Theophilus London | ACCRA [dot] ALT Radio

SINGER EFYA IN DUABA SERWA

The homie OB Abenser‘s FashionistaGH was on the scene for ARISE Magazine‘s first annual Fashion Week in Lagos this March. Take a look at super fresh Ghanaian designer, Nelly Hagan-Aboagye‘s line Duaba Serwa / @duabaserwa. The Legon alum who studied Nursing + Graphic Design started her collections only two years ago. Duaba Serwa is simple yet versatile – flipping from whimsical and romantic to structured with bold contrasts to glittery Grace Jones’ glam.

Check out the fashion show and jam down to EFYA aka @EFYA_Nokturnal‘s joint, “Blow My Mind” with rapper D-Black.

In other news, StyleLikeU‘s closet confessional interviews with hip hop artist, Theophilus London – Afro-funkster design twins, Dynasty + Soul – plus dancer/healer Lyfe Silva are ever so subtly addictive. Each intimately reveals how style blasts ideas about racial identity, gender, sexuality, self-worth and determination. Take a gander through this visual garden.

THEOPHILUS LONDON (Trinidad + Tobago/Brooklyn, NY):

“At three or four years old, my Auntie Cleo bought me a pink tuxedo. It was a weird number, but I’d wear it every Sunday. We went to a big Catholic Church… people would look at me like I was crazy.”

DYNASTY + SOUL (Nigeria/West Indies/Brooklyn, NY):

“Since I was like 11, I would get the ‘are you a boy or a girl? Before I would feel embarrassed about that, but now I accept it. I’m like ‘I’m letting your mind run, you can’t figure it out’ I’ve grown to love that aspect.” (Dynasty)

LYFE SILVA (Native American/Portuguese/African American):

“I wear a lot of African-esque things. A lot of people, will go ‘There goes mama Africa.’ I think it’s a terrible cliché when people choose to categorize. I thought we were just okay with being who we are.”

dancer/healer LYFE SILVA’s star trek, Courtesy of @stylelikeu

We go beatnuts for innovative style. And this historical moment is producing some really fresh and distinct African designers. Bold mod patterns, chunky cultural prints, vivid psychadelic palettes, and undeniable street swag are fast becoming the defining elements of this emerging, global motley crew.

Hip hop artist, @theophiluslondon’s bogga style/ @stylelikeu

Style provides an amazing lens for us to communicate and interpret our relationship with the environment, i.e. who we are to the world and what the world is to us. Style is a cool and critical feature of the African imagination. Through style we show our understanding of the world and our place in it.

Designers DYNASTY + SOUL’s Migration Fashion / @stylelikeu

There are some chill folk we’d like you to meet. Twice a month, we’ll post a style segment on the blog featuring fascinating Ghanaian and African designers, stylists, and everyday gamechangers who think deeply and creatively about style, identity and artistic capacity.

Take a look at what our antennas picked up this week.

GHANAIAN designer Ozwald Boateng’s “I Love Soweto” photoshoot:

From the beginning I have always wanted to shoot this collection in Africa, and The ‘I Love Soweto’ shoot captured what I was trying to do so beautifully. Spring/Summer 2012 essentially represents a European take on an African aesthetic, and my African heritage coupled with the setting of Soweto really gave the concept it’s authenticity’.

To learn more about @OzBoateng‘s design journey, check out A Man’s Story (2010):