Press

WWDRemembering Toukie Smith, a Trailblazer Who Redefined Runway Beauty FashionistaESP Showroom Is Hiring A Wholesale Fashion Showroom & Sales Coordinator In New York, NY (Hybrid)FashionUnitedMr Marvis surpasses 25-store target and eyes new European markets Field NotesParis: 8,760 looks from 207 houses, now on the map WWDThe Best Red Light Therapy Panels, Tested by WWD Editors Who Take Their Beauty Tech Seriously Fashionista'Angels Among Us' Winner Solange Omon Shares Advice for Aspiring Models FashionUnitedWho is David Epstein, Hugo Boss’s next CEO?Field NotesMilan: 8,355 looks from 179 houses, now on the map WWDNationwide Ground Stop Freezes US Flights, Backs Up Air Cargo FashionistaMust Read: Smart Glasses Launch Reopens Debate Over Privacy, How Fashion Helped Protect Great Bear Rainforest FashionUnitedRimowa and Maison Margiela release limited-edition travel set Field NotesTokyo: 1,743 looks from 54 houses, now on the map WWDOn the Line: What’s Going on in Bangladesh?FashionistaHow This Former Teacher Built a Business Selling and Archiving Vintage Luxury Fashion FashionUnitedMade in France: Mélenchon wants to revive French textile industry Field NotesNew York: 1,556 looks from 35 houses, now on the map WWDUS Promises India Will See Lower Tariffs Than Competitors in Trade Deal FashionistaWeekly Drop Watch: Halfdays x Guest in Residence, Lisa Says Gah x Etsy, Alo and More FashionUnitedBrand Radar: Kardo - the Indian brand turning artisanal textiles into modern menswear Field NotesCopenhagen: 1,455 looks from 51 houses, now on the map Field NotesLagos: 1,409 looks from 50 houses, now on the map Field NotesBerlin: 985 looks from 41 houses, now on the map Field NotesLondon: 618 looks from 18 houses, now on the map Field NotesSão Paulo: 287 looks from 8 houses, now on the map Field NotesMexico City: 267 looks from 9 houses, now on the map Field NotesFlorence: 137 looks from 3 houses, now on the map Field NotesSydney: 127 looks from 4 houses, now on the map Field NotesSeoul: 37 looks from 1 houses, now on the map Field NotesMadrid: 31 looks from 1 houses, now on the map

WWDRemembering Toukie Smith, a Trailblazer Who Redefined Runway Beauty FashionistaESP Showroom Is Hiring A Wholesale Fashion Showroom & Sales Coordinator In New York, NY (Hybrid)FashionUnitedMr Marvis surpasses 25-store target and eyes new European markets Field NotesParis: 8,760 looks from 207 houses, now on the map WWDThe Best Red Light Therapy Panels, Tested by WWD Editors Who Take Their Beauty Tech Seriously Fashionista'Angels Among Us' Winner Solange Omon Shares Advice for Aspiring Models FashionUnitedWho is David Epstein, Hugo Boss’s next CEO?Field NotesMilan: 8,355 looks from 179 houses, now on the map WWDNationwide Ground Stop Freezes US Flights, Backs Up Air Cargo FashionistaMust Read: Smart Glasses Launch Reopens Debate Over Privacy, How Fashion Helped Protect Great Bear Rainforest FashionUnitedRimowa and Maison Margiela release limited-edition travel set Field NotesTokyo: 1,743 looks from 54 houses, now on the map WWDOn the Line: What’s Going on in Bangladesh?FashionistaHow This Former Teacher Built a Business Selling and Archiving Vintage Luxury Fashion FashionUnitedMade in France: Mélenchon wants to revive French textile industry Field NotesNew York: 1,556 looks from 35 houses, now on the map WWDUS Promises India Will See Lower Tariffs Than Competitors in Trade Deal FashionistaWeekly Drop Watch: Halfdays x Guest in Residence, Lisa Says Gah x Etsy, Alo and More FashionUnitedBrand Radar: Kardo - the Indian brand turning artisanal textiles into modern menswear Field NotesCopenhagen: 1,455 looks from 51 houses, now on the map Field NotesLagos: 1,409 looks from 50 houses, now on the map Field NotesBerlin: 985 looks from 41 houses, now on the map Field NotesLondon: 618 looks from 18 houses, now on the map Field NotesSão Paulo: 287 looks from 8 houses, now on the map Field NotesMexico City: 267 looks from 9 houses, now on the map Field NotesFlorence: 137 looks from 3 houses, now on the map Field NotesSydney: 127 looks from 4 houses, now on the map Field NotesSeoul: 37 looks from 1 houses, now on the map Field NotesMadrid: 31 looks from 1 houses, now on the map

Cultural influences · SS27

Central & Southern Africa

5 looks from 2 houses drew on Central & Southern Africa traditions: 1 in 337 shows this season.

5Looks

0.02%Of all looks

2Shows

2Houses

Who borrowed it

Every pairing →

2 of the 5 looks came from houses based outside the tradition's home country, 2 of them from another region of the world.

From another region 2
Home tradition or own region 3

Basotho borrowed by houses based in Nigeria (2)

Which cultures

Basotho40.0%
Southern African (unspecified)40.0%
South Africa20.0%

Share of the region's 5 looks. “Unspecified” when the element is shared across the region.

What kind of reference

Textile / weave60.0%
Embroidery / embellishment20.0%
Headwear20.0%
Jewellery / adornment20.0%

The elements

Looks drawing on each, and the houses that showed it

Basotho blanket · textile / weave · Lesotho2 looks
Bornstar
Zulu / xhosa beadwork · embroidery / embellishment2 looks
Imprint South Africa
Shweshwe · textile / weave1 look
Imprint South Africa

On the runway

Up to three looks per house, strongest first

Imprint South Africa, look 10 — Imprint South Africa · Look 10 · Lagos
Zulu / xhosa beadwork
Zulu / xhosa beadwork
Own region
“Fitted glass-bead cap in bright triangular/diamond geometric panels with long green and yellow bead-strand fringe veiling face, typical of Zulu/Xhosa/Ndebele beaded headpieces.”

Imprint South Africa, look 13 — Imprint South Africa · Look 13 · Lagos
Zulu / xhosa beadwork
Own region
“Wide flat circular collar of multicoloured seed beads in banded geometric zigzag patterns, typical of Zulu/Xhosa/Ndebele beaded collars; edged with yellow feather trim.”

Imprint South Africa, look 6 — Imprint South Africa · Look 6 · Lagos
Shweshwe
Home tradition
“Indigo-blue cotton with small white-and-blue geometric discharge-style motifs (dots, checks, lattices), pieced in patchwork panels and cut into Western tailoring.”

Bornstar, look 25 — Bornstar · Look 25 · Lagos
Boubou / grand boubou
Basotho blanket
Nigeria → Basotho
“Wide, floor-length, open-sided flowing robe with broad shoulder-to-wrist width and appliquéd neckline panel, characteristic boubou silhouette, reworked in patchwork blanket-weight textiles.”

Bornstar, look 27 — Bornstar · Look 27 · Lagos
Boubou / grand boubou
Basotho blanket
Nigeria → Basotho
“Wide, floor-length robe falling from the shoulders with an embroidered neckline yoke. The shape echoes the grand boubou but is reworked in patchworked blanket fabrics.”

The houses

2 houses, by looks drawing on Central & Southern Africa traditions

From another region

Bornstar · 2 looks · basotho blanket Nigeria*

Home tradition or own region

Imprint South Africa · 3 looks · shweshwe, zulu / xhosa beadwork South Africa

Where it was shown

Share of each fashion week's looks

Lagos0.35%

How we read it

Read from the runway photographs by our AI tagger: an element counts when it is recognisably drawn from a specific dress or craft tradition and the tagger is at least 60% confident. It describes the clothes only, never the person wearing them, and it is not a statement by the house.

A look is borrowed when the house that showed it is based outside the country the tradition comes from. We compare the house's base (recorded, or inferred from the one national fashion week it shows at) with the tradition the tagger named. Traditions the tagger could only place by region, such as “West African”, count as borrowed only when the house is based outside that region. For Indigenous traditions a house based on the same territory may or may not belong to the community, so those looks are marked “can’t tell”. A house’s base says nothing about its designers’ own heritage, and borrowing is not a verdict: it can be collaboration, homage or appropriation, which the photographs can’t show.

← Every region