MILAN — The Afro Fashion Association and Levi’s on Tuesday unveiled the 30 talents of diverse backgrounds enrolled for their inaugural “Voices of Denim” program.
The association, which has been supporting creatives in Italy belonging to underrepresented communities with an original focus on the African continent, and the denim giant first revealed their tie-up last February.
The yearlong partnership is to involve 30 Black, Indigenous and people of color creatives based in Italy across fashion design, photography, styling, sound design, art, writing and illustration, videography, and beauty to develop a collective project to reinterpret Levi’s heritage through their own cultural perspective and technical expertise.
“Denim is a fabric that cuts across cultures, movements, and personal and social histories. It carries the marks of the people who live in it. It speaks to existence, expressive freedom, and the language of contemporary culture, a medium through which new perspectives and aesthetics can be told,” said Michelle Francine Ngonmo, founder and president of the Afro Fashion Association, during a press conference here Tuesday.
“Voices of Denim was not created to ask for space, but to make it. Narratives around talents from migrant backgrounds are too often framed around requesting inclusion. We want instead to create the space ourselves… The goal is to offer the city of Milan and the creative system new languages and new perspectives for cultural dialogue,” she said.
