As both scholar and designer, Christine Checinska has worked in fashion for decades. Through the years, she has developed a substantial body of work on the relationship between race, culture, and cloth, focusing on British and British-diasporan contexts. She is currently Curator of African and African Diaspora Fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where she is curating Africa Fashion, …

On January 31, I was in Munich to speak at the symposium “Fashion atmospheres: Aesthetic and practices from the Afropolis”. The event was organised by the DFG Research Group “Fashion and Styles in African Cities”, led by Prof. Dr. Kerstin Pinther (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Münich) and Prof. Basile Ndjio (University of Douala). My fellow speakers were Kristin Kastner (LMU), Alexandra Weigand (LMU), …

Last week dr. Erica de Greef, fashion scholar, curator, and co-founder of the African Fashion Research Institute with Lesiba Mabitsela, delivered a keynote speech on sustainability and decoloniality at The Future of Fashion. The symposium, organised by Rewoven South Africa and held in Johannesburg, aimed at facilitating the development of the national sustainable fashion industry and included another keynote by …

Saturday 16 November I attended “L’Etica Indosso”, an event on fair fashion organised by CEFA Onlus in collaboration with the Municipality of Bologna. CEFA – Il seme della solidarietà is a human rights NGO that works to alleviate poverty in African rural areas through sustainable agriculture projects and other activities that create opportunities of work and entrepreneurship across the continent. …

arteBOTANICA launched early this month in Johannesburg to send a message of social responsibility in the setting of the Cradle of Humankind, at Nirox Sculpture Park. Creative director Manthe Ribane, of Dear Ribane collective, chose ethical fashion as the inaugural theme of this annual event that promises to “reveal the exuberant aesthetics and joie de vivre of contemporary Africa”. Ribane lined up some …

On 5 October I was at MACRO Asilo, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, for “B&W – Black & White: The Migrant Trend”. This four-week intercultural laboratory (sponsored by Progetto Agata Smeralda Onlus, technical sponsor Puntoseta) was directed by Caterina Pecchioli (Nation25) in collaboration with A.I. Artisanal Intelligence and FUM Studio. B&W is a collaborative project that promotes a “migrant trend” …

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 …

Last week I was in Palermo for Resignifications: The Black Mediterranean. The conference was the last of a string of international events organised by Tisch School of the Arts, New York, Florence: La Pietra Dialogues, NYU Institute of African American Affairs, Harvard’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research devoted to black art, cultural theory, and practice. Past conversations have included …

Had I the funds to travel I’d attend one of these two events in May. The line-ups are interesting. Afrodyssée, the International Market of African Trends, will take place in Geneva on the 12th.   This yearly event provides African designers a space to showcase their fashion and accessory collections. There will be talks, a fashion show and a gallery …

If you happen to be in London on 4 and 5 May you should buy tickets for “Si Wi Yah: Sartorial Representations of the African Diaspora” organised by CIAD: The Costume Institute of the African Diaspora at London College of Fashion . Si Wi Yah will bring together researchers from across the globe who are working within the field of …