MILAN, ITALY — Afro Fashion Association and Levi’s present the thirty creatives selected for VOICES OF DENIM, a platform founded in Italy that explores denim as a language of contemporary culture.
The year-long project involves talented emerging BIPOC creatives from fields ranging from fashion design to visual culture, from photography to art, from film to styling, and right through to sound and design. The programme will culminate in an exhibition during Milan Fashion Week in September 2026.
Voices of Denim Talent & Creative Portrait
Through an interdisciplinary approach, participants are invited to reinterpret the brand’s heritage from new cultural perspectives, through collaborative practices and visual experimentation. “It’s a project that combines mentorship, craftsmanship, research and creativity. It cannot fail to receive the support of the City of Milan. Like the other initiatives already undertaken by the Afro Fashion Association, this one also promotes emerging talent, connecting them within a network where they can exchange best practices and develop ideas and new approaches,” says Alessia Cappello, Councillor for Economic Development and Labour Policies.
Structured in six phases, the programme integrates mentorship, savoir-faire, research and creative production, culminating in an exhibition curated by Jordan Anderson during Milan Fashion Week, with the support of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion. Thirty creatives will take part, with ten participants creating a signature look using the brand’s deadstock materials, whilst creatives from other disciplines will contribute to the project’s visual and narrative universe through photography, styling, creative direction, sound design, editorial production and exhibition design.
Jordan Anderson and Michelle Francine Ngonmo
Mentorship plays a key role within the initiative. Among the mentors involved in the project are members of the brand’s design team, including Cara Fenu and Paul Dillinger, alongside Edward Buchanan, Tamu McPherson, Michelle Francine Ngonmo, Francesca Ragazzi, Walter D’Aprile, Cristina Baruzzi and Idris Balogun. The project represents the tangible expression of the brand’s long-standing commitment to craftsmanship, individuality and cultural relevance.
In this context, denim transcends its status as an iconic fabric: it establishes itself as a universal, democratic, cross-cutting visual language, spanning generations and constantly evolving, capable of connecting communities, individual stories and new imaginaries.
The final exhibition will transform these collective processes into an immersive experience in which denim, sound, moving images, installation and storytelling intertwine to explore the role of creativity as a tool for cultural transformation.
Conceived as a cultural event open to the city of Milan, the exhibition will be open to the public free of charge for two weeks, inviting visitors to engage with a new generation of creative voices and with the narratives of contemporary culture.
by Chidozie Obasi