Contemporary African Fashion Suzanne Gott 9780253222565

African fashion is as diverse and dynamic as the continent and the people who live there. While experts have long recognized the importance of clothing as a marker of ethnic identity, life stages, political affiliation, and social class, they have only just begun to discover African fashion. Contemporary African Fashion puts Africa at the intersection of world cultures and globalized identities, displaying the powerful creative force and impact of newly emerging styles. Richly illustrated with color photographs, this book showcases haute couture for the African continent. The visual impact of fashion created and worn today in Africa comes to life here, beautifully and brilliantly.

Suzanne Gott is Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Critical Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Her work focuses on fashion from the Ashanti region in Ghana.

Kristyne Loughran is an independent scholar who specializes in African jewelry and fashion. She is editor (with Thomas K. Seligman) of Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World.

[A]s a scholarly text Contemporary African Fashion provides an important interdisciplinary analysis of a subject relevant to art historians, fashion historians, anthropologists, and historians alike. It would fit well within graduate-level reading lists for courses in African art history and histories of fashion.

Contemporary African Fashion is beautifully designed and graced with compelling photos. . . . Together, the essays reinforce the idea of ever-evolving tradition and cultural interaction, and the great importance of personal appearance on the African continent. While the composite picture that emerges is informative, it is the richness of the specific stories that make this anthology compelling. April 27, 2011

[This is] a richly documented, well-argued, thought-provoking and beautifully illustrated study of contemporary African fashion.

The book is beautifully designed and features high-quality photographs illustrating the various topics addressed. The chapters are kept to a comfortable length, which makes the volume also a suitable tool for teaching.