Black Style Now: African Designers

Africa is a veritable melting pot of culture, sights, sounds and textures. It’s no wonder that a continent so brimming with inspiration would produce some of the world’s most imaginative and original fashion designers.

Surely, Western fashion has been “inspired” by Africa many times over with high end sartorialists such as Yves Saint Laurent and Burberry Prorsum, using the continent as a reference point in their collections.

Now, as African countries begins their ascendancy, its culture is beginning to bloom on Western shores with its fashion talent moving front and center.

Fashion Weeks are popping up all over the continent, garnering Western media coverage, while fashionistas of all colors clamor to attend stand–alone events such as Africa Fashion Week New York, hoping to catch a glimpse of what Africa has to offer.

Here, we offer just a sampling of our favorite designers on the continent and in the diaspora.