Young dancers in raffia skirts open the ball: African textiles are in the spotlight in Pointe-Noire. From June 4 to 7, 2026, the economic capital of Congo Brazzaville hosts the 13th edition of the International Fashion Carousel.
A festival that has established itself over more than a decade as an unmissable event for the creative industry in Central Africa.
“This year’s theme, ‘African Textiles: From Heritage to Global Value,’ is precisely the objective: for each participant, coming from their own country, to discover and share their textile with the public and other participants. We know our own fabric, but we don’t necessarily know those of other countries. When we move from personal heritage to global value, we introduce our loincloth, our fabric, to the rest of the world,” explains Pascaline Kabré Turmel, founder & director, Carrousel International de la Mode.
Responding to this call, Congolese designer Marco, founder of the haute couture house Marco Fashion in Kinshasa, presented a collection made entirely with fabrics from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"I thought to myself: why not work with the fabrics that we make ourselves at home? I thought of Kuba fabrics and raffia, which are really native to our country — raw, untreated, in their natural state." says Marco, owner of Marco Fashion International, DRC.
The same approach was taken by Tiny Tiknyemb, who came from Cameroon with a collection called L'Unité, woven from three traditional Cameroonian loincloths — a textile manifesto for the cohesion of a country with two hundred and fifty ethnic groups.
"In Cameroon, we need to be united. What inspired me was the mix of fabrics: Ekan for the Centre, Togho for the Northwest, and Ndop for the West. I started with this mix to express the sharing between our different regions," explains Tiny Tiknyemb, Libaro Couture, Cameroon.
Tradition reinvented, expertise celebrated, young talents propelled onto the continental stage: after thirteen editions, the Carrousel International de la Mode has made Pointe-Noire a creative capital of Central Africa. The next edition is already scheduled for early June 2027.
