In a searing 2012 Guardian op-ed, Hannah Azieb Pool took Western fashion designers to task for their so-called African-inspired clothing. 'Dear Fashion,' she wrote, 'Africa is a continent, not a country. Can you imagine anyone describing a fashion trend as "European-inspired?" Of course not. It’s meaningless.' Now, with Fashion Cities Africa, Pool aims to correct the misconceptions about African fashion, providing key context for contemporary African fashion scenes and capturing the depth and breadth of truly African fashion.

Tied to the Fashion Cities Africa exhibition at the Brighton Museum, the book gives much needed attention to four key African fashion scenes: Nairobi, Lagos, Casablanca and Johannesburg – one from each region of the continent. Filled with interviews of leading African fashion designers, stylists and commentators, alongside hundreds of exclusive street-style images, Fashion Cities Africa is a landmark book that should be celebrated in fashion houses the world over.

'This book is a model for understanding contemporary African fashion. It shows the necessity of local fashion history using voices from each city. Africans and the African diaspora are the ones telling the fashion story; it is no longer a story about Africa being told only by Europe and the North America. I hope that it encourages more Africans to chart contemporary fashion scenes and to write the history of fashion in all African cities and countries.'

* Susan Hannel, University of Rhode Island. *

'Fashion Cities Africa is an impressive insight int the intricacies of contemporary fashion in four African cities. It reaffirms, what has long been argued, that style in Africa matters.' 

-- Professor Carol Tulloch, Chelsea College of Arts UAL

'The second largest continent on the planet is, logically, home to a massive number of fashion designers and movements, although out of Africa, there hasn’t been as much recognition of them till recently. Fashion Cities Africa, the book, is one high-profile development which seeks to shine a light on the variety present on the continent….'

-- Jack Yan, Lucire

Hannah Azieb Pool is an Eritrean-born journalist, author and commentator who has written for the Guardian, Times, Vogue and many others. She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio and the author of the memoir My Fathers’ Daughter. She is also the editor of Fashion Cities Africa.