FASHION | AFRICA | NOW

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 th...

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 exh...

Soji Solarin is a Nigerian born contemporary fashion designer whose experience and perception on racism in Germany and world view offer a unique perspective on ‘Blackness’. Moving to America from Nigeria at the age of 13, he’s drawn inspiration from hidden figures such as the Black cowboys in America, which we later see reflected in Soji’s first collection “Negro Cowboys“. From Nigeria to Maryland, Los Angeles, lang haul to Berlin, where he’s now based, to Moscow where he debuted his Spring 2...

Meet the art, media and design theorist, curator and co-director of Fluctuating Images, a platform for media art and design, Dr. Cornelia Lund. Well-travelled and versed in the art and design world, Lund’s academic perspective and articulation substantiates and encourages validation of non-Eurocentric and Anglocentric theories and practices within the art and design framework. Lund’s intriguing analysis on recent contemporary African art trends explores music, art and design production; notic...

Ibaaku joins us for our #16episode all the way from Senegal - sonic poet, visual artist, composer, radio presenter and platform founder. This multi talented artist shares with us extensive insight into the African music scene. In true Fashion Africa Now style, the topic of fashion and music is explored on the African scene; Ibaaku describes fashion and music as “two expressions that go together. For me it’s a way to give body to the music, give body to the frequency… fashion and music a...

A career in fashion fuelled by passion, YEGA talks to Beatrace and gives the exposé on her spontaneous journey to becoming an established fashion illustrator. Luxury fashion, editorial and bespoke art, the unique combination of design, fine art and commerciality is what makes fashion illustration niche in the art form world for many Africans. This is why YEGA has found much of her success in the Middle East and Europe. Her illustrations have covered the walls in the Dubai Mall, they have been...

Chebet Mutai gives an exposé from a global perspective into the fashion and textile industry all the way from Nairobi, Kenya. Her break into the fashion scene has been solution-orientated. Chebet founded the luxury lifestyle brand, Wazawazi that specialises in leather accessories, reflecting beauty and the progressive nature of Kenya, and by extension, Africa. Providing training, up-skilling, and generating economic value to the local community is at the helm of her brand. With a background i...

The rise in black platforms promoting and celebrating Africa has been instrumental in raising cultural pride and and expectations of the Continent. Hubs of creativity, fashion, innovation business and entrepreneurship are rapidly springing forth and advancing with technology. And there are those non African who have invested their time and passion into the Continent, seeking commonality. Style anthropologist, writer, creative producer and part-time DJ, Carmen Hogg from Amsterdam, represents t...

Out of the Pearl of Africa is an erupting fashion scene. A Ugandan special with guests, Tazibone Solomon in Kampala and Ssonko Brian in Jinja, hosted by Beatrace Angut Oola out in the Diaspora in Germany, also originally from Uganda. Solomon brings a wealth of experience in Ugandan celebrity glamour, couture, media and entertainment. While Ssonko empowers local communities, artisanal production, textile innovation and advocates for sustainability. The multifaceted nature of fashion and its im...

Akinbode Akinbiyi’s wisdom from wandering through cities and nations, observing the essence and evolution of life is captured through his art form of photography. In this episode we hear his insight as Beatrace probes a conversation on the rising awareness and pride in Black culture. His vivid experience from the fifties to the present day of world changing movements frames several scenes that have brought empowerment and assertion to Africa and the Diaspora. Cultured, travelled, internationa...

Fashion Icon April Walker, from Brooklyn, New York, is considered as one of the architects and trailblazers in streetwear. The release of ‘The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion’ in 2019 on Netflix, put a spotlight on Walker Wear as one of the brands pioneering with the glitterati of Hip Hop from the eighties and nineties. New York was a diverse melting pot of hustlers, the famous, athletes and even correctional officers. On the flip side April reveals the underbelly of the misogynistic and oppressive ...

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 ...

Awa Meité, the Malian textile and fashion designer, epitomising power and humility. Awa debuted her unique handmade SS20 collection on the catwalks of Lagos Fashion Week, through unimagined fateful paths crossing. Awa Meité is known for her excellency and has been chosen to be part of Beyonce`s Black Is King visual album. This has given her and the community she pays homage to, the fabulously talented and dedicated cotton producers and craftsmen and women in Bamako, Mali, international ...

Two sisters take on Berlin, opening up their French fashion concept store La Case Paulette. These Reunion Islanders retell their journey from being ‘just a number' in the dog eat dog fashion industry of Paris, giving well rounded insight of their experiences as young black women living both in France and Germany and shifting into the pioneering space. “The Devil Wears Prada” was not just a movie, it’s the Paris fashion industry [Anne-Cécile], which they lived out working for world renowned br...

Celebrating hair, aesthetics, identity and the sound from Uganda and the diaspora. Jaqee is an internationally celebrated recording artist, with a singing voice gentle, soulful and clear as glass, and a bold afrocentric persona. She’s also known for her raw unadulterated natural hairstyles carefully considered in line with her artistry, such as styles that represent crowns. Her talent and passion for her artistry over the years has led her to really own her authentic space within the creative...

Pioneering Creative Director, Sydney, has been on a journey of discovery exploring different creative avenues to find his boundaries and his voice. He has definitely found the vessel for the vision he has by encouraging a culture that is ethical, conscious and circular through hand-me-down trade. Sydney’s project, Emeka-Suits, provides a solution through fashion that offers a beautifully tailored collection that exudes “a feeling… more than a strict aesthetic”. The German-based designer from ...

Making a difference in fashion. 2016 appears to be a pivotal year for both our guests; Buki Akomolafe founded fashion brand, BUKI AKOMOLAFE in 2016, describing her label as a cross-cultural bridge between two different worlds. Cherie Birkner exited the fast fashion scene in 2016, then shortly after founded the online platform, Sustainable Fashion Matterz, providing solutions and campaigns on sustainable fashion. While both have taken very different avenues within fashion in Germany, their pas...

Passionate about creating spaces of learning, Prof. Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung shares his perspectives with Beatrace on artisanship from Africa and the diaspora. An internationally renowned curator of African art, author, professor at the Weissensee Academy of Art in Berlin, founder of Savvy Contemporary, yet with a doctorate in biophysics, Ndikung gives a critically thought-out and cross-dimensional perspective on the current state of post colonial art and fashion. A mouthful right? ...

Jana Braumüller, a feminist, political thinker and women’s rights campaigner within fashion talks with Beatrace. Sustainability and justice are at the heart of Fashion Changers, a digital content platform Jana co-founded. Petitioning for laws bringing radical transparency, along with workshops, events and a co-written book, are just some of the efforts Fashion Changers are helping to drive on a societal scale in Germany. A parallel journey many young designers and brands from Africa and the d...

Listen in to a candid and fiery conversation Beatrace Angut Oola has with Omoyemi Akerele, live in Lagos, the highly sought-after driving force for much of Nigeria’s fashion industry; and Roberta Annan, with a strong business development background who kickstarted her place in fashion in the UN, and live in Accra. With years of experience in the African fashion industry, these formidable women agree on the need for infrastructure and collaboration amongst resident Africans and in the diaspora...

Meet Beatrace Angut Oola, founder of Fashion Africa Now and our F.A.N Podcast host. With strong credentials in fashion and the arts, working for some of the world's esteemed fashion brands, our Ugandan-German host is also a speaker, curator, guest lecturer and founder of a creative consulting agency, APYA Productions. Beatrace ignites and stewards candid and untold stories of talent from Africa and the diaspora, as well as those shaping the sustainable fashion scene.Support the Show.

The first episode of Fashion Africa Now Podcast will drop soon, and Beatrace Angut Oola will be airing every second Wednesday. Here's a quick taste of what's to come. Stay tuned...Support the Show.