The initiative that already happens in the United Kingdom and in Africa, Africa Fashion Week (AFW Brasil) takes place for the first time in the country, at Expo Center Norte, in São Paulo. From this Thursday (25th) until May 27th, 2023, the venue will host fashion shows, as well as an exhibition of products and services in the areas of clothing, decoration, beauty, tourism and gastronomy. A global movement founded by Queen Ronke Ademiluyi Ogunwusi, from Nigeria, the event in the country also aims to support black entrepreneurship, explains the director of AFW Brazil, Silvana Saraiva. “At the event we bring designers, but it also brings black entrepreneurs so that they can leverage and even internationalize their businesses, AFW is an instrument to combat structural racism that is still active in the social structure of Brazil”, comments Silvana, world president the Feafro International Institute and the Brazil Africa Chamber of Commerce. According to the organizer, AFW Brazil aims to value cultural diversity, fight racism and promote the integration of Brazil with the African continent. “Not only because we have 54% of the population black, but also because we have cultural similarity. AFW Brasil opens up a range of opportunities for the internationalization of companies and also for foreign trade, because Africa is currently undergoing economic diversification, with the entire chain of the textile sector. And this also makes other sectors of the Brazilian economy turn their eyes to the African continent and helps to better understand the interests, desires and desires of the black Brazilian consumer”. Fashion, points out Silvana, is an instrument to combat racism. “Fashion becomes a reactionary instrument to combat racism, because even today fashion is still euro-centric. The idea is to bring a new idea not only of design and aesthetics, but of modeling that is more aligned with the body, mainly of the Afro-Brazilian, of the Brazilian black people”. Fashion Designers Present at AFW Brasil, Meninos Rei, is a fashion brand from Bahia signed by the brothers Céu Rocha and Júnior Rocha. The brand was born in 2015 and originates from Subúrbio Ferroviário (Salvador), carrying the culture of the outskirts of the city, showing habits, customs, music and identity. Created to break Eurocentric patterns, Meninos Rei grew with its African fabrics, mix of prints, strong colors, modern models and volumes. Ancestral references are imprinted in the pieces, which awaken an awareness of acceptance and appreciation of black identity. “We are going to present at AFW Brasil looks with exclusive prints. This event brings 17 brands from Africa and only four brands from Brazil and we were selected, it had a very strong curatorship and we passed this curatorship, so we need to show our new models and exclusive prints with the face of Meninos Rei”, said the brothers Rock. The stylists explain which symbolic aspects are present in African design fashion. “The African fabric is very rich, it is a very strong fabric that carries many codes, with symbolic aspects such as Candomblé, all these codes have always been present. The company Meninos do Rei presents this fabric in a different way, with another language, with our face, our modernity, our daring. In this collection, we present a much more modern modeling, even mixing pop”. Resistance Author of the master’s research Afro-Brazilian Fashion, resistance design: dressing as a political action, researcher and fashion designer Maria do Carmo Paulino dos Santos explains that Afro-Brazilian fashion is an instrument against racism, because it carries in its bulge the struggle of resistance of the black population. “This fashion gives a new meaning to concepts, traditions, behaviors and ways of life. This fashion comes from the peripheries, it comes from the terreiros, it comes from the quilombos, it comes from the marches and demonstrations of black resistance. This fashion is created by black people who want to see on the catwalks the representation of their black aesthetic, their curly hair, their negroid traits (a group of people who have their origin in Africa): black faces, dark skin, wide noses and lips , and curly hair,” he explained. For the researcher, events such as Africa Fashion Week (in Nigeria) are important to enhance the immense community of African immigrants in Brazil, from different countries on the African continent: Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Togo, Ivory Coast , Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, etc. “In recent years we have followed the strong and growing movement of Africans coming from these places, in order to sell textile products. Some bring Afro fabrics to sell, others buy clothes to resell in their countries of origin, and there are still many who stayed here and saw an opportunity to undertake and resell their fashion products in the regions of Brás, Bom Retiro, and Praça da Republic in São Paulo”, says Afro-Brazilian Fashion researcher. Maria do Carmo mentions other important events, such as Feira Preta, which “for 20 years has been the biggest festival of culture and afro-entrepreneurship in Latin America. I see that all these events are on the way to reducing the social and racial inequalities that still plague this black and indigenous territory that is Brazil.” Opening The official opening ceremony of the parades will take place at 7 pm this Thursday (25). three days of the event, May 25th to 27th, in the morning and in the afternoon, AFW Brasil will exhibit products and services in the areas of clothing, decoration, beauty, tourism, gastronomy and well-being, in addition to business roundtables with participation of Brazilian and foreign investors previously registered on the site. Admission is free and registration can be made by email.AFW Brasil takes place in the same week as São Paulo Fashion Week, the most important fashion event in Latin America. According to the organizer of AFW Brasil, it is a coincidence. “We scheduled the 25th of May because it is World Africa Day, Africa Day. We didn’t know that São Paulo Fashion Week would take place in the same week. The winner is the city of São Paulo, which will breathe fashion in these days, both for São Paulo Fashion Week and for Africa Fashion Week”, she celebrates. AFW Brasil counts with the presence of the Bahian Carlos Cruz, international model, who is the deputy director of the AFW Brasil week, responsible for the production of the parades and castings, better known as Rei da Favela (name adopted to honor his grandfather), and inspiration for younger blacks.
Agência Brasil
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