REBRANDING AFRICA, RECLOTHING AFRICA: THE ROLE OF EMERGING DESIGNERS IN THE PRODUCTION OF AESTHETIC COSMOPOLITANISM IN LAGOS.

In the last decade, African fashion has become increasingly recognised globally. Not only are Western designers such as Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier incorporating African fashion into their designs, but more importantly, African fashion designers are making their presence felt globally. The creativity, innovation and vibrant designs that characterise the work of contemporary designers have paid off; cities like Lagos, Accra, Nairobi, Marrakesh, and Johannesburg burst with fashion innovations that are attracting global audience. A crop of emerging designers has been identified as the driving force behind the innovation and creativity. While studies either focus on the creative works of fashion production or the emerging designers behind the production, this study seeks to explore the connection between the emerging designers and their works: the rise of contemporary designers from Africa who are innovatively producing fashion that cuts across geographical boundaries without losing its indigenous distinctiveness. Contemporary fashion from Africa reflects aesthetic cosmopolitanism (Regev, 2009); the combination of indigenous cultural elements with foreign influence to produce innovative fashion that speaks to the cosmopolitan nature of world societies.
Engaging in a qualitative research on Nigerian fashion industry (Lagos), the study shares emerging fashion designers’ experience of negotiating global influence with local culture to produce fashion that are both indigenous and internationally appealing. Designers’ first step to aesthetic cosmopolitanism is their dual fashion background (local and international training) which position them at intersection of two or more cultures, offering them varied range of cultural possibilities to draw on when designing. They are conscious of their position as cultural intermediaries between the local and the global and in innovative ways, they are fusing the two spaces in their work to produce aesthetic cosmopolitanism fashion. Fashion designers are adopting skills and technologies from the global fashion industry, merging them with local elements and expertise to professionalise the craft of fashion production. This professionalism is seen through their cosmopolitan designs, the diversification of production, and standardisation of production structures.