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For Selly Raby Kane, Dakar has always been more
than home. “It’s central in the things I create,” the
32-year-old artist and fashion designer says of the
Senegalese capital. “It’s a huge source of inspiration,
and I have just been fascinated by its history.”
Kane’s interest in history has informed much of her
creative output. Her first official clothing collection in
2012 in Dakar gained attention for its juxtaposition
of the traditional with the futuristic, incorporating
designs from military attire and urban street fashion,
as well as fantasy costume and sci-fi influences.
Just three years earlier Kane had enrolled in fashion
school in Paris. “I was searching for my voice, and it
gradually grew into the techniques I’m using today,”
she says of the 2012 collection. After Beyoncé was
photographed wearing a kimono designed by Kane in
2016, the designer’s popularity soared. In late 2017
she opened her showroom in Dakar, and her garments
now sell in Europe, the U.S. and Nigeria.
As Kane’s star has risen, she has experimented
with other art forms. Her 2017 virtual- reality short
film The Other Dakar was a tribute to Senegalese
mythology and the city’s hidden stories. Earlier this
year, when Ikea commissioned 10 African designers to
create a range of homeware products, Kane fashioned
a basket designed to look like braided hair. “It was
a beautiful ritual to explore, and the bond it creates
between two people was very inspiring to me.”
Kane’s latest clothing collection builds on this
exploration of her Senegalese heritage. She was
inspired by a landmark 2018 report commissioned by
France’s President Emmanuel Macron recommending
the repatriation of artifacts from French institutions
back to their original sites in sub-Saharan Africa. “It
made me realize that in each artifact and archive is
encoded a type of knowledge and a small fragment of
history that informs you of a past vision of the world.”
Kane credits some of her success to belonging to
several art collectives. “Fashion is not the most caring
industry, so being in my city and having that space
around me was super nourishing,” Kane says. Now,
she is making that space for others. Her showroom
in Dakar regularly hosts students for internships, and
also reserves a space for young designers from Dakar
to showcase and sell their pieces.
Kane belongs to what she describes as a “trans-
African community of young creatives” in Dakar and
cities like Lagos, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; and Kigali,
Rwanda. And her interest in history also keeps her
looking to the future—she wants to “create imaginary
worlds, and infuse them with knowledge of worlds
that have existed and still exist. I think that’s a good
recipe.”
Selly Raby Kane
Celebrating African design
By Suyin Haynes