The first-ever Diaspora Wonderland brings Afro-Mediterranean creativity and solidarity to London with a community of musicians, designers, and cultural leaders to reimagine fashion’s global future.
Last Friday, Das Relais celebrated London Fashion Week with the first-ever Diaspora Wonderland. The initiative, co-curated by the Das Relais founder and UNESCO Program Manager Lotfi Aoulad and Chanel CFO Fanta Ouka Diawara, explores the creativity of the Afro-Mediterranean diaspora in European fashion hubs. Its first edition brought Senegalese rapper Nix, French Moroccan designer Sophia Kacimi, and more creatives to the capital’s Africa Centre in Southwark.
The young collective Das Relais aims to link arts, communities, and wellbeing through collaborative spaces, and was named after a diasporic community of women in the Parisian suburbs that supported each other in solidarity. “As I grew up with them, I realized I was already journeying through the diaspora wonderland,” said Aoulad, explaining the inspiration behind the name.
“My goal is still to feed that dream to young kids in Senegal, that they can make it from the continent as well.”
Nix
The experience of Nix aligns with the mission of Diaspora Wonderland, as he has built his universe of music, fashion, and the arts through his Senegalese roots. Since his debut in 2003, the global Senegalese diaspora has helped propel him from Dakar to international acclaim, though he emphasises the importance of staying connected with his local scene. When Chanel brought their 2022/23 Métiers d’Art collection to Dakar, Nix collaborated as a local artist. “[Chanel] liked my performance so much, they flew me to Tokyo to open for their show.” Grammy-winning Haitian musician Wyclef Jean also travelled to Dakar, leading him to discover Nix and eventually collaborate with him. “My goal is still to feed that dream to young kids in Senegal, that they can make it from the continent as well,” says the genre-bending musician who still raps predominantly in Wolof and French.
This is resonated by Sofia Kacimi, the French Moroccan creative behind the brand Zoubida. On childhood trips to Morocco, Kacimi often heard her family say “Zoubida.” Not knowing Arabic, she assumed it meant “c’est la vie” when things didn’t go as planned. Though it turned out to be a neighbour’s name, she kept using it in that spirit — eventually adopting it for her brand to reflect her approach to working with Moroccan artisans.
After fifteen years as a merchandiser for luxury powerhouses in Paris, Kacimi got sick of strategizing profits and margins. She reconnected with her diasporic roots by designing garments with textiles traditionally used in Moroccan homeware, starting a trend among Moroccan creatives. “I gave myself one rule: everything is sourced in Morocco, with Moroccan artisans.” Other projects include colorful Tuk-Tuks that ferried guests for the 1-54 Marrakech Art Fair in collaboration with disabled drivers. “They thought I was crazy when I moved my work back to Morocco, but the community, the creativity, and the sense of belonging are central to the Zoubida lifestyle,” said Kacimi.
While Kacimi walked away from luxury fashion, Jamie Gill aspires to bring diversity to the industry’s corporate structure. Gill, though not part of the African diaspora, founded the organization Outsider Perspective to introduce highly-skilled, ethnically diverse talents in the offices and ateliers of global fashion houses. Gill explained that while foreign ambassadors, collaborations, and local offices exist to grow in foreign markets, there is a lack of representation in the headquarters, as part of a creative diaspora that actually understands those communities.
“I grew up with a default responsibility to the diaspora,” explained Gill, who was raised in an Indian family in the British Midlands. “We are collectively fighting for the underrepresented global majority: this is going to change, and we are accelerating the change.”
Berlin-based Nigerian fashion designer Buki Akomolafe echoes this idea. “I didn’t see many black female designers out there in Germany,” said Akomolafe. “Navigating the industry in Berlin is challenging, so I started building a community with other black woman designers to create a space for us.”
“The importance of existing as an African brand in the fashion world is to give someone else the opportunity to dream through you. ”
Adebayo Oke-Lawal, founder of Orange Culture
Adebayo Oke-Lawal, founder of the androgynous, West African-inspired fashion brand Orange Culture, also highlighted the importance of representation. “The importance of existing as an African brand in the fashion world is to give someone else the opportunity to dream through you,” said Oke-Lawal, who works with African creatives whenever he can. “I don’t think these spaces existed for us to be there, but we are there, so we are going to fight for it to happen.”
As part of a roundtable discussion, the African creatives and leaders were also joined by H.E. Hakim Hajoui, Ambassador of Morocco to the U.K., and Olu Alake, CEO of the African Centre. This Diaspora Wonderland also included workshops, exhibitions, and performances at the same venue. As the Das Relais community grows, new editions of Diaspora Wonderland are due to exchange and connect in other European fashion hubs like Paris, Milan, and Berlin.
