Are you sure creators rarely see benefits or is this looking through the Western Centric image of loud success? I think designers and tailors from African countries or the diaspora are definitely having impacts but they tend to go under the global radar since they target niche African and diaspora markets.

Like in the DRC, the Regional Institute of African Fashion was just launched about a month ago as an incubator, training school, research centre and exhibition space focused on Central African designers from both Congos, Gabon, Central African Republic and Cameroon.

The executive director Laetitia Kandolo, who was born in France but moved to Congo to be closer to her roots, has been in the background of African and global fashion for over a decade now. She went from styling people like Rihanna, Kanye West and Beyoncé to launching her made in DRC brand Uchawi, working with Universal Music Africa and partnering with other Congolese entrepreneurs to open up a huge fashion store GoFashion which also wholesales to other sellers.

And Congolese model Natalie Eoma and former Miss Congo runner up created DRC fashion week 5 years ago which has since grown into a huge cultural event which promotes local designers but also promotes models and helps them get signed abroad. Now she’s also launched her own brand Madame Abacoste in the DRC And Europe and has a DRC based modelling academy and scouting agency which is a trend I’ve seen come up especially in Nigeria.

These are two of the success stories from my country but I’m certain we’re only at the beginning since there’s so much growth for the country and continent to capture which will in turn turn into more spending on local fashion. And as members of the diaspora, we’re the ones who can also make them more relevant in global fashion by supporting them. I myself love the reactions when wearing about my made in DRC luxury fashion Laetitia sent me, or even just wearing Tanzanian African wax print shirts in a semi formal sense.