AFRICAN FASHION AS VISUAL STORYTELLING – SOME NOTES INSPIRED BY VICTORIA ROVINE’S INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN FASHION, GLOBAL STYLE

In her most recent publication, Victoria L. Rovine analyzes African fashion as a manifestation of African artistic expression. Beginning her study with the remark that ‘fashion tells stories’, the scholar follows in the path of an array of other eminent scholars in suggesting that dress is a form of communication (see, for example, Calefato 2004), whose powers of persuasion rely …

ANTHONY BILA: BLACK HISTORY MARCH. WHEN FASHION PLEASES TO TEACH EMPOWERMENT

Last week South African photographer and video-maker Anthony Bila released a new volume of his yearly series “Black History March.” The 3-minute video features the fashion duo Sartists and pays homage to 1950s fashion with beautiful visuals and the dandies’s classic styling. Following a project that they have been pursuing for some time and independently of each other, Bila and the Sartists join forces to …