With denim always hot news, the hottest denim label of them all, Diesel, has joined forces with fair trade label Edun, to create an exciting collaboration with new wave African talent called Studio Africa.

Together Diesel + Edun have created a 25-piece collection of raw, untreated denim, based on the four-pocket jeans of the 1970s. Coupled with Malian textures, and prints in the denim lining, they offer a lightweight take on denim for summer; Also featuring are Kenyan metalwork influences and the typical laid back Diesel styling, you can see the unique four symbol stamp in every piece.

Not only content with making a whole new range of laid back clothing, to promote it, the brands are working with, what they have called, ‘Studio Africa’. The collaboration aims to bring together a group of the hottest up and coming African stars; With the concept to celebrate the diversity of creativity in the country. With the Next Big Things in the fields of fashion, photography, music, film and literature, the nine chosen Talents represent the brand, and have been chosen as influencers, in their own unique way.

With Solange Knowles as an advocate, the other creatives involved are Laurence Chauvin Buthaud, the Ivorian menswear designer determined to sidestep the clichés associated with African fashion. Yannick Illunga, lover of Joy Division and a pioneer of South Africa’s new wave aesthetic; Abdellah Taïa, the first openly gay author in the Arab world. The Tanzanian catwalk model, Flaviana Matata, who has succeeded as a model and is now set on helping women empower themselves through education and business; The streetstyle photography collective ‘I See A Different You’; Actor Sy Alassane, from Senegal who is determined to create opportunities for the kids in his home country. Designer and blogger, Tanya Mushayi from Zimbabwe, who celebrates traditional African prints. With Uviwe Mangweni, the Jo’burg based photojournalist, completing the Assembly, all bases of the New Influencers are covered.

Inspired, and inspiring, Africa is definitely a creative hot pot!

Check out the full Diesel + Edun collection as modelled by the Studio Africa collective at www.diesel.com

By Sara Darling