Ruby: My Experience of Fashion Cities Africa so Far

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July 2015

Well, it’s been just one short month since I joined the Fashion Cities Africa team on a Workforce Development placement from my usual role front of house, but already I’ve had tons of fun and have learned a HUGE amount about what goes into the planning of an exhibition!

Ruby

So far I’ve sat in on meetings about a whole range of things, from exhibition content to engagement with Brighton’s African diaspora; I’ve heard all about Helen and Martin’s fascinating research trips to Casablanca, Nairobi and Lagos, losing myself in the excellent photos and videos that they captured along the way; and, naturally, I’ve also done a fair bit of brainstorming about how best to share all of these experiences online with you guys!

Equally as importantly, over the past month I’ve also met some really great people with a huge range of impressive skills and knowledge, from African fashion, to community engagement, to graphic design. It’s been amazing to see how hard everybody’s working to make Fashion Cities Africa the best exhibition it can possibly be! Already I feel like I’ve settled right in, and I really look forward to working alongside the rest of the team over the coming months.

Most recently I have been clipping down and reshaping a fascinating report by Harriet Hughes about her research in Lagos, which will be coming to this blog very soon – so watch out for that!

Alternatively, feel free to head over to our Fashion Cities Africa Tumblr page to catch some brilliant photos of Martin’s time in Casablanca, as well as some equally fab photos from Helen’s trip to Nairobi and some behind-the-scenes bits and bobs!

Thanks for reading, guys! Please keep your eyes peeled for more nuggets of information, photos and sneak previews!

Until next time,

Ruby McGonigle, front of house team member at the Royal Pavilion