As an africanist art historian who specializes in Tuareg jewelry, I have always been struck by the recurrant role African forms and aesthetics have played in the European fashion arena. Judging from articles on African-style attire and adornment, it is safe to assume the continent continues and will continue to have an important impact on European fashion designers. This phenomenon is not new, but to look at the communicative and aesthetic roles the "idea" of Africa plays in magazines and on the street are all issues which raise important questions in this era of globalization
In this paper I begin by looking at this phenomenon from the European lens and propose to explore the mechanism of the fashion business in the European market. Then by concentrating on a ten year period (between 1991 and 2000), I will illustrate how African aesthetic expressions have been a repeated source of creative ideas and have proven to be adaptable to new markets (Rovine 2001:131). A closer look at two extreme examples from the world of haute couture, John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier, provide incisive examples of this point. In parallel, this system has also had a relevant impact on emerging African fashion designers who live and work in Europe such as Xuly Bet and Michel Kra.
Finally, by considering the work of Alphadi, a f ashion designer and the president of the Federation Internationale de la Mode Africaine (FIMA), who lives and works in Niamey, Niger, I wish to examine the renogotiation of African traditions for a global audience in the postcolonial era. This is done through the mechanism of a web site, and by organizing highly visible fashion festivals in such places as Agadez (1998), and Niamey (2000) in Niger, and the Canyon of Leconi (2002) in Gabon. This will lead us to examine the vital role the internet has played in expanding local platforms to global conversations between artists.