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The History and Sociological Significance of Africa Fashion Week New York 2011-2014

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The History and Sociological Significance of Africa Fashion Week New York 2011-2014 The history and sociological significance of Africa Fashion Week New York 2011-2014 By Tolu Omoyele B.A. M.Phil. October 30, 2016 Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the M.Litt degree, Department of Sociology, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, County Kildare Head of Department: Professor Mary P. Corcoran Supervisors: Professor Mary P. Corcoran and Dr. Paul Ryan 1 Dedication My family, to whom this thesis is dedicated to, has been a constant source of love, concern, support and strength. For my daughter Jadesola 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 5 Abstract 6 Introduction 8 Chapter 1: Historical, Social, and Cultural Perspectives of Fashion 14 What is Fashion? Clothing, Dress and Fashion Clothing, gender and religion Fashion and the body Chapter 2: Fashion Theory: Towards A Definition of Fashion 29 Fashion is Change Fashion Theory Fashion in Non-Western Societies Discourse: The Language of Fashion and Representation Sociological Importance of Fashion Sociological Relevance of AFWNY Chapter 3: Pan-Africanism: History and Theory 46 What is Pan Africanism? History and Evolution of Pan-Africanism Pan African Congress: Pan Africanism in the African Diasporas Kwame Nkrumah: Radical Pan Africanist OAU: Pan African Organisation and African Unity Pan Africanism: Political and Economic Domains Socialist and Marxist Doctrines: Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism and Women Chapter 4: Situating Africa Fashion Week: Race, Gender, Class and Identity 67 The Challenges of an African Identity African Indigenous Knowledge The Idea of Africa The Signifier and Signified Shared Identity: Racial, Social and Self Identity Demystification of Africa From Objects to Subjects: Moving Beyond Colonial and Neo-Colonial Oppressive Discourses. Chapter 5: Methodological Approach and Autoethnographic Strategy 88 Study Rationale Map of research strategy Autoethnography My Autobiography Advantages of Autoethnography Data Collection 3 Digital Data Sources Privacy and Ethical Considerations Sampling Data Analysis Chapter 6: Fashion Week, Fashion Capital and Modernity 107 Situating Fashion Week Press Week in New York City History of Fashion Week: New York IMG and New York Fashion Week Paris Fashion Week Milan Fashion Week London Fashion Week Global Fashion Capitals: New York, Paris, Milan & London Chapter 7: Autoethnographical reflections on the fashion industry 126 Negotiating a space within a racialised fashion industry Embodying White Beauty Aesthetics: Black Skin White Tastes Presentation at Fashion Shows: Hair, Makeup and Blackness Socialisation Process Religious Indoctrination Critical Self-Knowledge Chapter 8: Visual Analysis of AFWNY Promotional Campaign 147 Chapter 9: Africa Fashion Week New York: 186 Leverage, Resources and Strategies History of Africa Fashion Week New York Africa Designs Arise Fashion Collective and Africa Fashion Week New York Adiat Disu and the African Fashion Network Africa Fashion Week: Strategic Approach Public Relations Technology and New Media Technologies Fashion Meanings and Transformations of AFWNY Bibliography and Media Articles consulted 217 Appendix A: AFWNY: Designer Mapping 4 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to express my eternal gratitude to my loving sister Tinuola for her continuous support in my academic, professional and spiritual pursuits. To my family, for their patience, motivation, discussions and immense contribution to unlock and give meaning to past experiences, I am eternally grateful. I thank my good friend and mentor Eamon Byrne for his support and immense knowledge of people, and the politics they consciously and unconsciously engage in. To Tokie Laotan-Brown and Vanessa Stout for the many valuable discussions that helped me understand my research area better. My deepest gratitude to Dr. Gordon at the University of Greenwich for his thoughtfulness and guidance in helping me grow as a researcher. In particular, I am grateful to Les Brown for opening my mind to recognise the endless possibilities and opportunities in my life. My heartfelt gratitude to my supervisors Professor Corcoran and Dr Ryan for their encouragement and insightful comments. Their guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having better advisors for my study. To the staff at the sociology department of the National University of Ireland Maynooth, thank you for making this experience a memorable one. 5 Abstract In the African Diasporas individuals and cultural groups espouse the core ethos of Pan-Africanism such as solidarity, unity and sense community, by consciously engaging with African people of different nationality, ethnic and racial groups. Through African-centred cultural and social activities including soirees, beauty pageants and community gatherings, communities in the African diaspora foster interactions, create ties with different African groups to construct collective local and transnational identities. While Pan-Africanism as practiced on the African continent seeks to construct a unified African identity that is shaped by geography and common struggles against European hegemony and oppression, for the African Diasporas in Western European countries and North America, the struggle is against racial and gendered discrimination, exploitation, and economic inequalities. This study focuses on Africa Fashion Week New York (AFWNY) characterised as a pan-African platform because it is vocal on the plight of fashion designers of African ancestry. I argue that AFWNY is a platform and space for African fashion practitioners from different diasporas, cultural and ethnic backgrounds to come together to construct and articulate Black fashion identity, share narratives of their lived experiences and express their aspirations, challenges, successes and struggles through their design practices. While, race and historical oppression are two common threads within this space, yet, AFWNY is constructed around a shared vision for global recognition of black fashion practitioners as creative, skilful and innovative 6 artisans in an anti-black fashion industry. In developing my argument I draw on my own experience as a black African woman within the fashion industry, and conclude by analysing the motivation and rationale for the AFWNY event. 7 Introduction The study explores the ways in which Africa Fashion Week New York (AFWNY) expresses Pan-Africanism through the medium of fashion. Pan Africanism is understood as “a construction of a collective African identity based on shared goals, values, social and historical experiences of struggling to lift Africa from its untenable status as a marginal oppressed and largely excluded Continent" (Muchie 2000:1). Since the civil rights movement in North America and the independence of African states from colonial rule in the 1960s, the struggle to physically, economically, culturally and psychologically uplift the African continent and its people from the grips of capitalism and imperialism have been approached mainly from a political angle, which critiqued colonial imperialist exploitation of African resources, cultural heritage and oppression of its people. Essentially, Pan-Africanist is the principle that African nations (and peoples) must unite by consolidating their efforts and resources towards a unifying purpose freedom, to forge geographical, political and economic alliances across the African continent in order to protect against historical and modern neo-colonial forces and exploitation. Yet, in the present time, African states remain divided by politically constructed borders, cultural differences, foreign religions and languages, and mental colonial legacies. Meanwhile, in the African diasporas individuals and cultural groups espouse the core ethos of Pan-Africanism such as solidarity, unity and sense community, through conscious engagement and identification with African people of different nationalities, ethnic and racial group identities. Through African-centred cultural and social activities including soiree, beauty pageants and community gatherings, 8 communities in the African diaspora foster interactions, create ties with different African groups and construct collective African identities. While Pan-Africanism as practiced on the continent seeks to construct an African identity that is shaped by geography and common struggles against European hegemony and oppression, for the African diasporas across European and American cities, the struggle against multiple oppressions including racism, gendered discrimination, economic exploitation and inequalities, presents opportunities for the formation of collective identities based on shared interests. Most notable is Africa Fashion Week New York (AFWNY) described as a pan- African platform because it is vocal on the plight of fashion designers and practitioners who are black in New York. AFWNY is a platform and space for African fashion practitioners from different diasporas, cultural and ethnic backgrounds to come together to construct and articulate African fashion identities, stories about their design practices and their aspirations, challenges and successes. AFWNY is constructed around a shared vision for global recognition of black bodies, and fashion practitioners as creative, skilful and innovative artisans in an anti-black fashion industry. My study argues that AFWNY is championing a more nuanced understanding of Pan- Africanist ethos including community solidarity, self-determination, agency, sense of wholeness within a group, unity and collective
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