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Cut from Our Own Cloth: Fashion, Modernity and Nationhood

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Speakers: Dr Christine Checinska, Senior Curator of African and African Diaspora Textiles and Fashion, V&A; Zara Odu, founder, ROUNDABOUT
Moderator: Aindrea Emelife
Format: 45-minute conversation followed by 15 minutes of audience Q&A
Using the archive as a starting point, the panel will explore how fashion became a way of negotiating modernity, identity and nationhood as political and social realities shifted. Through decolonisation and independence, dress became an expression of newfound freedom, moving between locally made fabrics, traditional dress and tailored Western silhouettes like the three-piece suit.
At the same time, woven and locally produced textiles grew in importance, as designers and wearers began looking inward rather than only to Europe and the West, transforming textile traditions and positioning them as modern. Running alongside this was the constant circulation of imported cloth, garments and styles. Did they replace local dress, spark adaptation, or become part of a hybrid fashion culture?
Together, we'll trace how these forces shaped what modern African dress could be, and what they mean for designers and makers now.
About the speakers
Dr Christine Checinska is the inaugural Senior Curator of African and African Diaspora Textiles and Fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where she has worked since 2020. She originated and led Africa Fashion, the V&A’s internationally touring exhibition. Before joining the museum, she spent over three decades as a womenswear designer, including as Senior Designer at Margaret Howell. Her practice as an artist, writer and curator explores the relationship between cloth, culture and race. She holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths.
Zara Odu is the founder of Designers Consociate, a consultancy dedicated to building sustainable brands through strategic innovation, cultural insight, partnerships, and circular thinking. She is also the founder of Roundabout, an ecosystem-building platform advancing circular and regenerative practices across Africa’s fashion, textile, and creative industries.
With over 18 years of experience across Africa’s fashion and creative sectors, Zara’s work sits at the intersection of fashion, innovation, sustainability, and economic development. She has worked with brands, institutions, and industry stakeholders to design strategies, programmes, and partnerships that strengthen value chains, support creative enterprises, and foster ecosystem growth across the continent.
Her work has been featured by Vogue Business and CNN Inside Africa. In 2024, she was honoured as a Young Leader at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in Los Angeles.
Date & Time 2pm to 3pm (WAT) November 3rd, 2026, Doors open at 1:30pm
Address Mbari Kola: The Arts Society
12, Alhaji Kanike Close,
Off Awolowo Road Ikoyi, Lagos

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