Malindi Minute: Salehe Bembury, Art Fairs, and Superfine

Happy Sunday! Whether you're a new subscriber or an existing subscriber, welcome back. Here are a few stories you should check out from this week!

Salehe Bembury released his book ‘I Make Shoes’ on October 14. The book tells the story of the designer's journey from Syracuse University to working at Yeezy, to working at Versace, and now launching his own brand. In various interviews he has done since the release of his book and in anticipation of the wider release of his sneakers for his company Spunge, he has pulled back like never before to share the journey he has had in his career to reach this point. There were a few key moments worth mentioning but we’ll start with taking initiative. After being fired from Yeezy, he didn’t have any money and was trying to figure things out. In an interview on The Cutting Room Floor, he called himself the “image of unemployment.” During this time, he sent a LinkedIn message to someone at Versace and proposed that Versace should start making sneakers. Taking Initiative and sending that message is what landed him at Versace and was his first true taste and introduction into the high fashion world. The second thing to take note of is perspective. Salehe is a shoe and sneaker designer who has a degree in industrial design. This is a degree dedicated to producing products that will be used by the masses. He isn’t trained in fashion. He’s trained in design. His perspective is a lot different when approaching shoe and sneaker design. He’s not simply coming in and changing colors. He is approaching it from both the academic, design, and style levels. This gives him a unique perspective and puts him in a position where you can spot his designs. Unique backgrounds give unique perspectives. The final point is about ownership and control. In an interview with Complex, he talked about talking to his lawyers and looking at the paperwork. Examining how some of the contracts stifle creatives. Limiting how much they can work with other people and limiting their potential profit they can make from their designs. This attention to detail and need for control and ownership led him to now launch his Spunge sneaker, which will be his own sneaker and still have the freedom to work with other people if need be.

The Also Known as Africa (AKAA) art fair took place in Paris from October 24-26. We got a chance to go and look at some of the artists and their art. Space Un was the first gallery which displayed on the way in. Serge Mouangue is the Cameroonian artist whose art is seen first. His “Seven Sisters” installation is a jarring and beautiful installation that features Punu tribal masks from Gabon, Japanese elements, and is part of the artists work with using African elements with some Japanes tones. Space Un is an African contemporary gallery in Tokyo, so the juxtaposition between Africa and Asia is something they do regularly and has been a great means for showcasing African artists in Asia.

Today, October 26, is the last day of the Superfine: Tayloring Black Style exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The focus was on Black dandyism, which is an intersection of Black culture and European styling. The exhibit featured designs from the now defunct Air Afrique airline, Pharrell Williams, Grace Wales Bonner, Virgil Abloh, and Ozwald Boateng. It was a history lesson in fashion as well as a history lesson in liberation. One of the key items on display was W.E.B. DuBois’s passport, who was a dandy himself. Ironically, his passport was not renewed while he was abroad in Ghana. Upon hearing this, he did not return to America and would later die and be buried in Accra, Ghana. If you didn’t get a chance to see the exhibit, you can purchase the accompanying book here.

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