Africa’s Fashion Diaspora

Stitching West Africa to West Indies and Nairobi to New York, the chapters of Africa’s Fashion Diaspora weave a global fashion tapestry illuminated by the glistening threads of the African diaspora. Based on an innovative exhibition at FIT Museum which explores the “lack of black” in an industry long inspired by African culture, this book highlights the global impact that black designers have had on contemporary fashion; and through visual storytelling showcases the common cultural experience of being black in a white-dominated world. From essays on issues such as national dress and the complexity of cultural appropriation, to glistening pages of hand-stitched embroidery, Africa’s Fashion Diaspora is as much a history book about fashion as it is a fashion book about history.