Five African Fashion Commentators You Should Know in 2025
- bolaji akinwande
- Mar 19
- 5 min read
Fashion critics, thinkers, and analysts who see clothes beyond their aesthetic functions are using social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to document, criticise, educate, and offer insights into fashion. Known and often referred to as “fashion commentators”, they help to provide broader context into the world of fashion from collection reviews and red carpet looks, to fashion history and even spotting new trends.
As African fashion continues to grow in popularity across Europe and the rest of the world, motherland designers are propelling into the international market. A major contribution to this is African fashion commentators pushing the “wear African” notion. African fashion commentators are also playing a role in helping to create digital narratives, tracing history, demystifying trends, and offering virtual fashion lessons.
Clearly Invincible spotlights five African Fashion Commentators who are helping shape the African fashion scene. We spoke to three of them and they shared their early beginnings, crafts, fashion predictions, and trends for 2025.
Khensani Mohlatlole is a South African fashion writer, researcher, and fiber artist. Her multidisciplinary journey into fashion in general can be traced back to her high school days in 2013 when she started blogging. However, she pivoted into fashion commentary in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown as a way of documenting the lesser-told narratives around African fashion through short-form video essays and podcasts.
With over five years as a fashion commentator, Khensani has about one hundred and sixty thousand followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. She shares her 2025 African fashion prediction, “I believe there’s going to be more investment in traditional crafts like beading and hand weaving which can’t be replicated by machines despite the increased use of generative AI and the so-called 4th Industrial Revolution.”
While trends pop up on the fashion scene now and then, this fashion connoisseur is thinking outside aesthetics and wants the biggest trend on the African fashion landscape to be governments investing locally while also utilising it as a tool for intra-African relations and gaining soft power in the global stage. As a South African, she believes familiarising with other African cultures could help to remedy Afrophobia.
“I think people want to be reminded of humanity and community which these crafts best represent”. Khensani adds.
Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, Tanatswa's earliest memory of fashion can be traced to the very early age of six when she spent a lot of time watching reruns of different fashion shows after moving to South Africa. She worked as an editor and started an Instagram page called “iobservefashion” where she began posting pictures from runway shows and shoots. In 2022, she began posting commentary videos on TikTok dissecting fashion history and offering insights into African pop culture and fashion.
“I predict lots more collaborations between African creatives and designers, with the way the industry is going in Europe, I can imagine that a lot of eyes are going to continue to be focused on Africa.”
“There is an air of confidence and autonomy—designers dictating the narrative of their countries and remaining authentic to their values and the future they envision for Africa’s fashion industry,” Tanatswa shares with Clearly Invincible.
Tanatswa would like to see an ‘IT accessory’ on the fashion scene. “There have been many iconic clothing pieces I’ve seen come out over the years, I think the Banke Kuku pajamas, Thebe Magugu tanks, and Desiree Iyamah. But I want to see a super-major bag or jewelry item have a moment,” She asserted.
Innocent is a multifaceted South African-based fashion creative. His interest in fashion was very much accidental, like every other commentator on this list. He started as a fashion journalist and has been in the industry for over fourteen years. He currently works as a fashion consultant.
Two years ago, Innocent began a fashion series on Tiktok titled “African Fashion Decoded” where he talks about the history, culture, and business of African fashion. The series has explored prominent African designers like Sisiano, Éki Kéré, Mafi Mafi, and Ju. In addition, Innocent covers the history of African prints like Ankara, Senegal’s prominent designer Oumou Sy among other interesting topics in African fashion commentary.
“I believe we’ll continue to witness a strong global interest in the industry,” Innocent shares his prediction for African fashion in 2025.
For trends on the scene, they would like to see:
“More financial investment and tangible support for fashion brands and fashion entrepreneurs”.
Known as “thefashionarchitect” on Instagram and TikTok, Lauren Henry is a Nigerian-based fashion designer, consultant, brand strategist, and fashion commentator offering analysis on basic fashion education. For the past six years, Lauren has been filling the gap in basic fashion education, which is somewhat non-accessible offline, in addition to demystifying beliefs around fashion design, trends, and creativity in general.
In an interview with Lhaude Africa, a Pan-African platform and community empowering creative entrepreneurs, she reveals her goal is to educate as many people as far as her reach goes, teaching them industry standards and methods in addition to bringing clarity and direction.
Zingha Foma is a Cameroonian designer, textile maker, and fashion commentator. She is the founder of Ngande Textiles, a sustainable and ethically crafted handmade batik brand. She shares commentary on African fabrics across her social media platforms like TikTok, from her well-versed knowledge of batik to other fabrics like Ankara. Zingha is using African history to craft her personal brand while also helping to enlighten her followers and social media users.
Her commentary on fashion in Africa also narrows down to how women use fashion and how they use fashion in different African communities. For instance, she once analysed the accuracy of the costume design from “The Woman King Movie” and lately on her Tiktok, she broke down how women in Cameroon use Ankara as a form of empowerment.
African fashion has come a long way, enjoying mainstream and international recognition. From South Africa to Nigeria, this listicle has highlighted the budding voices in African fashion commentary. With different connections to the continent in addition to years of honing their craft, these commentators are shaping commentary in African fashion digitally.
Whether you need a quick review on the latest trend in fashion, a rundown of the latest collection, or even if you’re up for some fashion lessons. The creatives on the list should be your guide.
Written by Bolaji Akinwande
Edited by Victoria Audu
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