ABSTRACT
Sixty years after the colonial period, Kenyans are still grappling with the aftereffects consisting of a disdain for traditional fashion. It is to counter this that #OwnYourCulture was born – an online platform that is decolonizing fashion using traditional jewellery. This platform encourages young Kenyans to embrace their heritage through wearing and styling traditional accessories. The current fashion rules leave out traditional jewellery aesthetics, we therefore invent our own rules as we go along using our historical context, regardless of gender stereotypes. The results of running this campaign has been a new appreciation of traditional jewellery, there are now more designers drawing on their heritage to design and an online community that advocates for fashion inclusivity. All this has been possible because there is thirst for representation and the influential power of digital media, enabling others to see themselves accurately represented. In this sense, yes fashion can save the world by using technology, representative imagery, giving space to all forms of fashion to thrive from everyone in the world, thus creating not only economic impacts but a sense of acceptance and seeing each other as fellow, equal humans.
