The five members of the collective “Black lives matter in Italian Fashion”, during a fashion show ahead of Milan Fashion Week, Milan, Italy, 17 February 2021, MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images February 2021 in Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s regional editor Reyhana Masters, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region. An audio discussion relating to this piece is available here.
February – a month dedicated to romance and declarations of love in many cultures – was peppered with more setbacks than triumphs. While continental creative advocacy went global and Angola repealed the criminalisation of homosexuality, homophobia rose up the ranks in Ghana, intimate partner violence took centre stage, Nigerian journalists were kidnapped for ransom and a British journalist was expelled from Mozambique.
Black Lives Matter designers make history in Milan – The Citizen citizen.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from citizen.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
This picture shows (from left to right) Mokodu Fall, Fabiola Manirakiza and Joy Meribe. Along with two other designers, they opened the recent Milan Fashion Week. Photo composite: AFP
Born in different parts of Africa but all operating under the Made In Italy brand, the five designers who opened Milan Fashion Week as part of a collective, come from diverse backgrounds.
Fabiola Manirakiza, 50, was born in Burundi but it was in Zaire, which became the Democratic Republic Of Congo, that she learned how to sew, in a school run by Italian nuns.
A doctor by training, she used this skill when she founded her label Frida Kiza in Italy in 2016, the name a tribute to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Last-minute touches on a frilly white dress, a final coat of powder and it s showtime for the Black Lives Matter-inspired collective making history at Milan Fashion Week.
After a years-long battle to improve diversity on the Italian catwalks, a group of five black designers made their on-schedule debut by opening the women s Fall/Winter fashion shows.
All this season s shows are pre-recorded due to coronavirus, but AFP was given exclusive access to their preparations last week at Milan s Circolo Filologico library, not far from the Scala.
Is opening fashion week a victory? I d say it s the first step, said Michelle Ngonmo, who chose those to include in the debut show.