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INTRODUCTION TO FASHION DESIGN

African Style. Branding Africa: The Real and Ideological Fiction

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course introduces students to the fashion system throughout the exploration of the African Style, from art works to design, from trends to personal behaviors, in the past and present, in Africa and outside Africa. The students will deal with the concepts of imagination, ideology, representation, fiction, stereotype, authenticity and ambiguity.

Introduction. Branding Africa: The Real and Ideological Fiction
Daddy Buy Me a Pony, Faking Prada and the research of Rem Koolhaas, Vanessa Beecroft and the Darfur, the Jean Pigozzi Collection
Authentic-Autochthonous: Masks, Roots, Baobab, Sand, Desert and Savana. Shaping Tradition, Identity, Look.
Scarfs, pagne, boubou, Diouma Dieng, Diakhaté, bogolan, wax, batik, Yinka Shonibare, Pathé O., Marianne Fassler, Ly Dumas, Missoni.
The role of Léopold Sédar Senghor and Pablo Picasso in Senegal and Mobutu Sese Seko in Congo
The Vibrant Sixties and Seventies: post-independence, pre-structural adjustment Malik Sidibé, Fela Kuti, SAPE, Papa Wemba, Yves Saint Laurent
Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent
Informal cities, hip-hop, Xuli Bët, El Anatsui, Oumou Sy, La Nouvelle Liberté, Kean Etro and Philip Kwame Apagya, Joël Andrianomearisoa

Students are encouraged to take notes during talks and lectures, to produce a personal research and to identify and produce conceptual links.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Through the exploration of the ambiguous and ever-changing concept of African Style, the course underlines the presence, the importance and the strength of contamination, links, crossed-references in all artistic and creative productions. Students are encouraged to recognize, analyze and critically interpret contamination, links and crossed-references in past and present art works, fashion design and trends.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Understanding of English
Curiosity and artistic sensitivity

OUTPUT

A new Wikipedia article or an integration of an existing Wikipedia article. Articles are on an African stylists, on African influences on fashion, on visual artists, designers, movements...
The most successful articles are the ones which combine texts, with images, video, audio, collages, drawings... and the ones which activate the most numerous and heterogeneous collaborations