I recently shot the short interview, below, with Niyi Okuboyejo, creative director of New York City men’s accessories brand, Post-Imperial (for a short documentary graduate class at The New School). Okuboyejo, the son of Nigerian immigrants, describes what he does as a “coup against the regime of Fashion.” Post-Imperial is a men’s accessories brand focused on ties and pocket-squares. Constantly creating for now, what sets Post-Imperial apart from other menswear brands is the vision of tomorrow. “I hardly use nostalgia to bait people,” says Okuboyejo. “I feel like a lot of menswear brands in this day in age, especially the heritage brands, try to use nostalgia to bait people into living a certain, false life or standard.” Collection IV features products treated in ‘adire’–an old and rare dying technique developed by the Yorubas in the Southwest region of Nigeria. Due to the nature of the process, each piece varies in uniqueness and individuality. Here’s the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZmioSXjyLA

Further Reading

Procès et tribulations de Rokia Traoré

Détenue en Italie puis en Belgique pendant prèsde sept mois, la chanteuse malienne est engagée depuis 2019 dans une bataille judiciaire avec son ex-conjoint belge pour la garde de leur fille. Entre accusations d’abus et mandats d’arrêt, le feuilleton semble approcher de sa conclusion.

Requiem for a revolution

A sweeping, jazz-scored exploration of Cold War intrigue and African liberation, Johan Gimonprez’s ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ lays bare the cultural and political battlegrounds where empires, artists, and freedom fighters clashed.

On Safari

On our year-end publishing break, we reflect on how 2024’s contradictions reveal a fractured world grappling with inequality, digital activism, and the blurred lines between action and spectacle.

Rebuilding Algeria’s oceans

Grassroots activists and marine scientists in Algeria are building artificial reefs to restore biodiversity and sustain fishing communities, but scaling up requires more than passion—it needs institutional support and political will.

Ibaaku’s space race

Through Afro-futurist soundscapes blending tradition and innovation, Ibaaku’s new album, ‘Joola Jazz,’ reshapes Dakar’s cultural rhythm and challenges the legacy of Négritude.

An allegiance to abusers

This weekend, Chris Brown will perform two sold-out concerts in South Africa. His relationship to the country reveals the twisted dynamic between a black American artist with a track record of violence and a country happy to receive him.