Rovine, Victoria L. “FIMA and the Future of African Fashion.” African Arts 43, no 3 (2010): 1‑7. https://doi.org/10.1162/afar.2010.43.3.1.
“Fashion is a prominent element of popular culture throughout Africa, a commodity that only a minority of people can afford to own, but that nearly everyone experiences via mass media of all kinds, including magazines, television, billboards, and the Internet. Despite its associations with frivolity, fashion design matters to people. It is the object of admiration and desire as well as condemnation, as vividly illustrated by FIMA’s reception in Niger, where it has been viewed variously as a source of national pride and as an affront to personal morality. Depending on where you stand, by the side of the runway or outside the gates, FIMA looks very different. What I offer here is one perspective on this event, drawing out a handful of insights into the political and artistic context in which it took place, and into the strategies of some young designers who are striving to succeed in competitive fashion markets in Africa. Stepping back from the runways and the politics of FIMA, I hope to indicate that African fashion design, like creative expressions in other visual media, provides rich material for art historical analysis.”
[Source: Excerpt from the article].
