The relationship between Afrobeats and fashion is a colourful, burgeoning relationship that underpins the cultural relevance of both industries. While Afrobeats is still maintaining its firm grip on various global music charts, the genre also captures, informs, and shapes fashion trends, with Davido, Ayra Starr, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Asake, Flavour, Rema, Tems, and Wizkid leading in this movement. Fashion has become an important component of these stars and their branding, respective styles that reflect the genre’s origin, what it is, and what it tends to be.
Afrobeats artists, aside from being musicians, are also fashion icons. Indeed, their influence on fashion goes beyond those highly engaging music videos and appearances on the red carpet into runway shows, fashion collaborations, and across-the-border brand deals. Davido, for example, has this peculiarly personal style that combines high-fashion with streetwear aesthetics. Such collaboration with leading international brands like Puma and bespoke high-end fashion labels has assisted in his rebranding of African street fashion while making him one of the most avant-garde tastemakers. These are largely colourful, flamboyant designs that appeal to the vibrancy of Afrobeats and the cultural origin of Nigeria while being conscious and hip into global fashion trends.
Also, Ayra Starr is known for her young and edgy style. She represents this new generation of Afrobeats artists who are using fashion as this strong avenue to communicate individuality and daring attitudes. Oftentimes, in her signature look, she was seen in bright colours, crop tops, shorts, and statement pieces. This look from Ayra connects with the Gen Z crowd because of the African influences on global fashion trends. Her collaboration with top African designers and international brands signals the rising importance of fashion in amplifying an artist’s global reach.
African music and global fashion brands
During the past year, Burna Boy and Wizkid have both been imperative in bringing African fashion to the global podium. Burna Boy, in particular, is a fashion chameleon. He is undeniably a lover of African prints, bold colours, and traditional design juxtaposed with global fashion brands such as Off-White and Burberry, placing him on an international pedestal within the fashion world. Burna Boy won his maiden Grammy as the Best Global Music Album during the 2021 Grammys and made that moment with a lot of style. He was styled by his sister, Ronami Ogulu, in a multicoloured shirt with embroidery, a blazer, silver jewellery, and Dior loafers. He went on to wear a crisp white Dior suit for his virtual acceptance speech midway into the fashion books.
Last year, Burna became the first male Afrobeats in Nigerian history to attend the Met Gala, wearing an aristocratic Burberry costume designed by Daniel Lee and styled by Ronami. He looked every bit the superstar that he is, and Ronami took to Instagram to playfully celebrate her success in convincing him to attend the gala.
Wizkid himself has long been a proponent of high fashion. Indeed, he was one of the first Afrobeats stars to walk down the Dolce & Gabbana runway, setting a trend for future African artists. His fashion style, often so low key yet oozing opulence, reveals clean lines, a penchant for well-tailored suits, and high-brow brands-the genre’s subtle shift towards a now globally polished aesthetic. Wizkid’s minimalism in his fashion style, on the other hand, dramatises how Afrobeats stars straddle between traditional African fashion and global luxury sans any loss of identity.
Wizkid has become the first African Artist to walk the runway at a Dolce&Gabbana fashion show.
— Isima (@IsimaOdeh) June 16, 2018
He walked the runway for their Menswear Spring '19 collection with "Soco" as the background song at DGDNA in Milan. He was styled by the co-founder of Dolce&Gabbana, Stefano Gabbana. pic.twitter.com/UNSlleWgHI
Rema has been wowing with his bold and youthful style. Recently attending the Louis Vuitton show, he proved to be highly peculiar in the uniqueness of this outfit to bring out his individuality. He is not just a fashion follower but an innovator, once chiding fellow artists for making wholesale copies of his style, which fuses hard-edged streetwear with luxury pieces, making him a trendsetter in the Afrobeats scene.
On the other side, Asake had “intentional“ fashion. Most of the attire he puts on is bold and out of the ordinary. From his jackets to accessories, Asake’s fashion reflects his larger-than-life personality and creative energy. He has become one of the most talked-about Afrobeats stars for daring fashion choices.
African prints are ‘dope’ too
Tiwa Savage, also known as the queen of Afrobeats, is just as poised as she is streetwise. All in good time, from elaborate red-carpet gowns to hot urban wear, African prints and bold accessories have become her signature. Her style is a fusion of high fashion combined with African heritage, making her one of the most stylish icons in the industry.
Flavour usually mixes traditional African wear with cuts in keeping with the times. His staple attire is a mix of fitting shirts and proper pants highlighted with ice-block, dizzy, and vertigo colours and patterns. On stage, he marries up the music with a feel of drama in his fashion that makes him one of the most striking figures in Afrobeats fashion today.
AFRICAN ROYALTY 👑 IS HERE. Nke a bu nke anyi! pic.twitter.com/DK3W5OCskx
— Flavour of Africa (@2niteFlavour) December 1, 2023
Afrobeats have influenced high-end collaborations, but their influence does not stop there because it also includes African textiles and traditional attire. Ankara, Kente, and Dashiki prints have dominated many Afrobeats artists’ wardrobes on and off stage. Yemi Alade never ceases to wear her African prints, incorporating the fabric into contemporary fashion trends.
This is a peculiar feature of Afrobeats fashion: an intertwining of old and new. First, the genre is itself hinged on Afrobeat, pioneered by Fela Kuti, who was known for his bold fashion statements, often fusing traditional African wear with contemporary influences. The tradition is very evident in how today’s artists, Yemi Alade to Burna Boy, can move easily into combinations of traditional African fashion and global trends in making bold, at times daring, fashion statements. This hybrid fashion speaks to the genre’s ability to cross borders, fusing cultures and times in music and style.
Cultural impact
The relationship between Afrobeats and fashion extends beyond style to cultural diplomacy. In some respects, African artists use dress to challenge preconceptions and add depth and dynamism to African identity. Consider Tems, who has never been reluctant to make a big cultural statement through fashion on the global stage. She incorporates African inspirations into the various high-fashion styles. Making history as the very first Nigerian female artist to take those steps to the 2023 Met Gala, styled by Dunsin Wright and in couture, a custom gown by designer Robert Wun, reimagined the early works of Karl Lagerfeld in striking fashion. The dress, with its contrasting tailoring and feather details, sealed Tems as a fashion icon, unafraid to revel in her African heritage while embracing the world’s trends. As she told Essence magazine in an interview, the first-time experience was “lit.”
Well past the Met Gala itself, Tems brought the house down at the 2023 Oscars in a show-stopping gown by Lever Couture. The wedding-style, full-bodied dress had pleated and sculptural fabric strips that curiously arced around her head to frame a sleekly modern angel in attendance. Where the look landed on many best-dressed lists, there was equally as much talk questioning its greatness: how it blocked people’s views. But the otherworldly nature of it felt like a nod to the Nigerian gele; the way Tems weaves African symbology into Western fashion spaces is just getting started.
I feel incredibly blessed to be nominated for an Oscars. I'm so excited and look forward to the future. It's a motivation to keep going, this is way beyond what I envisioned – Grammy Award-winning Nigerian Singer and Songwriter, Tems pic.twitter.com/irQUhvdp2C
— ARISE NEWS (@ARISEtv) March 14, 2023
But with Afrobeats’ increasingly global reach, its impact on fashion can only continue to intensify. New stars like Ayra Starr are already experimenting with how far fashion can go as a means of self-expression and cultural pride. Meanwhile, the increasing presence of African designers on international runway development that Afrobeats stars themselves often spur along by sporting their designs suggests that the genre’s influence on fashion is hardly done.
Besides, Afrobeats are breaking down the traditional stereotypes about African fashion, portraying it as vibrant and modernly relevant to the rest of the world. Artists within the Afrobeats genre juxtapose traditional African designs with modern fashion to make African fashion not just a fad but a cultural phenomenon that reflects the diversity and innovativeness of the continent.
In all, the interaction between Afrobeats and fashion is an engaging way music and fashion interact with and connect. Afrobeats artists are globally setting the tone, one outfit at a time, from Asake’s ‘intentional’ pieces to Ayra Starr’s signature looks. Their choices celebrate African culture while pushing the boundaries of what fashion can be, positioning Afrobeats and African fashion at the forefront of global trends. This, in turn, fosters an enabling environment for African designers and fashion houses in which the Afrobeats will be able to continue to thrive on the world’s stage.
