Miriam Makeba’s portrait greets and grounds you near the entry of Africa Fashion. 

Makeba’s emergence as a singer on the global stage coincided with the emergence of an independent African continent. Her songs blended popular musical styles like Jazz with indigenous South African melodies, often incorporating Swahili, Xhosa, and Sotho lyrics. Well-known globally for her songs Pata Pata and Qongqothwane (the Click Song) Makeba’s music and self-fashioning embodied African liberation and identity. 

For many Africans, her music gave voice to the dawn of a new independent era and the liberation struggles that remained. Affectionately referred to as Mama Africa by her legions of fans, Makeba came to embody a forward-looking Pan-Africanism and Black Power. 

See this portrait of Makeba and hear her singular voice as part of the African Cultural Renaissance that welcomes you in #AfricaFashionBkM.

📷 Jürgen Schadeberg (German, 1931–2020). Miriam Makeba, 1955. © Estate of Jürgen Schadeberg (Photo: Courtesy of the Estate of Jürgen Schadeberg)

👗#ArtIsAWeapon #NewExhibit "Africa Fashion" opens at @brooklynmuseum this weekend with a talk tonight, June 22, 7PM featuring @kehindewiley & @renoflife.

Reposted from @brooklynmuseum: Soon, you’ll be able to see for yourself the multidimensional facets of fashion, creativity, and culture on display in this exhibition which features work by mid-twentieth-century designers as well as works by a new generation of designers, collectives, and fashion photographers working in Africa today.

Share in the celebration of opening weekend with Reni Folawiyo (@renoflife), Kehinde Wiley (@kehindewiley), and Lola Ogunnaike (@lolaogunnaike) who will lead us through a conversation on Africa’s Influence during Brooklyn Talks on June 22 at 7 pm. Attendees will have after-hours access to the exhibition.

Get your tickets to #AfricaFashionBkM and #BkMTalks at the link in our bio!

Africa Fashion is created by the V&A (@vamuseum)—touring the world. The lead sponsor is Bank of America (@bankofamerica) with major support provided by ALÁRA (@alaralagos). Special thanks to OkayAfrica / Okayplayer (@okayafrica) and Nataal (@nataalmedia), media sponsors for this exhibition.

Our presentation is organized by Ernestine White-Mifetu (@ernestinewhitemifetu), Sills Foundation Curator of African Art, and Annissa Malvoisin (@unexfemmenoire), Bard Graduate Center / Brooklyn Museum Postdoctoral Fellow in the Arts of Africa, with Catherine Futter, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of Decorative Arts, Matthew Yokobosky (@matthew_yokobosky), Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, and Rhea Stark, Curatorial Assistant, Arts of Africa, Asia, and the Islamic World, Brooklyn Museum.

#BrooklynMuseum #AfricaFashion #AfricanFashion #museum #BlackGirlArtGeeks

Only two weeks ‘til Africa Fashion! 

Soon, you’ll be able to see for yourself the multidimensional facets of fashion, creativity, and culture on display in this exhibition which features work by mid-twentieth-century designers as well as works by a new generation of designers, collectives, and fashion photographers working in Africa today.

Share in the celebration of opening weekend with Reni Folawiyo, Kehinde Wiley, and Lola Ogunnaike who will lead us through a conversation on Africa’s Influence during Brooklyn Talks on June 22 at 7 pm. Attendees will have after-hours access to the exhibition.

Get your tickets to #AfricaFashionBkM and #BkMTalks:

🎟 https://bit.ly/3Chk6hZ

Africa Fashion is created by the V&A—touring the world. The lead sponsor is Bank of America with major support provided by ALÁRA. Special thanks to OkayAfrica / Okayplayer and Nataal, media sponsors for this exhibition.

Our presentation is organized by Ernestine White-Mifetu, Sills Foundation Curator of African Art, and Annissa Malvoisin, Bard Graduate Center / Brooklyn Museum Postdoctoral Fellow in the Arts of Africa, with Catherine Futter, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of Decorative Arts, Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, and Rhea Stark, Curatorial Assistant, Arts of Africa, Asia, and the Islamic World, Brooklyn Museum.

Feeling grateful this Friday! 

Thank you to everyone who shared their story with us in the form of family photos and videos in honor of Africa Fashion, opening on June 23. We are overjoyed to see the heartfelt, vibrant, and (no doubt) stylish showcases of fashions from across the African continent and the diaspora. 

Submissions, like these, are an integral part of Africa Fashion. While we can’t include every submission in the exhibition, we will share even more of your submissions on social media in a series called, In Our Own Style. We invite you to continue sharing your own photos along with a description of the people, fashions, and places they showcase on social media using #AfricaFashionBkM.

Discover the details behind Africa Fashion: https://bit.ly/AfricaFashionBkM

📷 Seya Fundafunda (@seyafundafunda), Ope Runsewe (@operunsewe), Kwasi Kessie (@kwasikessie), Hiywet Mimi Girma (@y_e_s_a_e_t), Paakow Essandoh (@paakowessandoh), Raven Irabor, Tiffany Murray, Jerome Krase, Brian Dekyem, Jennifer Nnamani

Opening on June 23… Africa Fashion! 🌍

Celebrating the outstanding creativity, ingenuity, and global impact of African fashions from the start of the independence era to today, this presentation features over 180 works including fashion, music, film, visual art and photography, as well as textiles and jewelry from our Arts of Africa collection. More than 40 designers representing twenty African countries illuminate how fashion, alongside the visual arts and music, played a pivotal role in Africa’s cultural renaissance during its liberation years.

Brooklyn is home to one of the country’s most dynamic African diasporic communities, making our borough the perfect setting to explore the richness and diversity of the continent’s many histories and cultures. In fact, we would love for you to be a part of this exhibition! Visitors can participate by submitting photographs and videos, which may be featured in the exhibition and shared on social media, by April 14, 2023. Learn more about how to share your personal materials as well as details about Africa Fashion at the link below.

🔗 https://bit.ly/AfricaFashionPhotos

Africa Fashion is organized by the V&A. The lead sponsor is Bank of America with major support provided by ALÁRA.

📷 Models holding hands, Lagos, Nigeria, 2019, by Stephen Tayo. Courtesy Lagos Fashion Week → The Royal Adzorvia Clan, Vodza, Ghana: the Kukubor Family. (Photo: courtesy of Emilia Awo Gidiglo)

It’s a creative renaissance. 🪩⁠ ⁠ We’ve been celebrating the opening of Africa Fashion all week long and the party continues tomorrow during First Saturday: Africa Fashion! ⁠ ⁠ Pssst…First Saturday tickets are all gone, but you can still join the party by purchasing a timed ticket for Africa Fashion.⁠

🎟️ https://bit.ly/AfricaFashionBkM

📷 (on Instagram): @tatianamonettt, @gratefulheart32, @familyarttravel, @marymevs, @the.ngozi.okaro, @ellaamoako, @darnell13⁠

Welcome to Africa Fashion! 🌍

Delight in the diverse designs, fabulous fashion, and traditional textiles by iconic designers and artists from the mid-twentieth century to today.

Plan your visit through October 22.

🎥 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g___h1aEsL8 🎟 https://bit.ly/AfricaFashionBkM

Africa Fashion is created by the V&A—touring the world. The lead sponsor is Bank of America with major support provided by ALÁRA. Special thanks to OkayAfrica / Okayplayer and Nataal, media sponsors for this exhibition.

Credits: 📍 Venue: Brooklyn Botanic Garden 🪡 Designer: Christie Brown  ✨ Designer: Kilentar   🪡 Designer: Nana Brew-Hammond  ✨ Designer: Papa Oppong  🪡 Designer: Res Ipsa  ✨ Designer: Stai 🪡 Designer/ Stylist: Taiwo Aloba  🎶 Music: Eli Fola  ✍️ Poetry: Nana Brew-Hammond  🧵 Stylist: Alesandra Thomas  🧵 Stylist: Derrieka Johnson

When school’s out, Summer Camp is in! 😎

Young artists ages 8–10 and 11–13 are in for a real artistic adventure with this summer’s schedule inspired by our exhibitions and collections:

✍️ July 3–7: Sculpture and animation inspired by DEATH TO THE LIVING, Long Live Trash 🎨  July 31–August 4: Mixed media and photography inspired by Africa Fashion

Learn more about Summer Camp, including scholarship opportunities (available on a first-come, first-served basis) and save your spot: https://bit.ly/summercampbkm 

📷 Brooklyn Museum summer camp, July 6, 2021 - August 13, 2021. Education studios. Brooklyn Museum (Photo: Jonathan Dorado)

Tag someone who needs to be at First Saturday: Africa Fashion. 

Celebrate the opening of Africa Fashion at the next #FirstSaturdaysBkM, which features a glamorous line-up honoring African heritage as well as delicacies from Brooklyn’s finest African restaurants, selected in collaboration with African Restaurant Week Festival.

This event is free, but registration is required. Save your spot now because admission is subject to our capacity at the time of your arrival.

Bank of America is a proud sponsor of First Saturdays 25th Anniversary Season. July First Saturday is presented by Con Edison. Additional support provided by: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Charles H. Revson Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts.

🎟️ https://bit.ly/3NlcWy9

New York’s hottest museum is…well, we’re biased. 🤭

In 2023, this cultural hub has everything: contemporary artists reflecting on the complex and continuing legacy of the Great Migration; a landmark exhibition celebrating the creativity, ingenuity, and global impact of contemporary African fashions; a multidecade survey of visually captivating, experimental work by María Magdalena Campos-Pons; and the first major exhibition of zines by artists working in North America, bringing attention to this unexamined but vibrant aesthetic practice.

Not to mention bold, new displays of artwork and objects from our collection.

📷 Allison Janae Hamilton (born Lexington, Kentucky, 1984; based in New York, New York). Still from A House Called Florida, 2022. Three-channel film installation (color, sound): 34 min., 46 sec. Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen → Models holding hands, Lagos, Nigeria, 2019. Courtesy Lagos Fashion Week. (Photo: Stephen Tayo) → María Magdalena Campos-Pons (born Matanzas, Cuba, 1959). Red Composition (detail), from the series Los Caminos (The Path), 1997. Triptych of Polaroid Polacolor Pro photographs, framed. Collection of Wendi Norris. (Photo: courtesy of the artist and Gallery Wendi Norris) → Mark Morrisroe (American, 1959–1989) and Lynelle White. Dirt [Fifth Issue], 1975/76. Xerox. © The Estate of Mark Morrisroe (EMM)

How would you describe your own style? 

As part of #AfricaFashion, In Our Own Style presents personal photography as a window into past and present styles and fashion attitudes. These self-submitted photographs illuminate an intergenerational understanding of identity and family, which spans the African continent and diaspora.

View more photographs in Africa Fashion, loaned to the Brooklyn Museum by individuals with ties to Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Uganda. 

Thank you to all who submitted! Continue to share your photos and videos from your family’s archive with #AfricaFashionBkM.

📷 Joshua Woods, Diane G. Degry, Chester Higgins, Marame Gueye, Liz Kimbulu, Ama Kateena, David Palacios, J.J. Thornberry and April Levack, Addoley Dzegede, Zamarianne Bradley, Jamel Shabazz, Jennifer Nnamani, Hannah Traore