What is African Fashion?
Whatever you’re thinking, it’s likely not the whole picture. African fashion is incredibly diverse, with countless stories and influences across the continent. Imagine listing five British designers—McQueen, Westwood, Galliano, Quinn, Boateng. Each represents a different community, culture, or subculture in Britain. But ask about African fashion, and you may hear silence or a mythical tale of kings and queens dressed in gold. That’s a story of African fashion, but it’s just one.
To move beyond a single narrative, we must tell our own stories as they are, not as imagined. African fashion is as varied as its landscapes. We need to showcase voices from across the continent—in cities, towns, and villages, known or overlooked.
In order to resist the single story told of the African Fashion Industry, we have to tell our own stories, as they are and not as what people imagine them to be. We must travel across the continent and give the stage to as many individuals as possible in as many countries, cities, towns and, known or overlooked.
Johannesburg’s Fashion Pioneers
I’ll start in Johannesburg, spotlighting four trailblazers shaping the city’s fashion scene. Their stories are diverse, each contributing to a tapestry of African fashion that speaks to the vibrant lives of Johannesburg’s people. People with vastly different journeys, stories and, objectives but who are united by their contribution to populating African fashion with many stories. All stories that matter and that represent classes and subcultures of vibrant Johannesburg people who live the true reality of an African fashion person.
Fhatuwani Mukheli – Expanding Africa’s Creative Story
Soweto-born artist Fhatuwani Mukheli sees himself as a “man of many talents.” Drawing from a rich background in advertising and art, Mukheli founded I See A Different You with his twin brother and friend, sharing a stylish vision of Soweto inspired by jazz culture. His work reflects an African aesthetic that challenges stereotypes, portraying Johannesburg through a fresh lens.
Mukheli’s journey evolved from photography to a successful art career. In his Johannesburg studio, he reflects on how he portrays Soweto as more than a place of struggle—creating art that captures the true essence of African cities like Nairobi, Lagos, and Harare.
One of the pioneers of expanding the creative African story is Soweto-born artist, Fhatuwani Mukheli. Mukheli is a self-proclaimed “man of many talents”. Through all his talents and years of experience in advertising, he understands and promotes the importance of nuance and expanding the perception of Africa and its creative industries.
The beauty of being a multi-disciplinary creative is that every medium inspires the other. Mukheli shares how his creative journey started with art as a child. As an adult working in advertising, he, his twin brother Justice and their friend Vuyo launched their menswear blog, I See A Different You in which they meshed their different sources of fashion inspiration to inform a uniform personal style image. Taking from the dapper jazz-loving gentlemen, they grew up around in Soweto, they presented a vision of African fashion that could be mistaken for footage from the streets of Harlem, NYC. It was in this vain, they forced people to see a different Soweto, a different Johannesburg, a different Africa. To expand the single African fashion story.
Today, Mukheli has expanded his range of storytelling, into a successful art career in which he shares unique stories through his immaculate charcoal drawings against the backdrop of stark bright colours. In his studio in the heart of Braamfontein, Mukheli marvels on the journey that’s brought him to this point. With the principal vision to artistically represent the true reality of Soweto, a township that is misunderstood, defined by a single story of violence and suffering. Mukheli has expanded his work to launching a platform for multiple African cities, from Nairobi to Lagos to Harare. A platform in which he exposes an authentic visual representation of Africa.
Luke Radloff – A Vision of African Minimalism
Authenticity is central to the mission of pushing African fashion forward. For long, Westernised fantasies have been projected upon Africa and what African Fashion should stand for. Luke Radloff shares how remaining true to his vision of his brand, Uniform is his way of contributing an important narrative layer to the African Fashion story. When most think of typically “minimalist” brands and fashion aesthetics the reference is usually a European fashion house like Jil Sander.
Luke subverts the idea that minimalism is a product of the West, countering with the statement “minimalism was invented in Africa”. Further expanding that before we had brightly coloured luxurious fabrics, we were inspired by the natural state of the earth. The sandy reds, earthy browns, whites and blacks. We made clothes from nature’s fabrics inspired by the beauty of the natural environment.
Taking from our mineral wealth, the opulence and high glamour of African fashion is in the same way, a celebration and a reflection of who we once were. Maximalism and minimalism are not mutually exclusive in our context and do not have to exist on different planes. That’s a reality that should be embraced.
While the celebration of African Fashion on the global stage is important for representing the many stories within the continent. There is a line to be toed. A challenge that Radloff is faced with in the expansion of UNIFORM, is remaining anchored in his authentic vision.
It feels as if Africa is the continent of the moment, from a Chanel show in Dakar, to a Saint Laurent show in Morocco and then Dior in Egypt. The fashion scramble for Africa has begun. And to the misinformed observer who has a dated idea of a destitute and needy Africa, all of this European publicity and gratification seems like the beginning of something so magical for the poor continent.
But, yet even the most notable designer cannot afford the very clothes that they create. The balancing act of financial prosperity and shaping the African fashion ecosystem and narrative is burden that many brands, like UNIFORM carry. What is a dynamic designer to do in an industry dedicated to selling an inauthentic story, that represents a sensational fallacy of African fashion and not its reality.
Radloff states that despite this challenge of constantly pushing back against a narrative that does not authentically represent him and many of his African designer peers, he still chooses to veer away from selling a pretentious story.
Instead he puts it simply: “the clothes are the story.” The context, the narrative for the collection will always be beautifully reflected in the clothes. Point anywhere on the African continent and you will find that fine and masterful craftmanship and quality paired beautifully with a full bouquet of history and well thought-out stories of inspiration.
Garm – Revolutionising African Streetwear
One doesn’t even have to veer out much in Johannesburg. Just a few streets away from Radloff’s space in Parkhurst, I met Garm. A group of early 20-somethings, revolutionising African fashion e-commerce. The concept is simple. Garm’s aim is convenience, curation and accessibility.
Contrary to the theme of storytelling, their co-founder Ross Askew tells me bluntly “I don’t care about the story” which, I told him, that statement is a story in itself. To their other founder Kamo Selane, Garm is less of a fashion company and more a marketing agency for fashion brands. The company houses the finest Johannesburg streetwear brands with their own stories reflected within the clothes. For Garm, the goal is to remove the pretense and gatekeeping and make fashion accessible and un-intimidating for the average Johannesburg consumer.
Despite their commercial goals, Garm shares a similar ethos of authenticity as Radloff and Mukheli. Askew tells me honestly, that most people in Johannesburg do not care about the story, they want to look good. Garm gives them a platform to select an entire outfit from their selection of designers, check out, receive their pieces and then go on about their lavish night dripped out in local luxury.
Garm has cracked the code of what it takes to make it as a fashion brand in an “aesthetics” driven city like Johannesburg. Garm senior team member, Enrico Setaro contends that if it is “aesthetics” that people want, that is what Garm will give them. Through a curated selection of streetwear brands, one can armor themselves with the confidence to have a crazy, opulent night in Sandton or even enjoy a hearty kota in Soweto. Live in your own Johannesburg dream.
Q – Defying Norms in Johannesburg’s Fashion Scene
Now, musical artist, stylist and, creative extraordinaire, Q, defines fashion in Johannesburg as a performance. Everyone plays a role and commits to a character, through their wardrobe, the places they frequent, the music they listen to and, the community they exist in.
As a trans person, Q says they refuse to force themself to exist in a space that refuses to accommodate their queerness and their self-expression. So naturally, they have always gravitated towards creative queer spaces. Q quite hilariously states that they’ve never wanted to be a square, simple or boring. In this statement, Q points to an important phenomenon which is the creative loss of marginalization. How society deprives itself of creative diversity when it physically and socially excludes queer persons and their perspectives.
In the mainstream Q discusses how alternative styles of dress and musical expression are just innate to the queer community but are still seen as revolutionary and new within heteronormative media.
Referencing their styling work for Uncle Waffles Q points out how through this form of expression, Waffles has become a household name locally and internationally as the coolest Amapiano DJ. Ultimately, subverting a single story that is told of how an Amapiano DJ should look like and elegantly breaking boundaries for the entire industry.
In their own music Q does the same, elaborating on the release of their new single, Dollhouse, which a the tune disrupting the Johannesburg Dance scene. Q explains their process of deriving inspiration. How as a trans person, they’ve always viewed themselves as an entity that it is more divine than a mortal being – a cyborg they say. A body that can transform and express itself in any and every way it desires. Truly the most profound confession of self-expression I have heard.
To explore, African Fashion through the lense of the mega city that is Johannesburg will lead you down rabbit holes of thousands of varying perspectives. One single city. Home to some 6 million or so people out of the 1,4 billion people who reside on the African continent. Imagine the limitless possibilities for further fashion innovation. Put into perspective, it is insane to think that a fashion economy representative of 16% of the world’s population can be reduced to one single story.
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