Jennings, Helen. “A Brief History of African Fashion.” NKA (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 2015, n^o 37 (2015): 44‑53. https://doi.org/10.1215/10757163-3339860.

In the last decade, a new generation of designers in Africa and the wider diaspora has started to rise through the fashion industry’s ranks. These talents are riding the wider wave of global interest in Africa’s cultural, economic, and technological ascension and are also taking advantage of improved infrastructure, education, and governance. According to the World Bank, Africa now boasts seven of the ten fastest growing economies. In addition, over 300 million Africans can currently be considered as middle class, while the number of high-net-worth individuals continues to grow. International investment is flooding into the continent, and the manufacturing, financial, corporate, technology, and telecommunications sectors are booming. This has a trickle-down effect not just upon fashion but all of the creative industries. Music, literature, film, and art are all gaining traction. Added to this is the fact that an estimated seventy percent of Africa’s population is under the age of thirty. It is this new generation of upwardly mobile designers who, possessed with a global vision, are beginning to shine so brightly. Whereas fashion was not traditionally seen as a viable occupation within Africa, today’s designers are making desirable, well-made, well-marketed collections that hang from rails all over the world.

[Source: Article abstract].

Adinolfi, Maisa C., Tembi Maloney Tichaawa, et Gugulethu Banda. “The Importance of the Fashion Industry in the South African Tourism Context”. Euro Economica 37, n^o 2 (2018): 245‑58.

The nexus of fashion and tourism is analyzed in this investigation. This study unpacks the creative event industry in the South African context, making a case for it as an emerging, and potentially powerful contributor for tourism development. Using semi-structured surveys conducted with key role players (models, agents and other related professionals) across fashion events in South Africa, the research uncovers the importance that the fashion industry has on South Africa’s tourism economy. Findings show that the creative fashion industry attracts both domestic and international crew participants, who have a high earning power and spend money on shopping and visiting local attractions. Additionally, they tend to stay longer than the traditional tourists, and visit other local destinations after the event. The study concludes that the fashion industry represents a hidden aspect of the South African event industry that must be taken seriously by destination managers in the planning and development of tourism as it has significant implications for marketing, strategy and policy.

[Source: Article abstract].

Tranberg Hansen, Karen, and D. Soyini Madison, eds. African Dress: Fashion, Agency, Performance. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

Dress and fashion practices in Africa and the diaspora are dynamic and diverse, whether on the street or on the fashion runway. Focusing on the dressed body as a performance site, African Dress explores how ideas and practices of dress contest or legitimize existing power structures through expressions of individual identity and the cultural and political order. Drawing on innovative, interdisciplinary research by established and up and coming scholars, the book examines real life projects and social transformations that are deeply political, revolving around individual and public goals of dignity, respect, status, and morality.

[Source: Bloomsbury Collections].

Hansen, Karen Tranberg. Salaula: The World of Second hand Clothing and Zambia. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000.

When we donate our unwanted clothes to charity, we rarely think about what will happen to them: who will sort and sell them, and finally, who will revive and wear them. In this fascinating look at the multibillion-dollar second-hand clothing business, Karen Tranberg Hansen takes us around the world from the West, where clothing is donated, through the salvage houses in North America and Europe, where it is sorted and compressed, to Africa, in this case, Zambia. There it enters the dynamic world of Salaula, a Bemba term that means “to rummage through a pile.” Essential for the African economy, the second-hand clothing business is wildly popular, to the point of threatening the indigenous textile industry. But, Hansen shows, wearing second-hand clothes is about much more than imitating Western styles. It is about taking a garment and altering it to something entirely local, something that adheres to current cultural norms of etiquette. By unraveling how these garments becomes entangled in the economic, political, and cultural processes of contemporary Zambia, Hansen also raises provocative questions about environmentalism, charity, recycling, and thrift.

[Source: The University of Chicago Press].

Tella, Oluwaseun. Africa’s Soft Power: Philosophies, Political Values, Foreign Policies and Cultural Exports. Abingdon, Oxon, New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003176022.

This book investigates the ways in which soft power is used by African countries to help drive global influence. Selecting four of the countries most associated with soft power across the continent, this book delves into the currencies of soft power across the region: from South Africa’s progressive constitution and expanding multinational corporations, to Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry and Technical Aid Corps (TAC) scheme, Kenya’s sport diplomacy, fashion and tourism industries, and finally Egypt’s Pan-Arabism and its reputation as the cradle of civilization. The book asks how soft power is wielded by these countries and what constraints and contradictions they encounter. Understandings of soft power have typically been driven by Western scholars, but throughout this book, Oluwaseun Tella aims to Africanise our understanding of soft power, drawing on prominent African philosophies, including Nigeria’s Omolúwàbí, South Africa’s Ubuntu, Kenya’s Harambee, and Egypt’s Pharaonism. This book will be of interest to researchers from across political science, international relations, cultural studies, foreign policy and African Studies.

[Source: Routledge].

Tamagni, Danielle. Gentlemen of Bacongo. London: Trolley Books, 2009.

The arrival of the French and Belgians to the Congo, at the beginning of the 20th Century, brought along the myth of Parisian elegance among the Congolese youth working for the colonialists. In 1922, G. A. Matsoua was the first-ever Congolese to return from Paris fully clad as an authentic French gentleman, which caused great uproar and much admiration amongst his fellow countrymen. He was the first Grand Sapeur. The Sapeurs today belong to Le SAPE(Societe des Smbianceurs et des PErsonnes Elegantes) - one of the world’s most exclusive clubs. Members have their own code of honour, codes of professional conduct and strict notions of morality. It is a world within a world within a city. Respected and admired in their communities, today’s sapeurs see themselves as artists. Each one has his own repertoire of gestures that distinguishes him from the others. They are also after their own great dream: to travel to Paris and return to Bacongo as lords of elegance. Designer brands of suit and accessories are of the utmost importance to Sapeurs - Pierre Cardin, Roberto Cavalli, Dior, Fendi, Gaultier, Gucci, Issy Miyake, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, Yohji Yamamoto - are their patron saints.

[Source: Amazon.com].

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