“It’s been super,” Ebby Ihionu, shop owner of Elegance African Fashions, says. “Usually during winter, the business is slow, but it has been like up, up, up. You know, people come every day.”
Ihionu is originally from Nigeria and has run this business out of the basement of her home for 11 years. And for the first time, she ran out of some items. “I ran out of dashikis. I ran out. I had to go, and you know, start making more,” she explains.
The colorful printed dress shirts usually sell in the summer. And Ihionu isn’t slowing down. She’s already booked up with orders for custom-made clothes for the next two months. It’s all because of the bump from “Black Panther.
Diane Basemera from Uganda runs an online marketplace called Amooti, where African artisans sell their goods. Basemera, 30, started her business two years ago with the goal of being an “Amazon” for African products. Sales on her website have tripled since the movie came out. One artisan on her site even created a line of hoodies inspired by “Black Panther” for spring.
Some fashion experts already predict the film will give African designs even more influence in the fashion industry.
“This is a long-term trend,” says Caroline Daniels, who runs the fashion entrepreneurial initiative at Babson College. “The number of people that are becoming fashion consumers is growing, is more diverse. They want more choice, and they want clothing that expresses individuality as well as diversity.”
i was shopping, and getting sad about not being able to afford anything / not finding things that are good for my body, so i made up something i’d like on myself.
Rita Moreno wearing the same dress she wore to the 1962 Oscars, when she won Best Supporting Actress. If that isn’t the ultimate LEGEND move, I don’t know what it.
Beltainefaerie's Flights of Fancy 