V&A x Lakin

Africa Fashion

Lakin Ogunbanwo and Nataal for the V&A’s Africa Fashion exhibition.

The project was initially sparked by Dr Christine Checinska, the V&A’s Senior Curator Africa and Diaspora: Textiles and Fashion. She was interested in the culture of movement and how clothing and adornment relates to identity through the performance of style. Ogunbanwo ran with this to come up with his own refined twist on the theme and then we invited songstress Falana to write a soundtrack for our cast of London-based creatives to dance to in the film.

“The concept made me think of ‘cultural day’ in Nigerian primary school and the energetic performance that always happens then. I also thought about the Bata dance stemming from Yoruba drumming traditions,” Ogunbanwo explains. “This story captures the joys of performing to the camera while showing off your finest African fashions. With sometimes ordinary, sometimes extravagant movements, the dancers communicate a feeling of confidence, satisfaction and elegance. And the magic of the moment is that, if you look closely, the clothes might just be dancing on their own.”