder and lead curator of OSENGWA; an online platform featuring contemporary African art, fashion and music conceived by artists at the forefront of today’s Neo-African movement. In 2016 OSENGWA & The Monroe Trust presented the Afro Frontal exhibition in celebration of the Grand Opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. More recently in 2020 Seju launched iRAAMi, an app which helps Africans in the diaspora find resources and experiences that connect them with the continent and one another. “We are always buying things from the West... I think it’s important that we also export. Not just physical goods but creative capital and intellectual capital”. Despite the turbulence of 2020, particularly for Black lives globally with the eruption of BLM and EndSars, but also the restrictions that came with the pandemic, Seju used the opportunity as a catalyst and leverage to establish and grow her entrepreneurial plans by moving back to Lagos, Nigeria from the US. Her eCommerce acumen contributes to the expansion of digitalisation on the continent.

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