Sunny Dolat x V&A Museum: Africa Fashion Exhibition Opening

Huge congratulations to our very own Sunny Dolat for a gloriously successful opening of the Africa Fashion Exhibition at the V&A Museum in London! Sunny was a core part of the exhibition’s curatorial team, where he contributed his ideas, selections, networks, research, writing, strategy and reflections to the exhibition, not to mention the film “In Their Finest Robes The Children Shall Return”, and excerpts from his short Looku. Sunny and Njoki also co-wrote an essay titled “The Place We Call Home: Economic and Cultural Reclamation of African Fashions” which is featured in the exhibition book, titled “Africa Fashion”. The exhibition and publication also include personal contributions from African fashion giants Imane Ayissi, IAMISIGO, Moshions, Thebe Magugu and Sindiso Khumalo.

“This exhibition is long overdue in many ways, but also right on time in many others,” says Sunny about the exhibition. He added, “The show will also go a long way in providing a necessary glimpse into the amount of labour, commitment and care required when attempting to showcase or present fashions and aesthetics from the African Continent. We can only hope that this becomes the new baseline, and that all further efforts and exhibitions from here on out will continue to build from this.”  

The Africa Fashion Exhibition is showcasing garments from a selection of mid-twentieth century designers—Shade Thomas-Fahm, Chris Seydou, Kofi Ansah and Alphadi, exploring the work of the vanguard and the creative teams at the heart of this eclectic and cosmopolitan scene today.

The exhibition opened on 2nd July 2022 and will run till 16th April 2023. You can watch a short video about it on Youtube here, buy the exhibition publication Africa Fashion here, and, if you’re in London, book your tickets to see it here!