Why Africa is not ready to handle its own Vogue

Fashion and lifestyle magazine Vogue has grown to become a beacon in the fashion world, setting the tone season upon season for what's to come, informing trends and showcasing the best and brightest from the fashion industry, globally. Vogue, since it began over 125 years ago has over 23 editions including Brazilian Vogue, Indian Vogue and Vogue Turkey.

On a recent trip to Lagos for Arise Fashion Week, supermodel During the course of the conversation has urged Condé Nast to launch an African edition of Vogue. Naomi Campbell who was recently appointed the contributing editor of Vogue by new Editor Edward Enninful, explained that she believes the launch of an African edition of the style bible would be an appropriate way to recognise the continent’s contribution to the global fashion industry.

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“There should be a Vogue Africa,” she told Reuters. "We just had Vogue Arabia, it is the next progression. It has to be,” she said. She continued, "Africa has never had the opportunity to be out there and their fabrics and their materials and their designs be accepted on the global platform, it shouldn't be that way. People have come to realise it is not about the colour of your skin to define if you can do the job or not.”

We have noticed a huge shift towards inclusion and representation in the fashion world with lots of black figures taking up prominent positions within the industry. Virgil Abloh was recently named the new head of menswear at Louis Vuitton, Balmain's creative director Olivier Rousteing is mixed race and British Vogue hired Edward Enninful to take the helm Vogue Africa would be a giant step but would it be a sincere step towards telling the African story or yet another chance to corner a market by hopping on a bandwagon?

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Telling Our Own Stories

Whilst Vogue Africa would create a wealth of jobs in a variety of departments; creative and technical. Are we admitting that we are not able, as a continent to produce something ourselves that is entirely ours and tells our unique story? Whilst Naomi's sentiments are understandable, we as Africans are allowing an international publication to come in and tell our fashion story on our behalf.

The Nigerian creative scene is experiencing a renaissance right now with international publications turning their eyes towards US. Young photographer such as Stephen Tayo, models like Mayowa Nicholas, designers like Lisa Folawiyo and Maki Oh are making waves globally and it seems that all that work would only be validated if we finally got our own version of Vogue.

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Why crave acceptance from a Western publication when we can break ranks and start something of our own. Something that is wholly, uniquely and profoundly African. Created by, run by and celebrating our very own.

A United Front

Another reason a continent-wide Vogue would not be feasible is that as a continent, we are not united enough to put together a cohesive monthly publication. Africa is a such a big place and unfortunately we do not know enough about what is going on in each country to produce a magazine that is properly representative.

Thanks to the creators of platform Industrie Africa, we are making steps towards changing that narrative. Industrie Africa is the digital answer to a traditional showroom, housing over 80 designers from 24 nations across Africa created by Nisha Kanabar and Georgia Bobley.

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In an interview with Vogue magazine, Industrie Africa sat down to discuss exactly why they thought such a platform was long-overdue. Vogue writes:

You don’t have to look too far to know that there’s more to African fashion than wax print motifs. And yet even the savviest industry insiders often have trouble thinking beyond the old clichés. It’s something Nisha Kanabar and Georgia Bobley are hoping to change with a new online platform that showcases the full breadth and depth of design on the continent. “The industry here is so fractured. People in Nigeria know little about what’s happening in Kenya or Mozambique, for example,” says Kanabar, a native Tanzanian, who cut her teeth as a fashion marketer working for the likes of both Indian and American Vogue. “Our question was: How do we connect the dots between the different countries?”

Nisha Kanabar continued by saying, "People often view African fashion as a trend that comes in waves and it’s so much more than that. We want to show that there’s a diversity of talent here that defies all expectations.”

Africa: The Goldmine

Whilst it's clear that there is a huge push towards Africa and we have caught the attention of the international community in terms of our creative capabilities, does this mean that we give in our continue to do what makes Africans so great by disrupting the status quo and doing something for ourselves?

According to We Are Africa Travel:

International brands are waking up to the fact that Africa is a potential goldmine. The Nigerian economy is one of the fastest growing in the world – and as an estimated 70 per cent of the population is under 30, it is an easy target for any youth-focused fashion label. In South Africa, the local luxury sector generated a revenue of approximately US$2.2 billion last year, and the ready-to-wear designer slice of the market is estimated to be worth $600 million.

Those are huge numbers and it's clear why everyone else is closing in on Africa. Whilst African Vogue is a novel idea and nice in theory, the reality is that with a bit more collaborative work, Africa as a continent could take on the whole of the Western fashion world.

Instead of asking Vogue to help us, how about we started by helping ourselves.