MILAN — The Afro Fashion Association is keeping attention focused on diversity, equity and inclusion — and gaining new partners along the way, including Levi’s.
On Wednesday the association, which has been supporting talents of different backgrounds, with an original focus on the African continent, is gathering industry figures at hip member’s club The Wilde to spotlight five creatives.
Called “Communities at Work,” the annual breakfast networking event, now in its second edition, will feature conversations with the five talents who are part of the 2026 spotlight. They include Nepalese fashion designer Sabina D’angelo; Brazilian, Milan-based photographer Marzio Emilio Villa; art director Fadel Ndiaye; stylist and creative Kamal Ijale Oredein, head of accessories for management at Lagos Fashion Week, among other gigs, and Dotz.media founder, video journalist and communication specialist Sara Lemlem.
“Communities at Work isn’t a conversation. It is an operational infrastructure that turns access into partnership, visibility into contracts, and opportunity into results,” said Michelle Francine Ngonmo, founder and president of the Afro Fashion Association.
She remarked that last year’s event was instrumental in securing collaborations for four of the 10 talents spotlighted in 2025, an outcome she hopes to replicate this year.
The 2026 format entails multiple roundtables, each attended by a roster of industry figures who will engage in conversation with each of the five talents, who will move from table to table throughout the event.
“’Communities at Work’ introduces a structured model that fosters direct engagement between emerging talents and industry leaders. Within Milan Fashion Week, this platform contributes to transforming visibility into concrete opportunities, strengthening informed and professional access to the fashion system,” said Carlo Capasa, chairman of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, which is a supporting partner of the event.
In an additional sign that the Afro Fashion Association’s commitment to foster the visibility of underrepresented communities for the past 11 years is paying off, the organization is to reveal Wednesday that it has inked a collaboration with Levi’s.
Called Levi’s x AFA Voices in Denim, the yearlong partnership is to involve 30 Black, Indigenous and people of color creatives based in Italy across fashion design, styling, art direction, photography, videography and curatorship to develop a collective project to reinterpret Levi’s heritage through their own cultural perspective and technical expertise, which will be presented at Milan Fashion Week in September.
“This collaboration with Afro Fashion Association marks a meaningful step in Levi’s ongoing commitment to amplifying underrepresented creative voices,” said Mathilde Vaucheret, vice president Europe marketing and BX at Levi’s.
“Working with BIPOC designers and photographers allows us to celebrate new perspectives while reactivating our cultural and stylistic heritage through a contemporary lens. By reimagining Levi’s archive pieces, the project bridges past and present, transforming our legacy into an immersive exhibition where fashion, culture and identity intersect… This initiative creates an authentic space for dialogue, reinforcing our cultural credibility and our long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion” she said.
Ngonmo touted the collaboration, saying that “what makes this initiative even more significant is that, beyond creativity, we are placing craftsmanship at the center. The work done by hand. The construction. The transformation of material. Because cultural perspective and technical expertise together are what truly generate innovation and long-term economic value.”
Since it was established in 2015, the Afro Fashion Association has championed talents based in Italy and belonging to underrepresented communities who are active in creative and entrepreneurial industries. In 2023 the organization held its first Black Carpet Awards event, celebrating leaders of change in fields including fashion, design, food, music, sport and cinema, among others.
The third edition of the event was held last September during Milan Fashion Week. The association has yet to reveal plans for the 2026 iteration.