African-Print Fashion Now! A Story of Taste, Globalization, and Style


October 6, 2018 - April 28, 2019

Mint Museum Randolph

               

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyemah McEntyre, designer (b. Newark, NJ, 1997)

Mind of Kye, Based in East Orange, New Jersey

The Prom Slayer Dress, 2016

Vlisco wax print, Angelina
Courtesy Fowler Museum at UCLA
Photo: Don Cole

Lekan Jeyifo (b. Nigeria) and Walé Oyéjidé (b. Nigeria, 1981)

Johannesburg 2081 A.D.

Africa 2081 A.D. series, 2014

Digital print    

Courtesy Ikiré Jones                  

Francis K. Honny (b. Elmina, Ghana, 1914–1998)

Portrait of man and woman, Elmina, Ghana, circa1975

Black and white photograph

Courtesy Tobias Wendl

 

 

 

 

African-Print Fashion Now! A Story of Taste, Globalization, and Style introduces visitors to a dynamic and diverse dress tradition and the increasingly interconnected fashion worlds that it inhabits: "popular" garments created by local seamstresses and tailors across the continent; international runway fashions designed by Africa’s newest generation of couturiers; and boundary-breaking, transnational and youth styles favored in Africa's urban centers. All feature the colorful, boldly designed, manufactured cotton textiles that have come to be known as "African-print cloth." 

 

An introductory section of the exhibition is followed by four areas exploring the global stories of these textiles; studio-based portrait photography, the diverse popular styles worn across the continent,  groundbreaking runway fashion, and transnational interpretations of African-print. Throughout, African-print fashions can be seen as creative responses to key historical moments and as reflections of ever-changing stylistic preferences. The exhibition includes works from the archives of the Dutch company Vlisco, the most well-known maker of African-print cloths, private lenders, and holdings from the Fowler Museum at UCLA. New works by artists and designers have been commissioned for the exhibition.The exhibition features 250 objects: one-hundred and thirty cloths, sixty tailored ensembles, twenty photographic works, twelve works of contemporary art, and objects from archival collections.  Organized by the Fowler Museum, the curatorial team includes includes Suzanne Gott, Kristyne Loughran, Betsy Quick, and Leslie Rabine and is accompanied by a fully illustrated scholarly catalogue. 

 

Selected Resources 

  

 

Artists and Contributors 

African-Print Fashion Now!: Designer Titi Ademola from Fowler Museum on Vimeo.

 

                     

          

 

Video from CNN Interview 

Video from CNN's "Meet Hassan Hajjaj: The 'Andy Warhol of Marrakech'"  

 

                     

 

Video from CNN's "Putting Africa on the Fashion Map" 

 

African-Print Fashion Now!: Designer Alexis Temomanin from Fowler Museum on Vimeo.

 

                       

 

Wax Print Companies and Stores

 

                     

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Created by Rylee Aquilanti, Intern for the Mint Museum Library, Summer 2018