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8 Enticing African Fashion Magazines Doing Justice To The Continent’s Culture

8 Enticing African Fashion Magazines Doing Justice To The Continent’s Culture

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Africa’s fashion consumer industry was once dominated by international imports. Now African designers are getting international attention at events like New York Fashion Week, earning a place for their products on international retail chain shelves. African fashion professionals have a serious following inside and outside the continent, and local fashion lovers are demanding more localized publications. A handful of magazines stand out for creating unique, useful content that does justice to the continent’s vibrant fashion culture. Here are 8 enticing African fashion magazines.

Source: Africa.com

Thewriterfashionicon.com/Fashizblack cover
Thewriterfashionicon.com/Fashizblack cover

Fashizblack

Fashizblack covers everything fashion related, from precise fashion tips to how fashion influences culture and vice versa. Fashizblack is one of the most visited online fashion publications in France. The founders started the magazine when they realized there was a lack of Afro-oriented magazines with a global outlook,  according to Fashizblack.com. The publication mainly features stylists, models, designers and fashion professionals who give fashion advice as well as an insider look into the industry.

Noellacoursaris.com/ New African Woman cover
Noellacoursaris.com/ New African Woman cover

NewAfrican Woman

NewAfrican Woman is a fashion magazine that leans political, with a lot of celebrity interviews on women’s rights issues, as well as overall inequality issues in entertainment. The magazine focuses as much on aesthetic-related advice like beauty tips as it does on mental and emotional advice, with articles on child care, insomnia, and even mental illness. The magazine has a regularly updated websites called Nawmagazine.com.

Mjemagazine.com/Afrik fashion show
Mjemagazine.com/Afrik fashion show

AfrikFashion

AfrikFashion magazine is based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Isabelle Anoh, who also organizes the Afrik Fashion Show and has her finger on the pulse of African fashion, is the owner of the magazine. The publication does a lot of profile pieces on tastemakers in fashion—mostly those in high, runway fashion—who started their careers in Africa and are gaining global recognition. A 2014 profile featured local designer Cote d’Ivorian Kouassi Norbert Akou, who has been featured in New York Fashion Week and Brooklyn Live, according to Akounyc.org.

Lamodespot.com/Belinda Effah interview
Lamodespot.com/Belinda Effah interview

La Mode

La Mode is comparable to Cosmo with a variety of cover stories, often one each in the categories of daily beauty tips, relationship advice, celebrity interview, health tips, and a culture-related piece. The publication comes out quarterly, usually with an entertainment or fashion celebrity on the cover. Recent covers have featured former beauty queen Munachi Abii, music star DJ Xclusive and Miss Globe Niveria Sandra Ogbebor. The publication hosts fashion shows too, according to Fashionwalkafrica.com.

Nigeriafilms.com/Genevieve magazine cover
Nigeriafilms.com/Genevieve magazine cover

Genevieve Magazine

Nigerian publication Genevieve Magazine is an overall lifestyle magazine that covers a lot of social and fashion events. The magazine focuses on stories around self improvement and has been highly involved in cancer awareness in recent years. Its stories are often bold and opinionated, offering a space for public figures to comment on things like prejudice and inequality in the fashion world. It also features an extensive dating and relationship section created by multiple columnists on Genevieveng.com.

Diasporicroots.tumblr.com/Winkler magazine covers
Diasporicroots.tumblr.com/Winkler magazine covers

Winkler Magazine

Winkler Magazine is based out of Paris, France, but it is owned and run by Cameroonian entrepreneur Mario Epanya. On her site Epanya describes her publication as “a space to show off Afro-descent creativity and young entrepreneurs from around the world.” Even though it only launched in 2011, it’s already had several important figures in African entertainment featured on the cover. It is a bilingual, online magazine that allows you to print an issue from wherever you are from Issuu.com.

Bellanaija.com/FAB magazine cover
Bellanaija.com/FAB magazine cover

FAB (Fabulous, Black, African)

FAB works to celebrate fashion accomplishments throughout Africa. The magazine covers fashion news, entertainment, beauty tips, and culture. One unique section of the magazine does profile pieces on trendsetters and fashionistas from around the continent, interviewing them on their personal styles and philosophies. It also produces write ups on spreads from international magazines like Vogue and Elle, but adds its own analysis on them. One of the headlining stories on Fabmagazineonline.com right now is about a piece in Vogue Brazil.

Bellanaija.com/Canoe's rare issue
Bellanaija.com/Canoe’s rare issue

Canoe

Canoe was started by five entrepreneurs working to “correct the image of Africa” by highlighting fashion and lifestyle trendsetters around the continent. Canoe focuses on high-end luxury items and usually features edgy, provocative imagery that is part couture, part art. The magazine is not hesitant to “show success through extravagance as a merit of prosperity,” according to Canoeafrica.com, which gives you some indication of the price point of items you can find in it.