Fashion + Identity

As an extension of the exhibition, Africa - Rethinking Architecture and Design, KADK will be presenting a series of open seminars, which will focus on the challenges and opportunities resulting from Africa’s economic and population booms. Concentrating on topics such as health, identity and urban development, we will discuss how architects and designers can come up with sustainable, innovative solutions in these areas.

In Africa's rapidly urbanising and globalising cities, expressions of identity are constantly evolving and diverging. This is particularly true in fashion, with a wealth of African design continuing to challenge norms, shatter Western misconceptions and propose radical new styles.

As globalisation continues to influence design in all directions, we ask who benefits from this cultural appropriation? Is fashion a statement of aspiration and identity? Or does it represent a flawed system of production and consumption?

Join us for a presentation of innovative African fashion and design, and a discussion on the mutual benefits of cultural collaboration. 

Speakers
Karen Tranberg Hansen is an socio-cultural anthropologist at the University of Copenhagen. Her extensive research on clothing and consumption has been published widely, establishing her as an expert in the field. Her publications include 'Salaula: The World of Secondhand Clothing and Zambia'.

Sunny Dolat is a Creative Director and Stylist based in Nairobi, Kenya. He founded Kenyan arts collective The Nest Collective, which in 2017 published the book 'Not African Enough' to challenge the existing narrative of African fashion.

Maria Mackinney-Valentin is an Associate Professor at KADK. Her project Fashioning Goals explores aspirational consumption and the football jersey in Kenya, and her research explores identity construction through issues of gender, status, power and trend mechanisms. She has recently published 'Fashioning Identity: Status Ambivalence in Contemporary Fashion'. Maria Mackinney-Valentin is also the moderator of this seminar. 

’Africa: Rethinking Architecture and Design’ is kindly supported by the foundation 'A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal' and the ‘Dreyer Foundation’