Black Music as Black Fashion Culture

Black British music across the last 50 years has developed in linearity with Black fashion trends and cultures, and produced a range of Black iconographies that have come to shape entire subcultures in Britian. This panel talk considers how Black British music has influenced a number of fashion cultures across the last 50 years.

This event is part of a series of screenings and talks curated by Dr Clive Chijioke Nwonka for The Music is Black Festival from East Bank at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Bianca Saunders is an internationally renowned menswear fashion designer. Saunders launched her London-based namesake label in 2017 after graduating from the prestigious Masters in Menswear at the Royal College of Art. Her designs are deeply rooted in Saunders' personal British Caribbean identity and the rich social tapestry of Anglo-Caribbean relations.

Eddie Otchere is a British-Ghanaian photographer, cultural chronicler and educator based in South London, England. He is known for his portraiture and documentation of underground youth culture, leading musicians, rappers, vocalists and DJs. His celebrated works include portraits of Biggie Smalls, Blackstar (Mos Def & Thalib Kweli) So Solid Crew, Est’elle, Goldie, Omar and many others, as well as his official coverage of the Metalheadz: Blue Note sessions 1994 -1996. Since 1993 Otchere’s photographs have been exhibited and published worldwide.

Connor Gaffe (Cesta) is a London-based fashion and music stylist, DJ, and cultural curator working across editorial, music, live events, and football-focused projects. Rooted in London’s underground fashion and music culture, he delivers styling and wardrobe consultation across a range of creative industries. He has worked with major artists including Ezra Collective, Jorja Smith, Nia Archives, Sampha, Rizzle Kicks, Celeste, Olivia Dean, and Kwn, with editorial work featured in Evening Standard, Mixmag, and Crack Magazine. Connor is also involved in Kin Kin, a community-driven events platform curating club nights and cultural experiences that bring together fashion, music, and youth culture.

Dr Clive Chijioke Nwonka is Associate Professor in Film, Culture and Society in the School of European Languages, Culture and Society within UCL’s Faculty of the Arts and Humanities, and Professor in Practice at the British Film Institute. Nwonka’s scholarship broadly centres on race and the humanities. He is the author of the books Black Boys: The Social Aesthetics of British Urban Film (2023), Black Arsenal (2024) and the co-author of the forthcoming book Race and Racism in the Creative and Cultural Industries (2026). He is Academic in Residence for the V&A East’s Music is Black.

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