Event: “Dei” fashion + art show in Milan

afrosartorialismEvents, Highlights

On Sunday 29 September I have been invited to take part in an “informal conversation” on African fashion at Centro Interculturale di Quartiere, C.I.Q. in Milan, along Emanuela Mora, full professor of Sociology at Cattolica University and director of the research institute MODACULT, and Claudia Mazzucco, journalist at ETNOTV. The conversation will take place after the fashion+art performance “Dei”, curated …

Ghana’s design scene hails from 2035: @MohammedBlakk

afrosartorialismHighlights, Interviews, Talents

Mohammed Osumanu, 29, is a fashion stylist, designer, and artist from Accra who describes himself as as “a guy determined to push African art and fashion beyond boundaries”. The founder of the brand Afronative, Mohammed, aka @MohammedBlakk, is also one of the four #KvngsOfTheNewSchool, a crew of self-described “art citizens” advancing “an inclusive movement of afrocentric people who wish to …

What texts would a reader of South African fashion include?

afrosartorialismReading files

I’ve been hard at work promoting African Catwalk across Italy and to a couple of universities abroad, in hopes of showing it to as many people as possible. I have been able to more or less schedule two or three screenings that will take place in the fall. So far, so good. Paolo Pisacane (the director) and Gianmarco Altieri (screenwriter) …

“African Catwalk” – a documentary on South African fashion

afrosartorialismHighlights

African Catwalk, directed by Paolo Pisacane and produced by Todos Contentos y Yo Tambien for Italy’s National Broadcaster (RAI), is a fashion documentary shot at South African Fashion Week Johannesburg in March 2019. African Catwalk uses the revealing lens of fashion to lead us through the intricacies of the country, its society, its contradictions and its boundless energy. It follows …

Talents: Vusie Shabba on being an emerging stylist in South Africa

afrosartorialismHighlights, Interviews, Talents 1 Comment

Vusimuzi Terrence Shabalala, or Vusie Shabba as he prefers to be called, is a fashion stylist, events organizer, influencer, innovative, dreamer of 25. He was born in Soweto Meadowlands and has been based in Braamficher since 2007. Who is Vusie Shabba and what is your history? I grew up participating in a lot of life skills activities, I grew up …

My new article on Selly Raby Kane is out

afrosartorialismHighlights, Reading files

Last month “Selly Raby Kane: surrealist designer and social innovator” was published in Fashion Studies, as a downloadable and freely accessible paper. Citation: Picarelli, Enrica. “Selly Raby Kane: Surrealist Designer and Social Innovator.” Fashion Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, 2019, pp. , www.fashionstudies.ca/selly-raby-kane/ This is a milestone for my research, that I have had to put aside for other, more …