THERE IS THE WESTERN WORLD’S PERCEPTION OF AFRICA AND THEN THERE IS ACTUALLY THE REAL AFRICA. THE AFRICA YOU COME FROM OR HAVE REGULARLY VISITED. KIM JONES AND AMOAKO BOAFO REPRESENT BOTH. BOAFO, A PAINTER BORN IN ACCRA, GHANA; JONES, BORN IN LONDON WITH A CHILDHOOD SPENT IN ETHIOPIA, BOTSWANA, KENYA, TANZANIA AND VARIOUS OTHER PLACES IN AFRICA, INCLUDING BOAFO’S NATIVE GHANA. A HOME I IMAGINE HE WAS REMINDED OF WHEN HE CAME ACROSS AMOAKO’S ART IN 2019 AT THE RUBELL MUSEUM IN MIAMI WHERE HE WAS A RESIDENT ARTIST. AMOAKO’S ART DROWNS THE VIEWER IN THE SHIMMERING LIGHT OF THE BLACK GAZE, WHICH WE SO RARELY SEE IN FASHION OR THE ART WORLD. EACH OF HIS SUBJECTS CELEBRATES BLACK LIFE, BLACK SKIN SHROUDED IN EXUBERANT COLORS SPLAYED ACROSS HIS CANVASES. COMBINING HIS TOOLS WITH AMOAKO’S, KIM BRINGS TO LIFE A WARDROBE INTENDED FOR THE PAINTER’S SUBJECTS. PULLING THESE BEAUTIFUL CHARACTERS OFF THE MUSEUM’S AND COLLECTORS’ WALLS WHERE THESE WORKS NORMALLY DWELL AND BRINGING THEM TO A SPACE WHERE AFRICAN CULTURE IS AT TIMES REFERENCED BUT RARELY FULLY ACKNOWLEDGED IS WHERE KIM’S TALENT AS A DESIGNER EXTENDS BEYOND JUST A GARMENT AND ASCENDS TO WHERE ALL ARTISTS ASPIRE TO GO... TO THE HEART OF A STORY, AND THE MOST POWERFUL STORY IS A STORY RARELY TOLD.

A CORNUCOPIA OF STRIPES, FLORALS AND NEONS. THE COLORS, CUTS, PROPORTIONS, PARING, AND LAYERING OF THE GARMENTS ARE ALL ARTFULLY MANIPULATED BY THE BLACK GAZE OF AMOAKO’S PAINTINGS. KIM DOESN’T HIDE HIS HAND, WHICH GUIDES THIS COLLECTION PURPOSELY, BECAUSE THE HAND IS AFRICA, AND THROUGH THAT, EDUCATION IS GAINED, A STORY IS TOLD AND A PAINTER AND HIS SUBJECTS ARE CELEBRATED IN THE CONTEXT OF A DIOR COLLECTION THAT SHOWS ANOTHER CHAMBER OF KIM’S VAST INFLUENCES AND HIS ABILITY TO HARNESS THE CULTURES HE HAS EXPERIENCED IN HIS LIFETIME. THIS ISN’T JUST A COLLECTION; THIS A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO ARTISTS THAT GIVES BIRTH TO A COLLECTION OF CLOTHING THAT IS MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS. TWO MEN WHO LOVE AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE, TELLING THEIR STORIES IN SPACES THESE SUBJECTS RARELY GET TO GRACE, AND IN THAT LIES THE POINT OF ALL THIS.