Become African Fashionistas and Fashionistos in C-19 Times

Despair and dread seem like common terms and sentiments arising in the midst of the COVID-19 era. Which are true, by and large, because we live in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic in the 21st century, only comparable to the Spanish Flu from 1918/1919, where the Spanish Flu claimed as many as 50 million human lives. Even surprising some modern commentators on the current pandemic is the degree to which the preventative strategies haven’t changed much, when we look at the ways in which previous generations combatted the Spanish Flu, they used physical distancing or social distancing, masks, and the like. One of the better ways to combat the despair and dread — the sense of impending doom — in the era of COVID-19 can be seen throughout Africa in fashion.

Take, for example, Algeria, Rwanda, Liberia, Kenya, Cameroon, and Tunisia, and, probably, others. Each has taken the idea of fashion to the world of health and safety regarding COVID-19 or the coronavirus. It’s a spectacular sense of hope and creativity. It should be applauded. These countries’ fashionistas and fashionistos have taken on the pandemic with positivity rather than a doomsday pessimism.

Mounia Lazali donated hundreds of designed masks to people in Algeria. Alexander Nshimiyimana in Rwanda has been contributing masks to the public while keeping the…