Chicago City Wire

Africa Fashion, a new exhibition at the Field Museum, highlights the global influence of Africa's vibrant fashion scene. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, it features more than 180 works from artists across over 20 African countries. The exhibition will open on February 28, 2025.

Christine Checinska, V&A’s Senior Curator of African and Diaspora Textiles and Fashion, and Lead Curator of the exhibition stated: “Our guiding principle is the foregrounding of individual African voices and perspectives.” She added that the exhibition presents African fashions as a self-defining art form that showcases the richness and diversity of African histories and cultures. "Africa Fashion celebrates the vitality and innovation of a selection of fashion creatives," she said.

The exhibition uses a cross-cultural approach with immersive displays including dynamic visuals, music, videos, garments, textiles, adornments, and photography. It begins with traditional textiles from mid-twentieth century Africa during the independence era up to post-Apartheid years.

Angelica London, project manager for Africa Fashion remarked: “Africa Fashion paints a beautiful picture of how fashion in Africa is not one-dimensional.”

Featured designers include South Africa’s Thebe Magugu and Ethiopia-based Gouled Ahmed. Unique to this exhibit are contributions from Chicago’s Ebony magazine and a dress worn by Michelle Obama at the 2009 Nobel Banquet in Oslo.

A companion show titled Connecting Threads: Africa Fashion in Chicago mirrors the main exhibition with local elements. Ryan Schuessler, lead exhibition developer noted: “Africa Fashion tells the story on a global scale, but it’s a Chicago story too.”

The Field Museum collaborated with local creatives like Melody Boykin and Jennifer Akese-Burney for this exhibit. Their pieces were inspired by items in the museum's collections.

Africa Fashion is ticketed for a limited time while Connecting Threads is included with general admission through March 2026.

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