There’s a new player in new fashion you must know. Luxury Connect Africa is a premium platform connecting African Luxury with the rest of the world. It was launched this January in Paris and saw the most celebrated designers in Africa showcase their products and engage in conversations defining African luxury. Traditionally Africa has been associated with want, not luxury, and these types of platforms are helping bring to focus an emerging creative and consumptive space.
We were invited to exhibit and participate in the round-tables. It was an incredible experience; we met other talented and pioneering designers and got to connect with an interested public in Paris.
The round-tables and keynotes addressed the challenges and rewards of creating luxury in Africa. The designers told inspiring stories of how they’d managed to create brands to change the game in new fashion, in spite of the absence of financial and operational infrastructure. They talked about the evolving narrative of Africa and how they have been part of curating it.
Some of the designers and curators in new fashion that we met and loved include Vania leles of vanleles, Folake Coker of Tifanny Amber, Sacha Okoh of Viva Boutique Ghana, Aprelle Duany of Aprelle Duany, Valerie Obaze of R&R , Laduma of MaXhosa and Kabir Wadhwani of Temple Muse Lagos. We became an immediate community, bonding over our shared passion for fashion and our devotion to curating luxurious experiences of and inspired by Africa.
Africa is in renaissance. We have always believed and tried to accelerate and capture it. But it’s especially heart-warming to engage with other brands and individuals that realize this. Africa has one of the most rapidly expanding consumer-markets and Africans have become more discerning. But there are important conversations that must be had and thanks to platforms like Luxury Connect Africa, they starting to happen.
Visit the designer’s websites in the links to learn more about what they do. See our instagram page as well for the #AdeleinParis takeover.
Shop: adeledejak.com/shop