At Milan’s Casa degli Artisti, Voices of Denim: A Living Cultural Language brought together an international collective of emerging BIPOC creatives for an immersive exploration of fashion, identity, heritage, and artistic expression, transforming the iconic fabric into a compelling portrait of contemporary culture.
Few fabrics possess the extraordinary ability to carry personal histories quite like denim. Worn across generations, shaped by individual experiences, and embedded in the visual vocabulary of contemporary fashion, its familiar blue surface has become a canvas for countless expressions of identity. During Milan Fashion Week in September 2026, Levi’s and AFRO Fashion Association invited a new generation of creative voices to explore that cultural significance through Voices of Denim: A Living Cultural Language, an ambitious multidisciplinary project celebrating the relationship between craftsmanship, artistic freedom, and cultural heritage.
Presented at Casa degli Artisti in Milan from September 25 through October 2, 2026, the immersive exhibition marked the culmination of a yearlong journey dedicated to mentorship, research, experimentation, and creative production. Bringing together emerging Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) creatives, the initiative offered a distinctive perspective on denim as a medium for storytelling, examining the ways clothing can preserve memories, reflect cultural experiences, and communicate evolving identities.
AFA & LEVI’S_VOICES OF DENIM – Photo credit: Colonna Luigi
The collaboration united Levi’s, whose denim heritage dates back to the introduction of its riveted blue jeans in 1873, with AFRO Fashion Association, the nonprofit organization founded in 2015 and led by Michelle Francine Ngonmo. Through its work across fashion, art, and culture, the association has established a platform for supporting underrepresented creative talent and expanding professional opportunities within the international fashion industry.
First introduced during the Communities at Work initiative at Milan Fashion Week in February 2026, Voices of Denim developed into a collaborative creative program encompassing fashion design, photography, visual arts, filmmaking, styling, curatorial practice, sound, and design. Its participants were encouraged to approach Levi’s heritage through their individual experiences, allowing personal narratives and artistic disciplines to inform the finished work.
AFA & LEVI’S_VOICES OF DENIM – Photo credit: Colonna Luigi
For the emerging designers involved, Levi’s deadstock materials provided the foundation for a series of manifesto looks, each expressing a distinctive creative vision. Other participants contributed through photography, styling, art direction, editorial production, sound design, and exhibition development, creating an interconnected visual and cultural experience.
The project’s emphasis on professional development was equally significant. Participants received guidance from an accomplished group of mentors, including Levi’s design team members Cara Fenu and Paul Dillinger, alongside Edward Buchanan, Tamu McPherson, Michelle Francine Ngonmo, Francesca Ragazzi, Walter D’Aprile, Cristina Baruzzi, and Idris Balogun. Their involvement connected emerging talent with established expertise across fashion, media, design, and contemporary culture.
At the heart of the initiative was an understanding that meaningful representation requires sustained access to creative resources, professional networks, and opportunities for artistic development. The resulting exhibition made that process visible, presenting the individual perspectives that emerged through a year of creative exchange.
AFA & LEVI’S_VOICES OF DENIM – Photo credit: Colonna Luigi
Inside the Immersive World of Voices of Denim
Curated by Jordan Anderson, the exhibition translated the project’s multidisciplinary character into an environment that invited visitors to experience denim through movement, material, and space.
Rather than presenting a conventional sequence of finished works, the exhibition embraced the visual language of an evolving construction site. Painted steel scaffolding, metal mesh, plywood panels, ropes, denim, fabric coverings, and draped textiles formed a modular architectural landscape, with many of the materials sourced from previous uses.
The deliberately unfinished atmosphere reflected the exhibition’s central exploration of cultural identity as something continually shaped by experience, history, and reinterpretation.
Throughout the installation, translucent surfaces alternated with opaque structures, while curtains, suspended textiles, and layered partitions introduced moments of concealment and discovery. Visitors were encouraged to move through the environment, encountering different perspectives as the relationship between artwork and architecture shifted.
This spatial approach gave physical expression to the diversity of voices within the project. Each creative contribution retained its individuality while participating in a broader conversation about belonging, memory, craftsmanship, and transformation.
The use of reclaimed materials also introduced a thoughtful dimension to the exhibition’s design. Elements that had previously served practical or temporary purposes acquired new meaning within the installation, reflecting denim’s own capacity to accumulate history through wear, reuse, and personal attachment.
In Anderson’s curatorial vision, the exhibition became an evolving cultural landscape, where the creative process held as much significance as the finished pieces.
AFA & LEVI’S_VOICES OF DENIM – Photo credit: Colonna Luigi
A Creative Vision Shaped by Art, Fashion, and Cultural Exchange
The exhibition’s visual identity and spatial direction were developed under Macs Iotti, the project’s Executive Creative Director and founder of MACSIOTTI Studio.
Working with Filippo Antonioli, who contributed design direction, Iotti established a cohesive visual language connecting the project’s graphic identity with its physical exhibition environment. The creative approach brought together the many artistic disciplines represented in Voices of Denim while maintaining the individuality of each contribution.
Studio Exhibita, founded by Marco Ramon, supported the exhibition’s design development and production, helping translate the creative concept into an immersive public experience.
Together, these contributions shaped an environment in which the architecture, materials, artworks, and visual storytelling operated as interconnected elements.
The exhibition’s creative richness emerged through the individual visions of its participating talents, each bringing a distinctive cultural perspective to denim. Nigerian designer Tokyo James explored ceremonial dressing through architectural silhouettes in Wings of Denim, while Papa Oyeyemi, founder of Maxivive, celebrated craftsmanship, repair, and the dignity of labor in Labour of Love. Ghanaian designer Nana Brenu drew inspiration from African independence movements for Re-Dressing Power, and Victor Hart explored ancestral traditions through sculptural patchwork in Ancestral Futures. Christel Abboud incorporated Lebanese and Palestinian cultural references into Phoenician, while Paul Roger Tanonkou reimagined traditional African dress in Bubu Recoded. Kim Gaeun, Sabina D’Angelo, and Yaimara Gomez Fabre investigated renewal, inherited craftsmanship, and architectural construction through their respective denim creations. Beyond fashion design, Francis Nathan Abiam, known as Afran, explored identity through sculptural interventions, while Italian-Congolese artist Christopher Veggetti combined classical sculptural references with denim. Photography and visual storytelling introduced further dimensions through Ben Drame, Donald Ngamene, Kendall Hill, and Marzio Villa, alongside stylists Kamal Ijale, Sorelle di Tole, Maria Cassia Fernanda Dos Santos, and Thais Montessori Brandao. Ghanaian writer Anna Osei examined the emotional memories preserved in clothing, while Nigerian illustrator Shannice Alogaga imagined an Afrofuturist world shaped by denim in The City of Blue Threads. Contributions from Show Division, Roger & Rover, Red Longo, and Polly & Pamy extended the creative dialogue into beauty, music, and performance, revealing the remarkable breadth of artistic expression gathered under the Voices of Denim initiative.
AFA & LEVI’S_VOICES OF DENIM – Photo credit: Colonna Luigi
When Fashion Meets Music, Performance, and Gastronomy
The exhibition opened with a vernissage on September 24, 2026, at Casa degli Artisti, bringing together fashion professionals, members of the press, participating creatives, and invited guests.
Conceived as a performative extension of the exhibition, the evening introduced additional artistic perspectives through gastronomy, live performance, and music.
Executive chef, culinary researcher, and creative entrepreneur Immaculate Ruému created a selection of finger foods in collaboration with Degustazione Ristoro e Dispensa. Drawing on her Nigerian roots and experiences in Italy, Ruému developed a culinary offering that explored the connections between food, cultural memory, and personal identity.
The evening also featured a live performance by Red Longo, an artist of Ethiopian heritage whose practice moves between fashion and visual art. Through an exploration of social labels, personal freedom, and self-determination, Longo’s work extended the exhibition’s reflections on identity into the realm of performance.
Music provided another layer of cultural expression through Echoes & Frequencies, a DJ set by Polly & Pamy, Ghanaian artists based in Italy. Combining live saxophone with contemporary electronic influences, their performance created an atmospheric soundscape designed to accompany the exhibition’s visual narrative.
The interaction between sound, performance, cuisine, and fashion reflected the project’s interdisciplinary spirit, offering guests different ways to engage with its central themes.
The Cultural Legacy of Levi’s Meets a New Generation of Creative Talent
Since the introduction of Levi’s blue jeans in 1873, denim has traveled through remarkably different cultural environments, becoming associated with workwear, youth movements, personal freedom, and everyday self-expression.
Voices of Denim approached that history through the perspectives of contemporary creatives whose experiences and artistic practices reflect an increasingly interconnected cultural landscape.
For AFRO Fashion Association, the initiative also represented a continuation of its commitment to creating opportunities for BIPOC talent within fashion and the wider creative industries.
Under Michelle Francine Ngonmo’s leadership, the organization has championed the importance of access, education, professional development, and cultural exchange. Its collaboration with Levi’s demonstrated how a heritage fashion brand and a nonprofit cultural organization can work together to support emerging voices through tangible creative opportunities.
The exhibition brought those efforts into public view, allowing audiences to discover the artistic outcomes of a sustained mentorship and production program.
AFA & LEVI’S_VOICES OF DENIM – Photo credit: Colonna Luigi
The involvement of creatives across multiple disciplines further emphasized the breadth of contemporary fashion culture, where garments, images, performances, and environments contribute to a shared visual conversation.
A New Chapter in Denim’s Cultural Story
Held during Milan Fashion Week, Voices of Denim: A Living Cultural Language offered a compelling reflection on the evolving relationship between fashion and cultural authorship.
The exhibition opened free of charge to the public from September 25 through October 2, 2026, at Casa degli Artisti, Via Lavater 2, Milan, Italy.
By making the exhibition publicly accessible, AFRO Fashion Association and Levi’s extended the creative dialogue beyond the fashion industry, inviting the wider city to encounter the work and perspectives of the participating artists.
The exhibition may have concluded on October 2, yet its underlying ideas remain relevant to the future of fashion. Questions of creative ownership, cultural heritage, artistic opportunity, and representation continue to shape conversations across the industry.
Through the expressive possibilities of denim, the participating creatives explored how personal experiences can become part of a collective cultural narrative. Their work revealed a material rich with associations, capable of holding the traces of the past while accommodating new forms of expression.
