There is a long-running myth that Africans did not have clothes until the arrival of Arabs and later, colonisation. In fact, Africa has a long tradition of making its own unique clothing since time immemorial. From Malian mud cloths, which they say are made of the earth, the river and the sun, to the famous…
Africa grows more than half of the world’s finest long-staple cotton. It earns less than three percent of what that cotton is eventually worth. This is not a trade problem. It is a narrative problem — and allAfrica is setting out to fix it. There is a number that explains much of what is wrong…
When Valérie Ka started modelling at 14 in Côte d’Ivoire, she thought she was on top of the world. But she wanted to go further, so she created Africa Fashion Up – a way to help African designers reach the global stage. As a child, Ka dreamed of being an interior designer, an architect or…
