July Seminar

From Mama in the Garage: Fashion Training Among Contemporary Fashion Designers in West Africa.

Presenter: Dr. Adwoa Owusuwaa Bobie

Abstract

This paper contributes to the discourse of skill development in the informal sector. It discusses the training background of contemporary fashion designers in West Africa. In the past three decades, the world has witnessed the emergence of a new crop of fashion designers from Africa whose creativity and innovation have dominated fashion discourses and the global fashion market. Emerging from a system with an already established vocational sewing industry, contemporary designers seek to distinguish themselves from traditional seamstresses/tailors and the first generation of recognised fashion designers from Africa. Their works have been recognised for their distinct style, which draws on African culture while infusing it with global artistic trends. While the designers and their works are widely acknowledged in discourses, literature is silent on the skills training that underpins designers’ creativity and works. In this paper, I draw on qualitative, phenomenological research in Nigeria and Ghana on the rise of contemporary fashion designers to argue that the nature of their educational background and skills training shows a new trend towards the professionalization of fashion. Operating within an informal creative industry, contemporary designers combine high levels of education with formal fashion training locally and internationally to develop their fashion skills. They are equally engaged in the global cultural flow of mobility, technological advancement, and media information, which influences skill development. Designers effectively hybridize local skill training with global cultural flow, situating them at the intersection of cultures, which results in innovativeness and creativity.