Design and Product Development

Africa Speaks to Fashion Designers: Decolonizing African Inspiration as Found in Fashion Periodicals, 1920 to 1962  

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Abstract

Sources of inspiration and designers’ interpretations are vital in the fashion design process (Mete, 2006). Fashion designers draw upon what they see and study for ideas in creating new designs. Designers have used historical, as well as cultural aspects as stimuli where to be utilized as a source of inspiration (Echert & Stacey, 2000). Even when fashion designers give credit to source creators, there still is an appropriation of color, text, or images that are then mass-produced and result in profiting off marginalized communities. The research project’s objectives were (a) to document the sources of inspiration from Africa that inspired Western clothing and accessories in fashion columns in two newspapers from 1920-1962 through a decolonizing lens and (b) to acknowledge source creators in fashion and accessories during that period and continue a discussion of cultural misappropriation as a practice in the fashion industry. 

Keywords: Creative design process, inspiration, Africa, fashion design, Inspiration, Fashion design

How to Cite:

McAndrews, L. E., Hogans, K. & Hunt-Hurst, P., (2025) “Africa Speaks to Fashion Designers: Decolonizing African Inspiration as Found in Fashion Periodicals, 1920 to 1962  ”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 81(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.18684