From beadwork to Africanfuturism : exploring MaXhosa Africa’s SS22 collection

Abstract

The study investigates Africanfuturism within the broader framework of Afrofuturism through the SS22 collection of MaXhosa Africa to offer a view of the future of Africa by embracing its past. As a secondary aim, the study considers these pieces as social designs and concludes their ability to shape Africanity, inspire cultural imaginations, and effect transformation. I follow Bruce Cadle’s (2020, 74) view that Afrofuturism, in its current understanding, needs to be revised to fit the needs of the present by considering the futures that merge with the present instead of just focusing on the future imaginings. With what he has termed Afro-now-ism, Cadle (2020, 81) seeks to offer a “more African-voiced, more derived-from-an-African-identity, more representative solution to the sweeping Afrofuturist/Afrofuturism mentality that is being popularised in media of every sort”. I explore Cadle's (2020, 67) correlation between Afrofuturism, cultural significance, and social design, what he calls Afro-now-ism, through an analysis of MaXhosa Africa's SS22 collection. The analyses include the campaign video accompanying the collection and the garments, focusing on the designer's alliance with the past (his indebtedness to traditional isiXhosa design elements and practices) and the future-present (his adoption of digital design processes and the future-oriented adaptation of conventional isiXhosa beadwork).