African Fashion Week 2013

All photography by yours truly

Fashion is a miscellaneous industry that I do not pretend to fully understand. While, I value the creativity and beauty that is embodied in iconic brands like Chanel and Prada; and as I persevere through the pain that is wearing Louboutins, I am not some fashion-connoisseur-extraordinaire. I understand style in a very basic and simple way, and my wardrobe's appearance emanates from my mood. I will know the trends from previous seasons out of interest, but I could not tell you the style of every shoe Manolo Blahnik or Giuseppe Zanotti have ever fashioned. I can recognize and appreciate unique personal style and a wide selection of interesting garments but my closet does not attempt to rival that of Carrie Bradshaw's. What would a fashion post be without the requite mention of SITC's Ms. Bradshaw. And though this rant seems to be ongoing with no sense of direction, I promise you there is a point.
This past weekend I had been invited to attend Toronto's African fashion week (AFWT) as part of the media. I attended some industry parties and had the pleasure of attending the fashion shows. However, prior to my invite I was not aware that AFW had even existed. It was engaging to attend a multicultural event that expanded my limited knowledge and coverage of yet another field in fashion. For an individual like myself who is only aware of the current styles exhibited from top designers; AFWT showcased talent, culture and originally that I otherwise would not have known. The fashions were quite different than those that I had seen in Toronto fashion week back in February -- these outfits brought a distinct artistic taste and flavour. The designers were both local and international, while the materials used were primarily fabrics from an assortment of African and Caribbean countries. Each runway look displayed a merging between African ethnic fashions and North American style. The wide array of patterns, textures and warm hues were a fun and welcome change to that of my typical monochrome attire. I believe that the mainstream fashion industry could use more of universal and widespread fusion of designs rather than the common style reproduction and mass production that we see in this business year round.

As a side-note, I promised myself I wouldn't forget to mention that I had been dancing throughout the entire showcase. Afropop had been playing and I was not ashamed to get into the groove. Luckily the photos turned out, considering that at the time I was enjoying myself far too much to take a steady shot.

For more AFWT13 coverage visit natalieast.com/ where I guest-posted another article on the debuted fashion lines and further discuss the individual fashion labels at the event.

Click to find out more about African Fashion Week.