London-based journalist, editor, author and stylist Helen Jennings released her new book New African Fashion in August. Jennings has been featured three times by Vogue, having been described as ”an encyclopedia of much loved established names”.  Having attended the launch of The African Fashion Guide by Jacqueline Shaw this summer, its certainly been a year for African design; and I look forward to getting my order in and reading this over Christmas, all ready to get my African swag on for 2012!

With broad experience and contacts in the fields of fashion, music, entertainment and the arts, Helen Jennings is the Editor of Arise Magazine, and worked with ASOS, TOPSHOP, Mixmag, MTV, i-D, Toni & Guy among several others.

Here is what Vogue Black had to say about New African Fashion.

Africa and its fertile oasis of vibrant prints and rich colors took pride of place on the list of spring/summer ’12 trends. So in many ways, Helen Jennings’ book, New African Fashion, could not be more timely. It reads like an encyclopedia of sorts, spanning emerging designers worth following (Gloria Wavamunno of Uganda and Maki Oh, from Lagos) and much loved established names (Xuly Bet, Duro Olowu and Ozwald Boateng, among others) across the worlds of ready to wear and accessories.

Consider the tome a culmination of Jennings’ years traversing the continent for her role editing the magazine Arise, a quarterly devoted to contemporary fashion, music and art from Africa. But most importantly, the book makes a good entry point for fashion lovers looking to deepen their knowledge of African fashion further than the big-budget appropriations seen on the runways and the temporal moment they are sure to spark.

-

-