The optics of Chanel, one of the most haute of all European haute luxury brands, parachuting into Africa, a continent where they have no stores and no meaningful business, with a bells and whistles one-off fashion show, could have smacked, loudly, of colonialism.
Like most of the artworks on display at La Galerie du 19M, housed in the Paris hub for Chanel-owned specialty workshops that opened last year, Koné’s are made with textiles. Ditto the spooky, moss-green figures by artist Cheikha Sigil lording over the entrance of the exhibition “On the Thread: From Dakar to Paris.” which elaborates on Chanel’s cultural exchange with Senegal and affirms the gallery’s ambition to exalt weaving and embroidery on a global scale.
Rather than just a fashion parade designed to lure a new market into spending lots of money, it was conceived as a three-day festival following on the heels of Senegal fashion week designed to shed a spotlight on the country’s talents in art, dance, music, and literature. Less as an exotic shortcut for new inspiration, in other words, than a celebration of equals.
