Mario Epanya, the man behind the mock Vogue Africa covers that commanded the fashion world’s attention, hasn’t lost his zeal for showcasing talent from Africa and the diaspora. In fact, in the three years since he posed the question of why no Vogue edition exists for a continent with over 1 billion inhabitants, his dedication to this slice of the industry seems only to have grown.

“Fashion is not only Paris, New York and London” says the Cameroonian-born photographer. “There are so many people who have their own interpretation of fashion and I want the world to know that.”

Building a Vogue Africa is no longer a crusade Epanya is pursuing, though certainly not for lack of interest. The photographer has come a long way since the period in 2010 he now refers to has Vogue Africa-gate: during that year, he lost his bid to acquire a Vogue Africa license, though not without creating a huge buzz over the potential for an African edition of the venerable glossy. His photography was the centerpiece of GLAMAZONIA, an exhibit that debuted at the annual FashionAFRICANA event held in Pittsburgh this past December. He says he’s even been asked to acquire the license for African American fashion and culture publication Honey Magazine, though it’s still yet to be known whether he will take up the offer.

Like Epanya, those tied to the African fashion industry aren’t waiting to receive Vogue’s blessings. London-based quarterly Arise Magazine, for one, has been published since 2008 and organizes an annual fashion week. Other publications include Paris-based FASHIZBLACK and Lagos-based FAB Magazine, which partnered with Africa Fashion Week London to run the event back in 2012. The internet has also seen the growth of Africa-focused fashion and culture blogs and online publications like AfriPOP!, Africa Style Quarterly and African Fashion Guide — a site that promotes sustainability in Africa’s fashion and textile industry.

 

To this day, Conde Nast maintains a position that Vogue Africa is not yet commercially viable, though Vogue Italia’s May 2012 ‘Rebranding Africa’ issue certainly deserves a nod. Its editor-in-chief, Franca Sozzani, continues to play a pivotal role in promoting African creativity in fashion; she’s also mirrored Conde Nast’s view, expressing on many occasions that greater investments must be made in the continent before an African edition of the publication can be established.

Epanya calls Vogue Italia’s Africa edition “a beautiful beginning,” though he adamantly opposes Vogue’s posture that it’s too soon for a Vogue Africa. In fact, the photographer has been working with another global trend purveyor — the L’Oreal Group — to create packaging geared towards its African consumers since March in light of promising sales figures. Other initiatives, such as United Nations-sanctioned Ethical Fashion Africa, have employed high fashion designers like Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood to connect fashion houses to African artisans and create jobs. Another Ghana-based organization, The WEB-Young Designers Hub, was created with help from the French Embassy to support fashion designers in the country. With the world evidently taking notice of Africa’s potential as a high fashion player, only time will tell when the Vogue franchise will follow suit.

“I think sooner or later, there will be [a Vogue Africa]” says Epanya. “I don’t when — maybe in ten, twenty years. I don’t know. But, they will have to do it.”

With his personal pursuit for African recognition through the Vogue brand well behind him, Epanya now dedicates whatever time he can spare on his own publication, Winkler Magazine. It’s hard work, he admits. At times, he’s even considered abandoning the project altogether, though he hasn’t done so quite yet. He hasn’t because, to Epanya, the work is necessary in demonstrating Africa’s potential as a prominent high-fashion and cultural hub.

“Of course, there are problems in Africa — I’m not denying it,” Epanya says. “But there is also beauty. There is also creativity, and you’ve got to take time to look at it.”

Words by Carolyn Okomo

Images by Mario Epanya