Deconstructing the dominant narrative
In the incessant whirlwind of fashion, where ephemeral trends follow aesthetic injunctions, Koura-Rosy Kane makes her mark. Strategist and fashion consultant, founder of the Platform agency, and passionate about “Fashion and Cultural Studies”, Koura Rosy represents the new guard working to decolonize the language of fashion and ensure a more inclusive representation of populations. In this exclusive interview for Africa Fashion Tour, she talks about her career and shares her unique vision, which defies clichés and reinvents the way we look at a creative continent in full effervescence.
Trend analysis expert
Far from the beaten track, Koura Rosy Kane has forged her path with unwavering determination. Right from the end of her studies, a double degree in digital communications and sociology, she made the bold choice of freelancing, a singular path that offers her the freedom to explore innovative approaches. Her career path has taken her from prestigious trend agencies such as WGSN and The Future Laboratory to influential magazines such as Dazed and Metal Magazine. These experiences, forged in London, the United States and Canada, far from the French framework that she considered “backward” in foresight disciplines, have enabled her to acquire cutting-edge expertise in trend forecasting, research and foresight.
But it was her move to Senegal, where she lived for over four years, that marked a decisive turning point in her career and expertise. It was on the continent that she honed her ethnographic eye, studying in the field the organization, values and mechanisms of local creative milieus. This immersion opened the doors to West Africa’s creative scene, and then to the continent as a whole, nurturing her approach to African Studies and Cultural Studies.
The Platform agency, a voice for alternative fashion
Beyond her consulting assignments, Koura Rosy Kane is the driving force behind Platform, an agency she launched in 2018. Initially a curation magazine highlighting emerging brands, Platform has gradually evolved into a consultancy agency dedicated to emerging talent and alternative fashion. The aim is clear: to give a voice and a place to narratives and discourses that oppose the fashion industry’s mainstream.
“The aim was really to open up a discussion on the foundations of the industry and fashion outside the Western and European gaze, without taking into account the dominant fashion model,” explains Koura Rosy. In this way, she works to democratize fashion, proving that it is not limited to the major Western capitals, but develops in a unique way in each context and culture. Platform accompanies brands from start to finish, from cultural and ethnographic research to marketing and communications strategy, including collection development, always with the ambition of supporting independent initiatives.
Deconstructing the dominant fashion narrative
Koura Rosy’s fight for the decolonization of narratives is intrinsically linked to her personal history. As a black woman of Senegalese and Guadeloupean origin, she felt the crying lack of representation in fashion magazines and campaigns. “When I started wanting to work in fashion, I told myself that my goal was for the generations after me, or me or our generations, not to be repressed, not to have to go through this, not to have to say ‘why am I not represented?” she confides.
She denounces the omnipresent “censorship” and “preening” in the representation of black bodies, as well as the “traumas” engendered by “degrading” and “crude” images. Koura Rosy doesn’t hesitate to cite concrete examples that have left their mark on the industry, such as Dior’s blatant cultural appropriation in one of its cruise collections, where African fabrics were used without credit or economic benefits for the communities. She also discusses the Marc Jacobs dreadlocks scandal, the lightening or darkening of black models’ skins, and “tokenism”, the practice of including a racialized person in an image to mask a lack of diversity within corporate decision-making bodies. “Diversity really stops in terms of images, i.e., it doesn’t go through the decision-making bodies in the offices,” she insists.
For Koura Rosy, it’s imperative to “go beyond these mechanisms that were normalized in the fashion industry” and work towards a “profound systemic change”. She advocates the empowerment of discourse: “I really wanted to go beyond these mechanisms that were normalized in the fashion industry for a very long time and still are today. We’re not out of the woods yet. I mean, systemic change is still a long way off.”
Africa, an inexhaustible source of inspiration
Her experience in Senegal was a real “revelation” for Koura Rosy. She discovered another way of life, far removed from Western standards, where a sense of community and more natural bodily communication take precedence. “When I’m in France, I sometimes get very bored. It’s realities that are… There are a lot of opportunities in France, I’m not saying otherwise. However, life, I feel like I’ve rediscovered… real life when I went to West Africa,” she shares with emotion.
This immersion enables him to challenge Western companies wishing to invest on the continent: “You don’t have to do it in a neo-colonial way. You have to come with an awareness that these people have their own model, that you’re not trying to change them, that at worst you’re trying to support them.”
Koura Rosy Kane is actively involved in creating physical “discussion spaces”, such as the panel she organized at the Dakar Biennale. These events aim to “initiate discussion on what are the foundations of the sector or fashion outside the Western gaze, the European gaze”, by inviting experts with varied practices and viewpoints to redefine endogenous aesthetics and narratives.
In the long term, she aspires to contribute to the regulation and legal protection of African cultural assets, ensuring that their use by external players is done with respect and fair reward. “Developing police officers who can protect communities on the continent and be able to be always in the exchange, why not, but respect the most important and especially be able to ensure that there is no degradation of cultural property,” she asserts.
An essential voice for more inclusive fashion
Koura Rosy Kane embodies this new generation of professionals who, armed with their expertise and commitment, are working towards a profound transformation of the fashion industry. Her work in deconstructing established systems and promoting alternative narratives is essential for a fairer, more inclusive representation. By challenging preconceived ideas and opening doors from the inside, campaign after campaign, editorial after editorial, and initiative after initiative, she actively contributes to shaking things up.
Her journey and vision remind us of the importance of decentralizing our gaze, of understanding the richness and diversity of African fashion, and of supporting those who, like Koura Rosy Kane and the Africa Fashion Tour podcast, are working to spread these stories, which are still too often invisible. The African continent, with its 54 countries and multitude of cultures, is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and innovation. It’s time to give it the place it deserves on the global fashion scene.
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