Black lives matter, also in fashion and art. That’s why we celebrate this new creation by Michelle Francine Ngomo, one of Vogue’s “100 innovators”, and her efforts to make fashion industry more inclusive and to highlight “Unseen Profiles”. Yes, fashion can still be revolutionary!
Afro Fashion Association announced the launch of a brand-new award gala event, the Black Carpet Awards, during the upcoming Milan Fashion Week, on Feb. 22, 2023, in Milan: such an exciting debut, serving as springboard for the future international editions!
This is the very first edition, meant to become an annual occasion to celebrate and represent every unheard voice, every underestimate profile in Fashion, Design, Art, Food, Music, Technology, Business, Sport and Cinema.
Since its founding in 2015, the Afro Fashion Association and its founder Michelle F. Ngomo have valued cultural differences as a key factor for societal and cultural enrichment. The association has been working to highlight talents from the most diverse cultural origins, starting from the African continent. The year 2022 allowed the creation of a team of experts in several fields, who embraced the philosophy of the Afro Fashion Association and gave life to the Black Carpet Awards.
Ten awards will be delivered to ten “Leaders of Change”, five selected by a jury of experts, five by a popular on-line jury.
Additionally, ‘The New Wave’ category will celebrate the 10 most innovative and inspiring talents from around the world through a video installation that shows their disruptive ideas. On this occasion there will be a video tribute to Virgil Abloh, the fashion designer and entrepreneur, artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection recently passed, a major supporter of the Afro Fashion Association.
The Association will be partnering with Meta (Instagram) and Condé Nast (Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, CQ) as official sponsors of the event.
According to founder and president of Afro Fashion Association, Michelle F. Ngomo: “Celebrating all the stories… that’s what we will be doing through the Black Carpet Awards. Diversity and inclusion are not synonymous and certainly not abstract concepts, nor should they be addressed as politically correct because they are an integral part of our daily lives. The Black Carpet Awards, unlike what the name might lead one to think, is not just about the black community, but about the colour black as an absolute, as the ‘sum of all colours’, which is achieved by mixing all the different pigments. The idea is exactly that, all together, sitting at the same table and joining forces to discuss the beauty of diversity and how it is a crucial factor for the cultural heritage and economic growth of society. This in my opinion is definitely the uniqueness and originality of this event!”.
Afro Fashion Association always believed in the enlightening power of fashion and art: a transformative power useful to improve sustainable economic development, equal empowerment and intercultural exchange. Active in Milan and Cameroon, the Association is a “black led, volunteer driven non-profit association which offers mentorship to talents with multicultural background on the Italian territories”.
So…let’s embrace The Change, from Italy to the rest of the world! For more info hit the links below:
Image credit: Black Carpet Awards via Vogue
