Cultural influences · SS27
East Africa
2 looks from 2 houses drew on East Africa traditions: 1 in 337 shows this season.
Who borrowed it
Every pairing →2 of the 2 looks came from houses based outside the tradition's home country, 2 of them from another region of the world.
- From another region 2
- Kenya borrowed by houses based in Nigeria (1)
- Maasai borrowed by houses based in South Africa (1)
Which cultures
Share of the region's 2 looks. “Unspecified” when the element is shared across the region.
What kind of reference
The elements
Looks drawing on each, and the houses that showed it- Kanga / kitenge / kikoi · textile / weave1 look
- Maasai beadwork · jewellery / adornment1 look
On the runway
Up to three looks per house, strongest first
Imprint South Africa · Look 4 · Lagos
- Maasai beadwork
- Bogolan / mudcloth
- Kimono
South Africa → Maasai
“Wide flat disc collar of multicoloured concentric bead rows sitting on the shoulders, edged with a yellow fringe trim.”

Cynthia Abila · Look 9 · Lagos
- Kanga / kitenge / kikoi
Nigeria → Kenya
“Bright woven cotton check with self-fringed, unhemmed ends on the skirt hem and hanging sash, like kikoi cloth; could also read as madras check.”
The houses
2 houses, by looks drawing on East Africa traditionsFrom another region
- Cynthia Abila · 1 look · kanga / kitenge / kikoi Nigeria*
- Imprint South Africa · 1 look · maasai beadwork South Africa
Where it was shown
Share of each fashion week's looksHow 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.
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