Press Release

Mbeuk Idourrou collection, Imane Ayissi, Paris, France, Autumn/Winter 2019. Photo by Fabrice Malard / Courtesy of Imane Ayissi

Africa Fashion, a new exhibition opening at the Field Museum, explores the global impact of Africa’s dynamic fashion scene, featuring a variety of works from across the continent. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, this exhibition features immersive displays of haute couture and ready-to-wear apparel with more than 180 works representing artists from over 20 African countries. 

The exhibition opens on February 28, 2025.

“Our guiding principle is the foregrounding of individual African voices and perspectives,” says  Christine Checinska, V&A’s inaugural Senior Curator of African and Diaspora Textiles and Fashion, and Lead Curator of the Africa Fashion exhibition. “The exhibition presents African fashions as a self-defining art form that reveals the richness and diversity of African histories and cultures. Africa Fashion celebrates the vitality and innovation of a selection of fashion creatives, exploring the work of the vanguard in the twentieth century and the creatives at the heart of this cosmopolitan scene today.”

The exhibition employs a cross-cultural and cross-continental approach throughout its galleries. Visitors can learn about the history of the continent through an artistic lens throughout the multi-sensory experience with dynamic visuals, music, and videos paired with garments, textiles, adornments, and photography. The journey begins with displays of traditional textiles and mid-twentieth century African fashions from the independence era up to the end of the Apartheid years. These stylish fashions formed a key part of Africa’s cultural renaissance, laying the foundation for today’s fashion revolution.

“Africa Fashion paints a beautiful picture of how fashion in Africa is not one-dimensional,”  says Angelica London, project manager. “The exhibition does a wonderful job of moving from traditional fashion to contemporary.”

The exhibition features designers whose works redefine global fashion, including South Africa’s Thebe Magugu and Ethipoia-based Gouled Ahmed.

Chicago’s Ebony magazine and a dress worn by First Lady and Chicago-native Michelle Obama at the 2009 Nobel Banquet in Oslo, donated by the National Archives and Records Administration, additional works in the exhibition that are unique to the Field Museum. 

Companion show celebrates the presence of African fashion within Chicago’s cultural fabric

Jennifer Akese Burney working on garments in her studio. © Field Museum, Photo by Latoya Flowers

Connecting Threads: Africa Fashion in Chicago mirrors the multi-sensory experience that is displayed in Africa Fashion with a local flair. The companion exhibition is a display of Chicago’s vibrant, living, and dynamic African design scene. 

“Africa Fashion tells the story on a global scale, but it’s a Chicago story too,” says lead exhibition developer, Ryan Schuessler. “So we had the unique opportunities to take the themes, approach, and ideas behind the main exhibition and bring to life that story from our own city.” 

The Field Museum collaborated with two local creatives featured in Connecting Threads, Melody Boykin, creator of Black Fashion Week | USA, and Jennifer Akese-Burney, a Ghana-born designer in Illinois. Their contributions to the exhibition include newly created pieces inspired by items in the Field Museum’s collections and works by local designers.

Africa Fashion is a ticketed exhibition for a limited time. Connecting Threads is included with general admission and will be open through March 2026.

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Field Museum Major Sponsor for Africa Fashion and Connecting Threads: Allstate

Africa Fashion is created by the V&A-touring the world.