Yabatech and University of Munichen Germany takes the art of fashion to African cities
Yaba College of Technology, Lagos in collaboration with Institut Fur Kunstegeschichte, Munichen, Germany will be engaging fashion designers, scholars and professionals in a research project workshop tagged; “Workshop on Fashion and Style in African Cities: Lagos and Douala Project.”
It is scheduled to hold at the School of Art, Design and Printing, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos and will be running from October 16 to 18, 2018.
The research workshop, a collaboration between the two institutions with participants drawn from some African cities comprising Lagos, Accra and Douala will see designers and scholars engage in an incisive discourse patterning the evolving trend in fashion industry in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the local organising committee headed by Dr. Kunle Adeyemi, Dean, School of Art, Design and Printing, Yaba College of Technology in a press release stated:
“The workshop is to discuss fashion and style in this cities: fashion and style that have evolved focusing on historical, environmental and political perspectives.
The panel of discussion which will be led by the notable speakers from Germany and United States will also analyse how these key areas has influenced the fashion and style across Sub-Sahara Africa.
The speakers are Professor Kristin Kastner; Professor Kerstin Pinter; Alexandra Weigand from Institute Fur Kunstegeschichte, Munichen, Germany and Professor Victoria Rovine from Department of Art and Art History, Adjunct Faculty, Department of African American & Diaspora Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.
Others include Professor Frank Ogiomoh, University of Port Harcourt; Okechukwu Nwafor, University of Michigan; Basile Ndjio, University of Douala, Cameroon; Odessa Legemah, Fashion editor, Berlin;
Dr. Kunle Adeyemi, Dean, School of Art, Design and Printing, Yabatech, Mike Omoighe, HOD, Fashion Design Dept, Yabatech, FADAN president among other scholars from Yabatech and Nigerian Universities.
According to Dr. Adeyemi, there will be seminar session, keynote speeches and a closed session by the panelists that will analyze and compile the discourse into a communiqué for research purposes.
The concept will have contents that will include intimate internal discussions, joint readings, presentations, public lecture for researches, academic and industry.
Students from Universities of Lagos, Port Harcourt and Delta States will be participating. Also there will be a film screening session tagged: “Eko for show: a history of Lagos fashion by Bolaji Kekere Ekun to hold at JazzHole, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi while the lectures and speeches take place at Yusuf Grillo Auditorium, Yabatech.
He also stated that the driving vision behind this project is to know the focus of fashion and styles particularly in our cities and be able to as a researcher take those findings down and build on the success that were achieved and also look for new ground for other meaningful development in that sector.
The workshop will however, boost the newly created Fashion and Design department in the School of Art, Yabatech.
Dr. Adeyemi also noted that fashion being a major aspect of human existence, there is need to discuss its relevance and develop the industry to grow. According to him, “Fashion is a major aspect of human life. Christians call it raiment.
When Philosophers talked about the needs of man, they mean ‘food, shelter and clothing.’ If it is one of the core need of human existence, then we need to discuss it over and over to show its relevance and development as a money spinner to boost our economy.”
