Africa Celebrates Fashion
Addis Ababa is considered by many to be the social capital of Africa and it is no coincidence that this year’s ‘Africa Celebrates’ is to be held in the home town of the African Union. The African Celebrates Fashion Reception has been commemorating African traditions, art, culture and cuisine since 2013. African fashion has been on the rise over the last decade and it is only fair that the continent itself takes the initiative to bring together creatives from within to showcase their work to the global market.
The Africa Fashion Reception (AFR) is a fashion Pan-African initiative. This year’s event will gather fashion designers, dignitaries, Ambassadors and media from over 30 African countries in a celebration of cultural diversity expressed through the artistic fashion discipline, with a theme “Art, fashion and culture.”
Africa Celebrates is organized by Lexi Mojo, CEO of Legendary Gold Group, an event company based in Nigeria with offices around the world. They have organized a role up of African inspired events across the continent and all around the world.
The organizers remarked that the purpose of commemorating Africa for a week with the youth and higher officials from all over the continent is to serve as a platform for showcasing Africa’s talent through arts, culture, heritage, innovation and entrepreneurship, while at the same time make available the space for networking among the youth and invited stakeholders.
“We’ve been hosting this event annually since 2013, in partnership with the AU, at the premises of the continental body. African Fashion reception was originally launched in Paris in 2013. We've held two editions, the global and African edition both remarkable in showcasing African culture. But this year was declared by the African Union as a year of Art, Culture and heritage; which led us to decide that we’d need pre-events that would lead to the gala fashion event of Africa Fashion reception. That is why we have 5 days of those events with each day dedicated to the 5 regions of Africa. Each day will incorporate dance music and cuisine of their respective region,” said Lexi.
The AFR started in 2013 with the objective of harnessing the potential power of the African fashion industry to fight poverty and support developmental agenda by empowering women and youth engaged in various aspects of the fashion industry through the provision of training, capacity building schemes, workshops and setting up of medium and small-scale businesses. That would support the African Union Agenda 2063 and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; which is why this year’s event includes a day of business discussion with professionals from across the continent.
It is jointly organized by the Department of Social Affairs of the African Union Commission (AUC), Legendary Gold Limited and the Club Addis in partnership with the National Tourism Commission and Oromia Tourism Commission to further enhance the tourism potential of the event.
It is intended to attract global attention to Africa’s very rich and diversified dress culture, which can be viewed as a catalyst for the social economic growth of the continent’s textile industry.
The event is set to begin on October 21, 2021 with the aim of expanding the potential power of fashion as a tool for fighting poverty in Africa by creating wealth through the empowerment of women and youth in the various fashion vocations. It is also set to bring in lots of tourists, hopefully reviving the tourism industry that has taken a huge hit during the pandemic.
“This is a great initiative. Lexi reached out to me a couple of months ago with the idea to create an event that centers on the cultural heritage and art of Africa. As Africans, we have such a rich culture that the whole world deserves to see; it is a great opportunity to showcase what sort of potential lies within the continent. It is also a great opportunity to show the rich heritage of Ethiopia to the extended African and global tourists the event is set to bring in,” said Lelise Duga, Commissioner of Oromia Tourism Commission.
Attendees of the event can only be at the event if they are dressed in cultural African attire. In order to promote these attires from across the continent, the event took it upon itself to have a cultural dress code. The sixth day of the event will have a fashion exhibition for attendees to exhibit and purchase attires for the main event.
The event aims to create self-reliance as it creates jobs across the continent for tailors, creative directors, textile designers, models, cutters, pressers, fashion photographers & writers, hair stylists, make-up artists and alike.
The narrative towards Africa has run its course and it is about time it changes. Although it would take years of work, the event is a step in the right direction in bringing the much-desired peace and stability to our continent by positively engaging the youth and further develop African economies by creating the biggest and most profitable African fashion and lifestyle trade and investment initiative for global patronage.
“Africa is a mother to all, with so much potential for growth and development. I personally am deeply connected to Africa to a point where I can’t stay away from the continent for too long. Our cultures are so dynamic and vibrant that it’s about time we all proudly embrace it. We are all one in Africa, the boundaries are just boundaries,” said Sonia Kabanda, CEO of Club Addis.
The event organizers and partners had called a press conference on October 6, 2021 at the Club Addis to announce the date of the much-anticipated event. Lexi welcomed all participants and thanked the AU, the Club Addis, Oromia Tourism Commission, Africa Tourism Board and Ethiopian Tourism for co-organizing the African Fashion Business Summit.
He noted that Africa has great potential in advancing the continent by preserving its indigenous materials, products and also through the fashion industry. They also remarked the need to RSVP in advance in order to have a spot secured for the event.