Lagos Fashion Week models holding hands — Photography courtesy of Lagos Fashion Week.

June 20, 2023

Brooklyn Museum Launches Exhibit on African Fashion

Photographer Sanlé Sory is 80 now…but in the 1970’s, during the postcolonial period of his native Burkina Faso, he posed teenagers in front of hand-painted backgrounds to document the era’s zeitgeist, like in Je Vais Décoller, a 1977 black-and-white image of a young man boarding a plane.

It joins some 180 pieces of clothing, textiles, and jewelry in “Africa Fashion,” organized by Victoria and Albert Museum and landing at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, June 23 to October 22. Dozens of creatives from 20 countries are included. From Nigeria is a yellow ensemble by Bubu Ogisi’s womenswear label IAMISIGO and Stephen Tayo’s photograph of Lagos Fashion Week models linking hands, while Djiboutian costume designer-photographer Gouled Ahmed’s black-and-white self-portrait was taken in Ethiopia. Additionally, Brooklyn Museum curators issued an open call for museumgoers’ related personal photographs to augment the exhibition.

a black and white image of a woman boarding a plane — Photography by Sanlé Sory/Tezeta, courtesy of David Hill Gallery.

a woman wearing a yellow ensemble by Bubu Ogisi — Photography courtesy of Iamisigo/Maganga Mwagogo.

A self portrait of Gouled Ahmed — Photography courtesy of Gouled Ahmed.

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