The New Wave

Wave When Chanel Chose Dakar As The Location For Its Annual Metiers D'art Show, It Was An Affirmation Of Senegal's Arrival On The Fashion Map. Kenya Hunt Explores Its Flourishing, And Dazzlingly Diverse, Creative Scene

- KENYA HUNT

“That was the best-dressed front row I’ve ever seen,” a curator, stylist and I all agreed, after Chanel’s Métiers d’art catwalk show, as we watched the dance floor fill with a pulsing crowd of attendees, 800 of them, many flown in from across Africa, in Dakar’s Palais de Justice. Runway shows can often be intimidatingly cool, big-budget affairs, replete with poker-faced business leaders and seen-it-all fashion insiders. But a feeling of warmth and joy permeated the cavernous space as a mix of celebrities (Pharrell Williams, Naomi Campbell, Whitney Peak and singer Tobe Nwigwe), senior-ranking editors and Chanel top brass (creative director Virginie Viard, president of Chanel fashion Bruno Pavlovsky and global CEO Leena Nair) mingled with Senegalese artists, dancers and designers.

Fashion has a long-established wanderlust, with immersive shows-turnedtravel-experiences in far-flung locations dotting the calendar. But no brand quite embodies this tradition like Chanel, a house many credit with originating the idea of staging elaborate runway moments the world over, from Monaco to Havana. So when it was announced that the French titan would take its annual Métiers d’art show (previous settings include Edinburgh and Dallas) to Dakar, Senegal, becoming the first luxury fashion house to travel to subSaharan Africa, the fashion industry and the world at large took note.