AFRO FASHION WEEK 2021

MILAN, ITALY

SEPT 23 – 26

Beyond Mitumba: Unveiling The Unseen

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Afro Fashion Week Milan 2021

Back in Italy’s fashion capital for its sixth edition, Afro Fashion Week Milan is proud to present an absolutely disruptive theme for 2021: Beyond Mitumba: Unveiling The Unseen.

Learn more below or check out the program schedule of fashion shows, online talks, and interviews!

We’re excited about reconvening together again in person for the first time in over a year, and the safety of our designers, volunteers, and attendees comes first. Read our COVID-19 safety protocol here.

Download the Program Calendar (PDF)

Press Registration / Registrazione Stampa

With press inquiries or to attend Afro Fashion Week events. For affiliated members of the press and other outlets. Contact press lead Cristina Fava of Bravo Communications or contact@afrofashion.org.

E-mail us

Beyond Mitumba: Unveiling the Unseen

The leitmotif of this sixth edition is the “Mitumba”: a phenomenon largely diffused in developing countries that consists in the mailing and reselling of second hand clothes coming from Western countries. These bulk of textile products alter the extremely delicate equilibrium of these developing lands with an excess of materials. Therefore textile landfills are created, which have no adequate outlets, creating further problems related to environmental pollution in loco. All of this prevents a healthy development of the local fashion’s creativity and entrepreneurship. From the observation of this growing phenomenon, the Afro fashion Association for the sixth edition of Afro Fashion Week Milan, decides to bring attention to recycling in all of its aspects including its most complex. The textile recycling will be the big protagonist of the new international designers’ fashion shows who will interpret the theme through their SS 2022 collections.

So much more than just a week

Although Afro Fashion Week Milan is our flagship annual event, our online Afrofashion Showroom and pop-up shops showcase Afro fashion year-round! Browse the collections or buy something special for yourself or a beloved. All of the items are straight from the catwalks of Afro Fashion Week Milan and embody the Made in Italy attention to craft, all either handcrafted or designed by Afro-descendent artists. A percentage of proceeds goes back to the Afro Fashion Association to support our work building an ecosystem of mentorship, networking, and professional development opportunities for emerging African and Afro-descendent designers.

Visit the Afrofashion Showroom

Calendar

Download the Program Calendar (PDF)

Thursday Sept 23

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19:30

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Via Felice Orsini, 21, 20157 Milano

Mitumba Carpet

Join us for a welcome drink and experience the carpet artistry of Mitumba Carpet

Mitumba Carpet

Join us for a welcome drink and experience the carpet artistry of Mitumba Carpet

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Via Felice Orsini, 21, 20157 Milano

Friday Sept 24

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11:00

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Online

Fab Five Bridge Builders International

The inauguration of a new annual initiative for fashion discovery & cultural exchange

Launching at the 2021 Afro Fashion Week in Milan, the Fab 5 International Bridge Builders models a new approach to international creative collaboration, fostering cultural exchange and launching innovative fashion to the global stage.

Beginning with Cameroon in its inaugural edition, each year highlights a different country, scouting five emerging designers from that region to participate in a fashion show during Milan Fashion Week, connect with buyers and markets, and develop their brand through the support of a full ecosystem of mentorship and professional development.

Part fashion showcase, part educational mission, part cultural exchange, the Fab 5 International Bridge Builders project urgent the fashion industry to work harder to reflect the multicultural society in which we are living. Fashion is a powerful tool, playing an enormous role in shaping how we view and value people. When it changes, it changes not just for the good of fashion but for the society at large which then embodies and reflects those values back.

Fab Five Bridge Builders International

The inauguration of a new annual initiative for fashion discovery & cultural exchange

Launching at the 2021 Afro Fashion Week in Milan, the Fab 5 International Bridge Builders models a new approach to international creative collaboration, fostering cultural exchange and launching innovative fashion to the global stage.

Beginning with Cameroon in its inaugural edition, each year highlights a different country, scouting five emerging designers from that region to participate in a fashion show during Milan Fashion Week, connect with buyers and markets, and develop their brand through the support of a full ecosystem of mentorship and professional development.

Part fashion showcase, part educational mission, part cultural exchange, the Fab 5 International Bridge Builders project urgent the fashion industry to work harder to reflect the multicultural society in which we are living. Fashion is a powerful tool, playing an enormous role in shaping how we view and value people. When it changes, it changes not just for the good of fashion but for the society at large which then embodies and reflects those values back.

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11:00

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Online

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18:00

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Online

Video: Beauty Space by Atélier Ladouce

Streaming live online

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Video: Beauty Space by Atélier Ladouce

Streaming live online

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18:00

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Online

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18:00

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Online via Zoom

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The Room @ BAR STUDIOS, Via Gardone 9, 20139 Milano

Sunday Sept 26

19:00

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The Room @ BAR STUDIOS, Via Gardone 9, 20139 Milano

About us

Afro Fashion Week Milano is the flagship event of the Afro Fashion Association, a non-profit Black-led volunteer-driven organization based in Milan, Italy, and Cameroon, founded in 2015.