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© Félicien Rodriguez, circa 1960, Bénin

« Africa Fashion », the exhibit

Starting March 31, 2026, the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac will present the exhibition Africa Fashion, an exploration of African fashion through time, from the mid-20th century to contemporary designers.

Africa Fashion will reveal the vitality of African fashion and its global influence. Through haute couture, made-to-measure and ready-to-wear garments, ornamental textiles, music, photography and films, the exhibition will reveal the dynamism and great diversity of forms of expression across the continent.

call out

The musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac invites you to share your family photographs to be included in this historic exhibition coming from London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

What are we looking for ?

We are looking for photographs illustrating fashion trends and clothing habits characteristic of the time in African diasporas. These photographs must have been taken during the period of independence, i.e. the second half of the 20th century (1950-1990).

If you have real paper photographs of your family, of important moments in your life (birthdays, ceremonies, etc.) from this period, be part of the great Africa Fashion adventure by submitting your photographs in JPEG format (8Mb max for all photos) to africafashion@quaibranly.fr.
We ask you to add to your submission a text of no more than 1,000 characters (including spaces), specifying for each photo:

  • date, year or period
  • the place where the photo was taken
  • the person(s) photographed and their relationship with you
  • the type of event
  • the story behind the photograph, if you know it.

How will the photos be selected ?

The selection will be made by our specialist in charge of photography. If your photographs are selected, we'll ask you to personally bring the original to the museum (paper print only).

Paper prints will be returned to you at the end of the exhibition. We will invite you to retrieve them within three months of the exhibition closing. We will also return any photos not selected before the exhibition opens.

© James Barnor, circa 1950, Ghana