Across the continent, a new generation of African fashion designers is redefining fashion, stitch by stitch. By blending ancestral techniques with groundbreaking contemporary design and embracing slow, sustainable practices, these 10 designers are catapulting African creativity onto the global stage.
Imane Ayissi Couture – Cameroon
Imane Ayissi is a Paris-based Cameroonian designer whose work fuses his African heritage with Parisian haute couture. Ayissi began his career as a dancer with the Ballet National du Cameroun before pivoting to fashion. After moving to Paris in the ‘90s, he modelled for big names like Dior and Valentino before becoming a couturier. In 2020, he made history as the first designer from Sub-Saharan Africa to show on the official Paris Haute Couture Week schedule. Zendaya is a fan.
@imane_ayissi
www.imane-ayissi.com
Zyne – Morocco
This handcrafted luxury shoe brand is bringing iconic Moroccan shoe, the babouche, into the 21st century—merging tradition with contemporary design. Each shoe takes 35 hours to make by hand. Shoes are dyed using vegetable scraps and spices and embroidered using traditional Moroccan techniques by a cooperative supporting local women.
@zyneofficial
www.zyneofficial.com
Tongoro – Senegal
A 100% African-made online clothing brand, with everything sourced from the continent and produced by local tailors in Dakar, Senegal. Rather than designing for the catwalk, Tongoro’s focuses on playful, unique, and affordable everyday wear. Fans include Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Iman, and Burna Boy.
IAMISIGO – Nigeria
IAMISIGO is a contemporary wearable art brand based between Lagos, Nairobi and Accra. The brand incorporates waste materials, Nigerian textile traditions, unconventional fibres and upcycling into handmade wearable artworks—all with a vision to preserve history, reclaim forgotten historical narratives, and honour ancestral techniques.
Awa Meité – Mali
Designer Awa Meité is more interested in the materials her clothes are made from—their origins, stories, the value they bring to the communities she works with, and their global footprint—than in trends. Each piece is handmade using leather, hand-woven fabrics, and cotton that has been grown, processed, designed and tailored locally, with the help of Malian artisans using traditional techniques.
@awameitedesign
www.awa-meite.com
Lukhanyo Mdingi – South Africa
This award-winning, Cape Town-based ready-to-wear label marries local crafting techniques with contemporary luxury fashion by partnering with African artisans and NGOs —including weavers from the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha and textile artisans at CABES GIE in Burkina Faso.
@lukhanyomdingi
www.lukhanyomdingi.co.za
Kente Gentlemen – Côte d’Ivoire
Kente Gentlemen is an Abidjan-based contemporary clothing and accessories label that collaborates with local artisans on a mission to promote the ethical production and consumption of clothing. Designer and founder Aristide Loua says colour, poetry, and culture are essential to his design process: ‘Colour is the emotion, poetry is the messenger, culture is my voice.’
@kentegentlemen
www.kentegentlemen.com
TRAVEL. – Morocco
Ivorian art director, model, and designer Patrice Kouadio’s Marrakech-based label is inspired by Africa’s rich heritage. Kouadio sees every piece in his collection as a wearable postcard of Marrakech—one not just to be admired, but to be worn. Each item invites the wearer to embark on a journey through the world of African aestheticism, while also carrying and cherishing the memory of their travels with them. The brand collaborates with local artisans to support their work and preserve traditional crafting techniques.
@shop_travel
www.travel-archikech.com
Moshions – Rwanda
This luxury Rwandan fashion house, based in Kigali and founded by Moses Turahirwa, draws inspiration from elements of traditional Rwandan culture, reinterpreting and updating them for the present: like incorporating traditional geometric Imigongo patterns or putting his own gender-neutral spin on the Rwandan mushanana. Everything is 100% African-made, often with the help of local artisans. His client list includes American singer John Legend, Rwandan president Paul Kagame, the famed Belgian statue Manneken Pis, and Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa.
