This archive report was first published on 21 May 2020.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across Africa, fashion designers are finding innovative ways to make wearing masks a stylish experience.
From Nigeria to South Africa, designers are creating colourful masks that not only protect against the virus but also make a fashion statement.
Nigerian fashion designer Sefiya Diejomaoh is one such designer who believes that a global pandemic should not get in the way of her sense of style. She wears a gold-coloured mask studded with sparkling diamante jewels, which matches her floor-length dress.
“When you come out in a stylish mask or with an accessory such as this, it doesn’t seem as though we’re fighting a war. It seems more fun,” Diejomaoh said, as she dresses at her home in Lagos to meet a client.
Diejomaoh is not alone in her quest to make masks fashionable. In Senegal, fashion designer Sophie Zinga has created masks from organic cotton, which she believes will be needed for the next two years.
“We are going to have to adapt and live with this virus,” Zinga said. “As a fashion designer, I think we are going to have to integrate each outfit with fashion masks.”
Far from Dakar, in South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg, upmarket leather accessories store Inga Atelier is creating masks. The company’s creative director, Inga Gubeka, said the move made sense, given the economic impact of the pandemic.
“My business has been heavily affected in such a sense that the retail is on lockdown,” Gubeka said. “There was a big shortage, we realised, of masks that can be usable every day without having to throw it away.”
Her company’s masks combine leather with multicoloured fabrics, including traditional South African Ndebele prints.
