AFROBODEGA

As soon as I step into the Afrobodega studio I feel at ease. There’s a cozy looking couch in the corner, drawings on the walls together with sewing patterns, clothes, fabrics and a bottle of wine on the table. There’s colors and textures and music and it feels like I’ve just entered a friend’s apartment on a cold afternoon, ready to warm each other up with our presence. The studio only takes up half the room but the energy radiating from it fills up every corner. It is most concentrated around the four individuals that are huddled on the couch and chairs in their puffy winter coats and whose creativity and passion has brought Afrobodega to life.

It was only a year ago when Lucian (he/they) and Jess (she/her) who were studying at the same fashion school in Florence channeled their frustrations about the way BIPoC were being treated and neglected into a project where they could make whatever they feel should be made, without having to explain or justify it. “A lot of our teachers were people who studied and worked in the industry around 30 years ago and you can’t possibly expect someone like that to teach you how fashion is today and how to work in it today” Lucian explains. “At some point I just got annoyed”, Jess adds. “We wanted to make something we could actually be excited about, more so than just the school assignments they would give us. I didn’t feel like I was really learning or wanting more from what we were doing in school.”

But both Jess and Lucian wanted more. They wanted to learn, grow and make things that excite them so they started Afrobodega. “A lot of people think it stands for African but it really just stands for our hair”, Lucian tells me. “When we started we both had really big afros.” The other half of the name is an ode to Lucian‘s childhood in New York City and its bodegas where people from all walks of life come together at any time of the day. A place where everybody can come as they are, where everyone knows each other – that’s the type of energy Afrobodega wants to channel.

Soon after Lucian and Jess came to Berlin, Q (he/him) joined the team as a producer and consultant. Q has been working in the creative industry for some time but really wants to leave his footprint and perspectives on the culture. With him, Afrobodega started to become less of a brand but more of a collective – a multidisciplinary space with multi-talented people that can make each other’s ideas possible. That is also how Jazz (she/her) found her way to Afrobodega. As someone who works as an artist, model, stylist and founder of the hair accessory brand Mali Pah, Jazz is used to combining worlds with each other. “I love brands that are really looking for characters to be themselves”, she says. “And I also love brands that are doing something to remember where we come from. Even though we're here in Europe, we have roots in other places and we don't have to hide or forget about them.”

Coming from California and the Caribbean, Jazz sees a lot of symbols and color choices that her family wears or that come from nature mirrored in the clothing. “To me, Afrobodega feels rooted in culture” she states. For that same reason Q reached out to the collective for the first time. “I really loved the way they combined traditional African aesthetics, silhouettes and colors with a modern twist that’s somewhat streetwear inspired but still keeps true to the roots.” The more I talk to young creatives in front of me, the more I realize that simply calling Afrobodega a clothing brand wouldn’t do it justice. It’s community, it’s friendship, it’s a lifestyle. And it’s representation. “There weren’t many brands I saw growing up that were doing what we're doing now.” Jess explains. “If I’d seen this when I was younger it would’ve given me a different push and this perspective of what could be, what I could be. I really want other people to find this within Afrobodega.”

It’s inspiring to be around so much passion, so much concentrated creativity. I am reminded of my ten-year-old self who wanted to be a fashion designer, who wanted to write a book and of course direct a film based on said book. I grew out of these dreams somehow, wrote them off as unrealistic but sitting with the team of Afrobodega makes me realize again how us People of Color continue to make the seemingly impossible possible. “You live arts. You breathe fashion. You exist within this realm of every idea you have.” There’s an old soul speaking through Lucian. It speaks through his art, his dreams and his visions. “I think a lot of Black designers are pushed to being African designers, for African clothes. I want to also be considered as a contemporary and as an innovator. With our styling I kind of want to explore what position People of Color would be in had slavery not happened, had we been in positions of power, had we not started from the ground up.”

Afrobodega’s Instagram biography is in all caps and to the point, saying “We wanna scare people because they're already acting scared…” Unfortunately many People of Color have made the experience of people clutching to their bags or parents pulling their children closer when walking past us. Afrobodega takes that fear, cuts it up, tailors it and throws it back at their face. It’s what they managed to do with their runway debut 1876 that showcased their 2023 Fall/Winter collection. It shed light upon the history of Black and Brown people in Germany, particularly the usage and celebration of so-called Human Zoos between 1876 and 1964. In their statement Afrobodega announced that “as a collective we wish to re-educate our audience on dehumanization and incarceration in relation to being shackled to performance. Specifically how that lingers into a generationally conditioned society now faced with its own injustices.” As we are currently experiencing, Germany has an exceptionally hard time in dealing responsibly with its colonial and antisemitic past and is in dire need of any reminder.

FW23 ‘1876’AFRO BODEGA RUNWAY SHOW

DESIGN @jessecajaymes
PRODUCTION @donotwaitforq
PRODUCTION ASST. @vagabond.jazz
STYLING & CODESIGN @lucianprietosanchez
FOOTWEAR STYLIST @Mizzmatan
MAKEUP @Makeupbyings
MAKEUP ASST. @Mua.emilylaura
HAIR @beauty.whitneykiala
HAIR ACCS. STYLING @vagabond.jazz x @mali.pah
ON SET ASST. @supiie.d @conlakdeklidad @kadmelkovacs @jayo.Ellis
LOCATION @mahallaberlin
LIGHTING @ody_berlin @n.a.neb
SET DESIGN @joanlingli
SET DESIGN ASST. @nchamadi
PHOTOGRAPHY @ken.dumevi @karlakaltheier

TALENTS
Kwame @kwame_loebach
Nubian @nubian.smith
Arlenys @arlenysmv
Gia @g.iad0k2
Meyron @meyron_
Lena @lamein
Claire @claire.estina
Deji @thechocolatetower
Q @donotwaitforq
Hugh @fuckhughman
Zaidi @zaidibangz
Lucia @lucialeonce
Shaw Cain @blackpopstar  
Liza @liza.edward

TALENTS
Kwame @kwame_loebach
Nubian @nubian.smith
Arlenys @arlenysmv
Gia @g.iad0k2
Meyron @meyron_
Lena @lamein
Claire @claire.estina
Deji @thechocolatetower
Q @donotwaitforq
Hugh @fuckhughman
Zaidi @zaidibangz
Lucia @lucialeonce
Shaw Cain @blackpopstar  
Liza @liza.edward

1876 works with many different silhouettes, materials and cuts one could call provocative. The team did a lot of visual and historical research for the project to really embody the story they wanted to tell. What was it like to be a Black person in Europe in the 19th century? “We all did our own moodboards and then created a large one where everyone could add their ideas”, Q recounts. Jess, who taught herself sewing as a teenager, makes the team’s ideas come alive through her way with fabrics. “In terms of patterns, like for example the suit ones, we developed them from patterns of Germany in the 19th century and altered them to the models and how we wanted it to fit them.” Within just a month they were able to create fifteen unique looks, some of them made of material that is not the easiest to work with. “We knew we wanted to make the Blackest show possible”, Lucian adds. Jazz, who contributed her brand’s hair accessories to the show, loved that every model came with their natural hair or protective style. “The pieces highlighted our model’s natural beauty”, she says proudly.

In addition to the models and clothing, the location Afrobodega chose for their show played a big part in conveying its concept. “It was the sexiest”, Lucian declares and the others agree. A two-thousand square meter warehouse with dim lighting and exposed brick walls, metal railings and in its middle a cage-like structure with bales of straw dispersed on the cold, concrete floor. “I definitely feel the people who didn’t understand our show were somehow scared by it”, Lucian remarks. You can see and feel the change from Afrobodega’s first collection Afropunk Delinquence to what they put out with 1876. “In comparison to the runway collection Afropunk Delinquence was a lot more recycled. “We used our own stuff, things our friends gave us and pieces we found at markets”, Jess recounts. With 1876, Afrobodega wanted to prove that they can really make items from scratch, even though they believe that upcycling will always be a subcategory of the brand.

For the beginning of next year, the friends are planning to go to California, which is where Jess grew up and where she made a lot of experiences with the production side of a clothing brand, the store operation, manufacturing and wholesaling. All of this knowledge she wants to fuel into an Afrobodega startup. “We want to start doing some screen prints and actually get wearable clothes, T-shirts and other items”, Jess discloses. “Things that encapsulate the ethos of the brand but on a more simple scale that is more accessible and more wearable for a lot of people”, Lucian adds. Profit isn’t Afrobodega’s motivation but rather seeing people get excited about the clothes they make. Some of the pieces they sold from their last collection ranged between fifty and a hundred euros which mostly comes down to the materials and time spent on making the garment.

I believe there’s a bright future ahead for Afrobodega. The fashion industry needs their bold ideas, their rebellious mindset but also the love that they carry for each other and for every single thing they make. Berlin has proved itself to be the right city to start off their journey. “The people we met here were really open”, Jess expresses. “Everyone was super excited to work with us and wanted to help bring the vision to life. It might have been a struggle somewhere else so I’m really glad we found this community here.” Afrobodega resonates, it leaves an impact on people which is how it was able to grow a community so fast. “Those who don’t get it aren’t ready to look”, Jazz states with a shrug. “They’re probably uncomfortable facing history. But you know if only ten out of the people at our show left there and actually understood the message and talk about the brand it’s gonna keep growing, like a drop of water that spreads organically.”

But for now, the people that I spent the last hour with are just proud. Proud of themselves for pulling off a runway show from scratch and for shooting a campaign in just four weeks, all of it self-funded. “Imagine we had a budget”, Lucian says and the group laughs. Jess leans back and smiles. “I feel really grateful. We have a collective that’s able to make shit happen and I’m excited to see where it’s going from here.” I can feel this shared excitement in the room and I can’t wait to see how it’s going to manifest itself in Afrobodega’s next projects. “Any last words?” I ask into the round. It only takes Lucian a heartbeat to reply. “Water your people. Stay blessed. That’s all we’ve got to say.”