I’m about to say something very cliché ! My background being from DRC Congo, fashion has always been very important in my family and community. My father will buy very weird and expensive shoes for me, that were actually very uncomfortable and maybe too original for me, so I will only wear them when he is around otherwise I will let them in their boxes.
KENZO has always been that very colorful and outstanding brand. I’ve always liked that about KENZO and I guess that is why many congolese people like it (because we like to be fashionably different).
#KENZO #BlackCulture #MusicIsMyMistress
Since the beginning of this year I noticed that KENZO was doing many campaigns showcasing black models. It has recently released a music video celebrating the black culture in The USA. A short film titled ‘Music is my mistress » which is a 12 minutes video celebrating fashion, music and sensibility. Here, the brand aims to send a message about respecting the black culture. The music video has been produced by the artist behind Beyonce’s Lemonade music videos. I actually loved the music videos, how black and african culture have been well represented in this video where you could see many images referring to the black community in the states as well as showcasing african artists and designers. In this video starring Jesse Williams and Tracy Ellis Ross, Tracy played a woman described as « African royalty ».
Now with it’s latest collaboration exhibited in the London flagship store, this time the brand went in Africa and collaborates with Nigerian artists on an unique project about unity and beauty. The exhibition is called « Gidi Gidi Bu Ugwu Eze,» an Igbo proverb which means « Unity is strength. »
Kenzo Flagship Store London
From the window of the flagship store a huge photo of Igbo girls was displayed so as soon as I arrived I was very excited about going inside and see more. These Igbo girls are precisely from Nsukka, a town located in South-East Nigeria in Enugu State.
The Igbo are the second largest group of people living in southern Nigeria and Nsukka, home to Igbo, is one of the largest places in Nigeria. The first time I heard about Nsukka was in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s book called Americanah. So, by looking at these Igbo girls from Nsukka, it felt like I was still in the book (by the way Lupita Nyong’o will reunite with Brad Pitt to bring the book Americanah to the screen. We can’t wait for that to happen.)
With that project the goal of Kenzo was still to celebrate black culture but in this one more specifically the key message was to challenge « normative beauty » and visualize beauty as something unique and different as mainstream in medias and magazines.
When KENZO approaches the nigerian artist Akinola Davies Jr, it was because of his previous work on music videos (Kenzo like to mix fashion and music in an unique perspective to send a powerful message). Partnering with Ruth Ossai in that project they chose to shoot young people of the Igbo community in Nigeria. The models were all locals from the schools, churches and markets of Nsukka, Ossai’s own village.
“It’s about celebrating young black Nigerian bodies and capturing them celebrating Igbo culture and traditions, showing that beauty is always present when there is a commitment to the celebration of culture,” explained Davies Jr.
That is true that beauty plays a big places in African celebrations. We all see how spectacular can be african celebrations, wedding etc.. As a congolese I can tell you that in our community when you know you have a celebration coming you better be on point, make up, clothing, hairstyles everything. It is almost like a statement, it is a lot about showing off but in a good way. I actually found myself not always in line with that vision, because I will call myself a natural beauty. Most of the time I enjoy keeping my natural afro and my face with no make up or barely. When I went for the first time in DRC Congo, Kinshasa I had a lot of bad comments because for them keeping your natural afro is being messy and seen as neglective so it was a bit hard for me because I did not correspond to their view of beauty.
Anyway, back to Kenzo. Each Kenzo’s music videos or short films are more here to send a powerful message than to showcase a fashion collection and that is what I really like about it.
My motto is « What if fashion could be more than just being trendy » and here is a good example. They use fashion to send messages to people. “It’s our fourth film, and they’ve never been fashion films. I would say each director that made each of the films would say they’re a part of the body of their work and that’s important.”
In the “Gidi Gidi Bu Ugwu Eze” exhibition, Akinola and Ruth main messages are Unity and Beauty, that we can see through a beauty pageant, Miss Nsukka, the different celebrations, and … Love. I say love because when watching the video and photos, two photos really captivated my attention. (See pictures below). I feel like they also wanted to showcase unity not only as everyone enjoying being together but as well as being unify in our differences by capturing two images representing « gay marriage. », which could have been controversial since homosexuality is still a tough subject in Africa.
Gidi Gidi BU Ugwu Eze #KENZOxNIGERIA
I like the fact that more well known brands are embracing the african lifestyle and supporting african artists and designers through different projects.
Let’s give a voice to African talents they have so much to show and share with the world and let’s show to the next generation that there is no just one definition of beauty but a tons!
FallAspire 