Making AFRIK!: The Pan African Students Association Vogue Demonstrate Utilizes Manner Style and design to Build Local community and Celebrate African Culture
Although a lot of folks think of clothing as simply just material that covers components of the entire body, the Pan African Students Association’s AFRIK! trend exhibit used outfits as a pathway to self-expression, historic remembrance and local community constructing.
PASA held its yearly style demonstrate on Saturday, March 4 in Barton Corridor. The show featured established designers with roots across the African diaspora and some of Cornell’s own student designers and versions.
Chicago-centered designer Oluwaseyi Adeleke, the founder and creator of the style brand “prgrssn” or Progression with the Krown, was a single of the designers showcased at the vogue display. He said that his manner layout inspiration and improvement stems from his Nigerian background and he aims for prgrssn’s clothes to teach the wearer and everyone all-around them, with every piece owning a powerful concept in hopes to be a dialogue starter.
“When I went to Nigeria, I found my material, and then my mother hooked me up with some sewers,” Adeleke reported. “I have worked on styles with them, and we developed this overall selection [in Nigeria].”
Adeleke introduced his assortment as the thesis for his graduate plan. He described that he wished to rejoice African heritage and decolonization by means of his do the job by producing the assortment out of Ankara — a conventional substance originating in Holland.
“[Ankara] is at first from Holland and was really brought around to Nigeria, and relatively than Africans just basically having it in the way that the Holland folks introduced it to them, they designed it their personal so considerably far more that these prints are more involved with West Africa than they are at the place of origin,” Adeleke said. “So for me, that is a variety of decolonization.”
To Adeleke, clothes and patterns can change extra than just trend.
“[My designs symbolize] a variety of protest, and that is why I use [Ankara] in the course of all of [my] operate,” Adeleke explained.
Pupil designer Jon Duval ’25 also emphasised originality in his work, due to the fact he sees trend as a variety of self-expression.
“It is really quick to see developments and soar following people trends, but I consider it’s far more important to just try to stay genuine to your self and get that chance even nevertheless there is a element of you that could possibly want to,” Duval claimed.
Duval is the creator of Exomatic Minds, a streetwear brand name operate by Cornellians to celebrate the Cornell scholar body.
“The word exomatic suggests inclined to be extraordinary,” the Exomatic Minds website reads. “Our best mission is to spotlight the creativity and uniqueness of pupils attending a prestigious college by means of creation.”
Duval stated that vogue is about creativeness alternatively than perfection.
“[When it comes to fashion design,] I think worrying about getting excellent is the least concern you really should have,” Duval said. “I imagine [aspiring designers] really should worry about just how to get commenced.”
Types of AFRIK! also observed that they valued connecting with other learners of coloration and learning about the modeling market.
“I [appreciated] the group’s variety,” Amere Sloan ’26 reported. “Once I acquired on campus, I felt like I did not actually see any other people today of my shade, so when I read about AFRIK! and [knowing] I normally needed to get into modeling, it was like killing two birds with one stone.”
Shanelle Eshun ’26 described that she liked learning about the modeling profession, irrespective of the process remaining mind-boggling at very first.
“The procedures were definitely extended and time-consuming, and in the starting, I did not have poses, but they also taught us how to product like a skilled, and I really feel like I have uncovered how to be a portion of an event,” Eshun reported.
PASA Co-President Jaida Anekwe ’25 emphasized that AFRIK! recognizes unity and builds group.
“I really feel like just one of my largest takeaways [from AFRIK!] is that group is just about everywhere,” Anekwe mentioned. “I consider even when you’re prepping for anything stressful or just hoping to make anything occur, it is important to check out and develop connections with [everyone] and to prioritize the group part.”
Erica Yirenkyi ’25 is a Sunshine contributor and can be reached at [email protected]