From Ghana, With Love
Adusei backstage at the ‘Linked Hearts’ fashion show during Art Basel in Miami // Photo Credit: Taylor Mckie
Black creators and designers have long influenced popular culture and fashion. Ghanian brand Kwame Adusei is upholding that mantle and more, by bringing a seductive allure to designer women’s clothing. Established in 2022 and founded by Nana Kwame Adusei, the brand challenges the conventions of traditional womenswear with their intrepid shapes.
This brand is definitely one to keep tabs on, with Kwame Adusei being centered around the idea of attempting to reconcile the breach between the fashion industry and African style. According to Adusei’s website, Adusei uses his clothing as an avenue to focus “on exploring and creating concepts stemming from the common points between juxtaposed cultures, with an emphasis on quality, story and ethics.” Adusei first began to explore these complicated topics with his first brand Charlotte Prive, which allowed him to create a name for himself in Ghana and bolstered his design career. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his factories for Charlotte Prive were forced to close, this era of uncertainty gave him the space to create and curate his namesake company, Kwame Adusei.
With this shift, Adusei has been able to focus on what African fashion means to him. For him, Africa “is not your skin color or geographical location. It is more so about body type, which is why the brand is built to complement curves," noted Adusei in a 2023 interview with V Magazine. Adusei’s brand was created to bring African tastes to a global audience and expand the worldview of what African designers have to offer. Regardless of size or identity, Adusei aims to cater to every person’s silhouette and make the consumer feel sexy, comfortable, and secure in his garments. These bold designs that celebrate African culture have caught the attention of many celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, Lori Harvey, Ciara, and even Beyonce.
At his core, Adusei is drawn to minimalistic styles that represent the style of minimal fabric African clothes used before the introduction of vibrant patterns that many people associate with African fashion today. Even the Kwame Adusei logo oozes elements of Adusei’s inspiration that include Adinkra symbols “that encapsulate evocative messages conveying traditional wisdom, aspects of life, or the environment.” His brand is centered around the symbol Akoma Ntoso meaning “linked hearts.” This intentionality highlights Adusei’s aim to build a community of support not only in Africa, but everywhere his clothing reaches. By signing off on each creation with the tag “From Ghana, with Love,” Kwame Adusei is paying homage to his roots and reminding people that fashion has the power to connect people around the world.
Sources:
Hall, Michael Anthony. “Kwame Adusei Is Here to Stay.” V Magazine, 14 Feb. 2023, https://vmagazine.com/article/kwame-adusei-is-here-to-stay/.
“About: Kwame Adusei.” KwameAdusei, https://kwameadusei.com/pages/about.
Written by Barbara Edmonds
Copyedited by Mia Romans
Graphics by Ritika Sharma