Afro-diasporic journal and media platform Air Afrique is again. Via an unique partnership with Italian luxurious model Bottega Veneta, the model made its official return in Paris on June 23, 2023.
Conceived by a younger collective in Paris, and impressed by magazines of the twentieth century, the moniker was birthed from the pan-African airline of the identical title. Co-owned by a number of African nations, together with: Senegal, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Congo, and Chad—the airline was operational between 1961 and 2002.
“We wish to revive the African transcendence that Air Afrique represented. Our mission is to protect this heritage, to place Air Afrique again within the cultural dialog, and to construct on their instance of cultural engagement,” says co-creative director Lamine Diaoune.
“Air Afrique was greater than an airline. It was a cultural platform. We wish to share the Air Afrique archive and create our personal archive—to seize this second of change in Black consciousness and expression,” provides co-creative director Djiby Kebe
The model will launch a limited-edition sequence of blankets by Franco-Sudanese designer, Abdel El Tayeb, a designer within the Bottega Veneta studio. Specifically commissioned by Matthieu Blazy to mark the relaunch, every blanket is a singular composition of the best wool, silver leather-based, and shearling from the Bottega Veneta archive.
Underneath his private label, El Tayeb combines Sudanese craftsmanship with Western tailoring in an aesthetic that mixes couture and ease. The label aspires to create an area for Afro-descendants to specific their multicultural id. The Air Afrique Afro-futuristic blanket designs are impressed by the colourful patterns of the normal toub gown worn by El Tayeb’s mom.
